A  HISTORY 


OF    THE 


POLITICAL  CAMPAIGN 


IN  VIRGINIA, 


1855; 

1 


WITH    A 


» 


B  I  O  O  R  A  P  H.I,Q\UEv  SKETCH    OF 


HENRY  A.  WISE: 


BY  JAMES  P,  HAMBLETOfl,  M,  D, 


J.  \V.  RANDOLPH, 

121    MAIN    STREET,    RICHMOND,    VA 
1856. 


.• 


: 


In  the  Clerk's 


i  according  to 
[    JAM 
irk's  OffiS^the  Di 


Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1856,  by 
AMES  P.  HAMBLETON, 

e  District  Court  of  the  United   States,  in   and  for  the 
Eastern  District  ofLYirginia, 


JOHN    NOWLAN,    PRINTER. 


TO   THE 

DEMOCRATIC  PARTY  OF  VIRGINIA, 

FOR  THEIR  UNFLINCHING  DEVOTION  TO  THEIR  TIME  HONORED 

PRINCIPLES: 

THE   CONSTITUTION   AND   STATES   RIGHTS; 

AND  FOR   THEIR    UNCOMPROMISING    HOSTILITY    TO  ALL  ISMS 
OPPOSED  TO  THE 

PURE  JEFFERSONIAN  DEMOCRACY, 

S    RESPECTFULLY 

THE  AUTHOR, 


'ATE!> 


V 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  presenting  this  work  to  the  public,  it  is  our  aim  to  give 
a  full  account  of  the  operations  of  the  secret  political  society  known 
as  the  KNOW-NOTHING  PARTY,  in  Virginia,  in  1855.  In  doing  this, 
we  hope  to  present  something  useful  to  the  living,  and  which  may 
guard  the  unthinking  in  after  generations  against  the  machinations 
of  any  secret  sect,  clique  or  party,  that  may  have  for  its  object  a 
usurpation  of  the  government  and  its  spoils,  by  other  tenure  than 
the  popular  voice.  If  we  succeed  in  this  we  shall  have  accomplished 
our  chief  aim.  We  shall  present  the  arguments  of  the  ablest  men 
in  the  land,  both  as  speakers  and  as  writers,  against  Know-Nothing- 
fsm,  coupled  with  their  defence  of  the  time  honored  principles  of 
the  Democratic  party.  This  work  will  be  compiled  principally  of 
such  newspaper  articles  and  speeches  as  were  elicited  in  the  war 
-against  Know-Nothingism  during  the  gubernatorial  canvass  of  1855. 
The  newspapers  from  which  we  have  drawn  most  copiously,  are  the 
Bichmond  Enquirer,  Examiner  and  Whig.  In  prefacing  these 
compiled  extracts,  we  have  given  our  opinions  succinctly,  conscien- 
tiously, fearlessly,  and  unreservedly. 

JAMES  PINKNEY  HAMBLETON,  M.  D. 

Ptilsylvania  C.  H.  Va.      ) 
December,,  1855.  ] 


CAMPAIGN  OF  1855. 


DEMOCRATIC  MEETING  IN  NORFOLK  COUNTY  IN  THE 
FALL  OF  1854.— HON.  HENRY  A.  WISE'S  LETTER  UPON 
KNOW-NOTHINGISM. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  1854,  the  newspapers  of  Virginia 
began  to  direct  their  attention  to  the  gubernatorial  canvass  that  was  to  come 
off  in  our  state  in  the  next  year.  Various  prominent  individuals  were 
spoken  of  by  their  respective  friends,  when,  in  the  early  part  of  September 
1854,  the  citizens  of  Norfolk  county  determined  to  hold  a  meeting  and  cor- 
respond with  these  distinguished  gentlemen  in  order  to  obtain  from  them 
an  expression  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  new  party  then  said  to  be  organ- 
izing in  the  state,  under  the  cognomen  of  Know-Nothings.  The  committee 
of  correspondence  appointed  by  this  meeting  wrote  to  the  following  gentle- 
men, viz:  Ex-Governor  William  Smith,  Lieut.  Governor  S.  F.  Leake,  Hon. 
John  Letcher,  Hon.  James  A.  Seddon,  and  Hon.  Henry  A.  Wise.  All  of 
these  gentlemen  very  promptly  answered,  and  all  satisfactorily,  with  the 
exception  of  Ex-Gov.  Smith.  He  answered  after  a  long  time,  but  evasively. 
Mr.  Wise's  ansvrer  was  prompt,  plain,  satisfactory  and  elaborate.  In  his 
letter  to  this  committee  was  recognized  the  true  spirit  of  a  southern  republi- 
can and  statesman.  There  was  no  document  that  appeared  on  the  subject 
which  bespoke  so  truly  the  sentiments  of  the  Democratic  party  of  Virginia  in 
their  utter  detestation  of  secret  political  societies  and  religious  intolerance. 
We  give  this  masterly  production  an  appropriate  insertion  in  the  beginning 
of  this  compilation : 

ONLY,  NEAR  ONANCOCK,  VIRGINIA,      > 
September  18th,  1854.  5 

To : 

Dear  Sir : — I  now  proceed  to  give  you  the  reasons  for  the  opinions  I 
expressed  in  my  letter  of  the  2nd  instant,  as  fully  as  my  leisure  will  permit : 

I  said  that  I  did  not  "think  that  the  present  state  of  affairs  in  this  country 
is  such  as  to  justify  the  formation,  by  the  people,  of  any  Secret  Political 
Society." 

The  laws  of  the  United  States — federal  and  state  laws — declare  and 
defend  the  liberties  of  our  people.  They  are  free  in  every  sense — free  in 
the  sense  of  Magna  Charta  and  beyond  Magna  Charta ;  free  by  the  surpass- 


8 

ing  franchise  of  American  Charters,  which  makes  them  Sovereign   and  their 
wills  the  sources  of  constitutions  and  laws. 
If  the  archbishop  might  say  to  King  John, 

"Let  every  Briton,  as  his  mind,  be  free  ; 
His  person  safe  ;  his  property  secure  ; 
His  house  as  sacred  as  the  fane  of  Heaven ; 
VS  atching,  unseen,  his  ever  open  door, 
Watching  the  real:n,  the  spirit  of  the  laws  ; 
His  fate  determined  by  the  rules  of  right, 
His  voice  enacted  in  the  common  voice 
And  general  suffrage  of  the  assembled  realm, 
No  hand  invisible  to  write  his  doom  ; 
No  demon  starting  at  the  midnight  hour, 
To  draw  his  curtain,  or  to  drag  him  down 
To  mansions  of  despair.     Wide  to  the  world 
Disclose  the  secrets  of  the  prison  walls, 
And  bid  the  groanings  of  the  dunge.  n  strike 
The  public  ear — Inviolable  preserve 
The  sacred  shield  that  covers  all  the  land. 
The  Heaven-conferr'd  palladium  of  the  isle, 
To  Briton's  sons,  the  judgment  of  their  peers, 
On  these  great  pillars  :  freedom  of  the  mind, 
Freedom  of  speech,  and  freedom  of  the  pen, 
Forever  changing,  yet  forever  sure, 
The  base  of  Briton  rests." 

— we  may  say  that  our  American  Charters  have  more  than  confirmed  these 
laws  of  the  Confessor,  and  our  people  have  given  to  them  "as  free,  as  full, 
and  as  sovereign  a  consent"  as  was  ever  given  by  John  to  the  bishops  and 
the  barons,  "  at  Runnimede,  the  field  of  freedom,"  to  which  it  was  said — 

"  Britain's  sons  shall  come, 

Shall  tread  where  heroes  and  where  patriots  trod, 
To  worship  as  they  walk  !" 

In  this  country,  at  this  time,  does  any  man  think  anything?  Would  he 
think  aloud  ?  Would  he  speak  anything?  Would  he  write  anything?  His 
mind  is  free,  his  person  is  safe,  his  property  is  secure,  his  house  is  his  castle, 
the  spirit  of  the  laws  is  his  body-guard  and  his  house-guard ;  the  fate  of  ons 
is  the  fate  of  all  measured  by  the  same  common  rule  of  right;  his  voice  is 
heard  and  felt  in  the  general  suffrage  of  freemen  ;  his  trial  is  in  open  court, 
confronted  by  witnesses  and  accusers ;  his  prison  house  has  no  secrets,  and 
he  has  the  judgment  of  his  peers;  and  there  is  nought  to  make  him  afraid, 
so  long  as  he  respects  the  rights  of  his  equals  in  the  eye  of  the  law.  Would 
he  propagate  Truth? — Truth  is  free  to  combat  Error.  Would  he  propagate 
Error? — Error  itself  may  stalk  abroad  and  do  her  mischief  and  make  night 
itself  grow  darker,  provided  Truth  is  left  free  to  follow,  however  slowly,  with 
her  torches  to  light  up  the  wreck !  Why,  then,  should  any  portion  of  the 
people  desire  to  retire  in  secret,  and  by  secret  means  to  propagate  a  political 
thought,  or  word,  or  deed,  by  stealth?  Why  band  together,  exclusive  of 
others,  to  do  something  which  all  may  not  know  of,  towards  some  political 
end?  If  it  be  good,  why  not  make  the  good  known1.  Why  not  think  it,  speak 
it,  write  it,  act  it  out  openly  and  aloud  ?  Or,  is  it  evil,  which  loveth  darkness 
rather  than  light?  When  there  is  no  necessity  to  justify  a  secret  association 
for  political  ends,  what  else  can  justify  it?  A  caucus  may  sit  in  secret  to 
consult  on  the  general  policy  of  a  great  public  party.  That  may  be  neces- 
sary or  convenient;  but  that  even  is  reprehensible,  if  carried  too  far.  But 
here  is  proposed  a  great  primary,  national  organization,  in  its  inception — 
What  ?  Nobody  knows.  To  do  what  ?  Nobody  knows.  How'organized  ? 
Nobody  knows.  Governed  by  whom  ?  Nobody  knows.  How  bound  ?  By 


9 

what  rites?  By  what  test  oaths  ?  With  w^hat  limitations  and  restraints? 
Nobody,  nobody  knows!!!  All  we  know  is,  that  persons  of  for  eign  birth 
and  of  Catholic  faith  are  proscribed,  and  so  are  all  'others  who  don't  pro- 
scribe them  at  the  polls.  This  is  certainly  against  the  spirit  of  Magna 
Charta. 

Such  is  our  condition  of  freedom  at  home,  showing  no  necessity  for  such 
a  secret  organization  and  its  antagonism  to  the  very  basis  of  American  rights. 
And  our  comparative  native  and  Protestant  strength  at  home  repels  the  plea 
of  such  necessity  still  more.  The  statistics  of  immigration  show  that  from 
1820  to  1st  January,  1853,  inclusive,  for  32  years  and  more,  3,204,848  for- 
eigners arrived  in  the  United  States,  at  the  average  rate  of  100,151  per 
annum  ;  that  the  number  of  persons  of  foreign  birth  now  in  the  United  States 
is  2,210,839;  that  the  number  of  natives,  whites,  is  17,737,578,  and  of  per- 
sons whose  nativity  is  "unknown"  is  39,154.  (Quere,  by  the  by: — What 
will  "  Know-Nothings"  do  with  the  "  unknown?")  The  number  of  natives  to 
persons  of  foreign  birth  in  the  United  States,  is  as  8  to  1,  and  the  most  of 
the  latter,  of  course,  are  naturalized.  In  Virginia  the  whole  number  of 
white  natives  is  813,891,  of  persons  born  out  of  the  State  and  in  the  United 
States,  57,502,  making  a  total  of  natives  of  871,393;  and  the  number  of 
persons  born  in  foreign  countries,  is  22,953.  So  that  in  Virginia  the  num- 
ber of  natives  is  to  the  number  of  persons  born  in  foreign  countries,  nearly 
as  38  to  1. 

Again  : — the  churches  of  the  United  States  provide  accommodations  for 
14,234,825  votaries;  the  Roman  Catholics  for  but  667,823;  the  number  of 
votaries  in  the  Protestant  to  the  number  in  the  Roman  Catholic  in  the  United 
States,  as  21  to  1.  In  Virginia  the  whole  number  is  856,436,  the  Roman 
Catholics  7,930,  or  108  to  1. 

The  number  of  churches  in  the  United  States  is  38,061,  of  Catholic 
churches  1,221;  more  tnan  31  to  1  are  Protestant.  In  Virginia  the  number 
of  churches  is  2,383,  of  Catholic  churches  is  17;  more  than  140  to  1. 

The  whole  value  of  church  property  in  the  United  States  is  $87,328.801, 
of  Catholic  church  property  is  $9,256,758,  or  9  to  1.  In  Virginia  the  whole 
value  of  church  property  is  $2,856,076;  of  Catholic  church  property, 
$126,100,  or  22  to  1. 

In  the  United  States  there  are  four  Protestant  sects,  either  of  which  is 
larger  than  the  Catholics: 

The  Baptists  provide  accommodations  for  3,247,029 

The  Methodists  for  4,343,579 

The  Presbyterians  for  2,079,690 

The  Congfegationalists  for  801,835 

Aggregate  of  four  Protestant  sects,  10,472,073 

The  Catholics  for  667,823 

Majority  of  only  four  Protestant  sects,  9,804,250 

Add  the  Episcopalians  for  643,598 

Majority  of  only  five  Protestant  sects,  10,447,848 

In  Virginia  there  are  five  Protestant  sects,  either  of  which  is  larger  than  the  number  of 
Catholics  in  the  State. 

Baptists,  247,589 

Episcopal,  79,684 

Lutheran,  18,750 

Methodists,  323,708 

Presbyterian,  103,625 

773.356 
Catholics,  7,930 

Majority  of  free  Protestant  sects  in  Virginia,  765,426 


10 

Or  nearly  98  to  1. 
Thus  natives  are  to  persons  of  foreign  birth 

In  the  United  States,  as  8  to  1 

In  Virginia,  as  38  to  1 

The  Protestant  church  accommodations  are  to  the  Catholic 

In  the  United  States,  as  21  to  1 

In  Virginia,  as  108  to  1 
The  number  of  Protestant  churches  is  to  the  number  of  Catholic 

'  In  the  United  States,  as  31  to  1 

In  Virginia,  as  140  to  1 
The  value  of  Protestant  church  property  in  the  United  States,  is  to  the  value  of  Cath 

olic  church  property  as  9  to  1 

In  Virginia,  as  22  to  1 

There  are  four  Protestant  sects,  each  of  which  is  larger  than  the  Catholic, 
in  the  United  States,  and  the  aggregate  of  which  exceeds  the  Catholic  by  a 
majority  of  9,804,250  votaries,  and,  adding  one  sect  smaller,  by  a  majority  of 
10,447,848. 

In  Virginia  there  are  five  Protestant  sects,  each  larger  than  the  number  of 
Catholics  in  the  state,  and  the  aggregate  of  which  exceeds  the  Catholics  by 
a  majority  of  765,426  votaries. 

Now,  what  has  such  a  majoriiy  of  numbers,  arid  of  wealth  of  natives  and 
of  Protestants,  to  fear  from  such  minorities  of  Catholics  and  naturalized  citi- 
zens ?  What  is  the  necessity  for  this  master  majority  to  resort  to  secret 
organization  against  such  a  minority  ?  I  put  it  fairly  :  Would  they  organize 
tX  at  all  against  the  Catholics  and  naturalized  citizens,  if  the  Catholics  and 
naturalized  citizens  were  in  the  like  majority  of  numbers  and  of  wealth,  or 
if  majorities  and  minorities  were  reversed?  To  retire  in  secret  with  such  a 
majority,  does  it  not  confess  to  something  which  dares  not  subject  itself  to 
the  scrutiny  of  knowledge,  and  would  have  discussion  Know-Nothing  of  its 
designs  and  operations  and  ends?  Cannot  the  Know-Nothings  trust  to  the 
leading  Protestant  churches  to  defend  themselves  and  the  souls  of  all  the 
saints,  and  sinners  too,  against  the  influence  of  Catholics  ?  Can't  they  trust 
to  the  patriotism  and  fraternity  of  natives  to  guard  the  land  against  immi- 
grants ?  In  defence  of  the  reat  American  Protestant  churches,  I  venture 
to  say  in  their  behalf,  that  the  Pope,  and  all  his  priests  combined,  are  not 
more  zealous  and  watchful  in  their  master's  work,  or  in  the  work  for  the  mas- 
tery, than  are  our  Episcopal,  Presbyterian,  Baptist,  Methodist,  Lutheran,  and 
Congregational  clergy.  They  are,  as  a  whole  church  militant,  with  their 
armor  bright;  they  are  zealous,  they  are  jealous,  they  are  watchful,  they  are 
organized,  embodied,  however  divided  by  sectarianism,  yet  banded  together 
against  papacy,  and  learned  and  active,  and  politic  too  as  any  brotherhood  of 
monks.  They  need  no  such  political  organization  to  defend  the  faith.  Are 
they  united  in  it?  Do  they  favor  or  countenance  it  among  their  flocks?  To 
what  end?  In  the  name  of  their  religion,  I  ask  them — Why  not  rely  on 
God?  And  do  the  Know-Nothings  imagine  that  the  pride  and  love  of  coun*- 
/  try  are  so  dead  in  native  hearts,  that  secret  organizations  are  necessary  to 
J  beget  a  new-born  patriotism  to  protect  us  from  foreign  influence  ?  Now,  in 
defence  of  our  people,  1  say  for  them  that  no  people  upon  earth  are  more 
^possessed  with  nationality  as  a  strong  passion  than  the  freemen  of  the  United 
States  of  North  America.  Nowhere  is  the  filial  and  domestic  tie  stronger, 
nowhere  is  the  tie  of  kinship  more  binding,  nowhere  is  there  more  amor  loci 
— the  love  of  ho?ne,  which  is  the  surest  foundation  of  the  love  of  country — 
nowhere  is  any  country's  romance  of  history  more  felt,  nowhere  are  the 
social  relations  on  a  better  moral  foundation,  nowhere  is  there  as  clear  iden- 
tity of  parentage  and  offspring,  nowhere  are  sons  and  daughters  so  "educated 
to  liberty,"  nowhere  have  any  people  such  certainty  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
reward  of  vigilance,  nowhere  have  they  such  freedom  of  self-government, 
nowhere  is  there  such  trained  hatred  of  kings,  lords  and  aristocracies, 


11 

nowhere  is  there  more  self-independence,  or  more  independence  of  the  Old 
World  or  its  traditions — in  a  word,  nowhere  is  there  a  country  whose  people 
have,  by  birthright,  a  tithe  of  what  our  people  have  to  make  them  love  that 
land  which  is  their  country,  and  that  spot  which  is  their  home !  I  am  an 
American,  a  Virginian  1  Prouder  than  ever  to  have  .said,  "  I  am  a  Roman 
citizen!"  So  far  from  Brother  Jonathan  wanting  a  national  feeling,  he  is 
justly  suspected  abroad  of  a  little  too  much  pride  and  bigotry  of  country. 
The  revolution  and  the  last  war  with  Great  Britain,  tried  us,  and  the  late 
conquest  of  Mexico  found  us  not  wanting  in  the  sentimentality  of  nation- 
alism. Though  so  young,  we  have  already  a  dialect  and  a  mannerism,  and 
our  customs  and  our  costume.  A  city  dandy  may  have  his  coat  cut  in  Paris, 
but  he  would  fight  a  Frenchman  in  the  cloth  of  his  country  as  quick  to-day 
as  a  Marion  man  ever  pulled  the  trigger  of  a  Tower  musket  against  a  red- 
coat Englishman  in  '76.  And  peace  has  tried  our  patriotism  more  than  war. 
What  people  have  more  reast>n  to  love  a  country  from  the  labor  they  have 
bestowed  upon  its  development  by  the  arts  of  industry  ?  No :  as  long  as  the 
memory  of  George  Washington  lives,  as  long  as  there  shall  be  a  22d  of  Feb- 
ruary and  a  4th  of  July,  as  long  as  the  everlasting  mountains  of  this  conti- 
nent stand,  and  our  'Father  of  Waters  flows,  there  will  be  fathers  to  hand 
"down  the  stories  which  make  our  hearts  to  glow,  and  mothers  to  sing  "  Hail 
Columbia"  to  their  babes — and  that  song  is  not  yet  stale.  There  is  no  need 
to  revive  a  sinking  patriotism  in  the  hearts  of  our  people.  And  who  would 
have  them  be  selfish  in  their  freedom  ?  Freedom  !  Liberty  !  selfish  and 
exclusive  !  Never;  for  it  consumeth  not  in  its  use,  but  is  like  fire  in  magni- 
fying, by  imparting  its  sparks  and  its  rays  of  light  and  of  heat.  Is  there  any 
necessity  from  abroad  for  such  secret  political  organizations  ?  Against 
whom,  and  against  what,  is  it  levelled?  Against  foreigners  by  birth. 

When  we  were  as  weak  as  three  millions,  we  relied  largely  on  foreigners 
by  birth  to  defend  us  and  aid  us  in  securing  independence.  Now  that  we 
are  twenty-two  millions  strong,  how  is  it  we  have  become  so  weak  in  our 
fears  as  to  apprehend  we  are  to  be  deprived  of  our  liberties  by  foreigners  ? 
Verily,  this  seemeth  as  if  Know-Nothings  were  reversing  the  order  of 
things,  or  that  there  is  another  and  a  different  feeling  from  that  of  the  fear 
arising  from  a  sense  of  weakness^  It  comes  rather  from  a  proud  conscious- 
ness of  over-weening  strength.  They  wax  strong  rather,  and  would  kick, 
like  the  proud  grown  fat.  It  is  an  exclusive,  if  not  an  aristocratic  feeling 
in  the  true  sense,  which  would  say  to  the  friends  of  freedom  born  abroad  : 
"  We  had  need  of  you  and  were  glad  of  your  aid  when  we  were  weak,  but 
we  are  now  so  independent  of  you  that  we  are  not  compelled  to  allow  you 
to  enjoy  our  Republican  privileges.  We  desire  the  exclusive  use  of  hu- 
man rights,  though  to  deprive  you  of  their  common  enjoyment  will  not  en- 
rich us  the  more  and  will  make  you  'poor  indeed  !'  '  But  not  only  is  it 
levelled  against  foreigners  by  birth,  but  against  the  Pope  of  Rome. 

There  was  once  a  time  when  the  very  name  of  Papa  frightened  us  as  the 
children  of  a  nursery.  But,  now,  now !  who  can  be  frightened  by  the  tem- 
poral or  ecclesiastical  authority  of  Pius  IX?  Has  he  got  back  to  Rome 
from  his  late  excursion?  Who  are  his  body-guard  there?  Have  the  lips 
of  a  crowned  head  kissed  his  big  toe  for  a  century  ?  Are  any  so  poor  as 
to  do  his  Italian  crown  any  reverence  ?  Do  not  two  Catholic  powers, 
France  and  Austria,  hold  all  his  dominions  in  a  detestable  dependency  ? 
What  army,  what  revenue,  what  diplomacy,  what  church  domination  in 
even  the  Catholic  countries  of  the  old  or  the  new  world  hns  he  ?  Why,  the 
idea  of  the  Pope's  influence  at  this  day  is  as  preposterous  as  that  of  a  gun- 
powder plot.  I  would  as  soon  think  of  dreading  the  ghost  of  Guy  Fawkes. 

No,  there  is  no  necessity,  from  either  oppression  or  weakness  of  Protes- 
tants or  natives.  They  are  both  free  and  strong ;  and  do  they  now,  because 


12 

they  are  rich  in  civil  and  religious  freedom,  wish,  in  turn,  to  persecute,  and 
exclude  the  fallen  and  the  down-trodden  of  the  earth  ? — God  forbid  ! 

3d.  But  there  is  not  only  no  necessity  for  this  secret  political  organiza- 
tion, but  it  is  against  the  spirit  of  our  laws  and  the  facts  of  our  history. 
Some  families  in  this  Republic  render  themselves  ridiculous,  and  offensive, 
too,  by  the  vain  pretensions  to  the  exalting  accidents  of  birth.  We,  in  Vir- 
ginia, are  not  seldom  pointed  at  for  our  F.  F.  V.'s  of  ancestral  arrogance. 
But,  who  ever  thought  that  pretension  of  this  sort  was  so  soon  to  be  set  up 
by  exclusives  for  the  Republic  itself  ?  Some  of  the  ancient  European  people 
may  boast  of  their  "protoplasts,"  and  of  their  being  themselves  "autoch- 
thones"— that  they  had  fathers  and  mothers  from  near  Adam,  whom  they 
can  name  as  their  first  formers,  and  that  they  are  of  the  same  unmixed 
blood,  original  inhabitants  of  their  country.  But  who  were  our  protoplasts'! 
English,  Irish,  Scotch,  German,  Dutch,  Swedes,  French,  Swiss,  Spanish, 
Italian,  Ethiopian^all  people  of  all  nations,  tribes,  complexions,  languages 
and  religions!  And  who  alone  are  "autochthones"  here  in  North  Amer- 
ica ? — Why,  the  Indians !  They  are  the  only  true  natives.  One  thing  we 
have,  and  that  more  distinctly  than  any  other  nation:  we  have  our  "  epony- 
mas.""  We  can  name  the  very  hour  of  our  birth  as  a  people.  We  need  re- 
cur to  no  fable  of  a  wolf  to  whelp  us  into  existence.  It  may  be  hard  to 
fix  Anno  Mundi,  or  the  year  of  Noah's  flood,  or  the  building  of  Rome. 
Rome  may  have  her  Julian  epocha,  the  Ethiopian  their  epocha  of  the  Abys- 
sines,  the  Arabians  theirs  of  the  flight  of  Mahomet,  the  Persians  theirs  of 
the  coronation  of  Jesdegerdis  ;  but  ours  dates  from  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  the  4th  day  of  July,  A.  D.  1776. 
As  a  nation  we  are  but  78  years  of  age.  Many  a  person  is  now  living  who 
was  alive  before  this  nation  was  born.  And  the  ancestors  of  this  people, 
about  two  centuries  only  ago,  were  foreigners,  every  one  of  them  coming 
to  the  shores  of  this  country,  to  take  it  away  from  the  Aborigines,  the  "  autoch- 
thones," and  to  take  possession  of  it  by  authority,  either  directly  or  deriva- 
tively, of  Papal  Power  ?  His  holiness  the  Pope  was  the  great  grantor  of  all 
the  new  countries  of  North  America.  This  fiction  was  a  fact  of  the  history 
of  all  our  first  discoveries  and  settlements.  Foreigners,  in  the  name  of  the 
Pope  and  Mother  Church,  took  possession  of  North  America,  to  have  and 
to  hold  the  same  to  their  heirs  against  the  heathen  forever ! — and  now  al- 
ready their  descendants  are  for  excluding  foreigners  and  the  Pope's  follow- 
ers from  an  equal  enjoyment  of  the  privileges  of  this  same  possession  f  So 
strange  is  human  history.  Christopher  Columbus  !  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella! What  would  they  have  thought  of  this  had  they  foreseen  it  when 
they  touched  a  continent  and  called  it  theirs  in  the  name  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  by  authority  of  the  keeper  of  the  keys  of  heaven,  and  of  the  great 
grantor  of  the  empire  and  domain  of  earth  ?  What  would  have  become  of 
our  national  titles  to  north-eastern  and  north-western  boundaries,  but  for  the 
plea  of  this  authority,  valid  of  old  among  all  Christian  Powers  ? 

Following  the  discovery  and  the  possession  of  the  country  by  foreigners,  in 
virtue  of  Catholic  majesty,  came  the  settlements  of  the  country  by  force  and 
constraint  of 'religious  intolerance  and  persecution.  Puritans,  Huguenots,  Cav- 
aliers, Catholics,  Quakers,  all  came  to  Western  wilds,  each  in  turn  persecuted 
and  persecuting  for  opinion's  sake.  Oppression  of  opinion  was  the  most  odious 
of  the  abominations  of  the  Old  World's  despotism — its  only  glory  and  grace 
is  that  it  made  thousands  of  martyrs.  It  deluged  every  country  and  tainted 
the  air  of  every  clime,  and  stained  the  robes  of  righteousness  of  every 
sect  with  blood,  with  the  blood  of  every  human  sacrifice,  which  was  honest 
and  earnest  in  its  faith,  the  hypocrites  and  hinds  of  profession  alone  escaping1 
the  swords  or  the  flames  of  persecution.  The  colonies  were  [blackened  by 
the  burnings  of  the  stake,  and  were  died  red  with  the  blood  of  intolerance. 


13 

The  American  revolution  made  a  new  era  of  liberty  to  dawn — the  era  of 
the  liberty  of  conscience.  If  there  is  any  essence  in  Americanism,  the 
very  salt  wherewith  it  is  savored  is  the  freedom  of  opinion  and  the  liberty 
of  conscience.  Is  it  now  proposed  that  we  shall  go  back  to  the  deeds  of 
the  dark  ages  of  despotism  ?  That  this  broad  land,  still  unoccupied  in  more 
than  half  of  its  virgin  soil,  shall  no  longer  be  an  asylum  for  the  oppressed  ? 
That  here,  as  elsewhere,  and  again,  as  of  old,  men  shall  be  burthened  by 
their  births  and  chained  for  their  opinions?  I  trust  that  a  design  of  that 
intent  will  remain  a  secret  buried  forever. 

I  have  said  this  organization  was  against  the  spirit  of  our  laws.  Our  laws 
sprang  from  the  necessity  of  the  condition  of  our  early  settlers.  They 
brought  with  them  from  England  their  Penates,  the  household  gods  of  an 
Anglo-Saxon  race,  the  liberties  of  Magna  Charta,  the  trial  by  jury,  the  judg- 
ment of  the  peers,  and  the  other  muniments  of  human  dignity  and  human 
rights  secured  by  the  first  English  Charta.  These,  foreigners  brought  with 
them  from  Europe.  Here  they  found  the  virtues  to  extend  these  rights  and 
their  muniments.  The  neglect  of  the  mother  country  left  them  self-de- 
pendent and  self-reliant  until  they  were  thoroughly  taught  the  lesson  of  self- 
government — that  they  could  be  their  own  sovereigns — and  the  very  experi- 
ence of  despotism  they  had  once  tasted  made  them  hate  tyrants,  either 
elective  or  hereditary.  Their  destitute  and  exposed  condition  trained  them 
to  hardy  habits  and  cultivated  in  them  every  sterner  virtue.  They  knew 
privation,  fatigue,  endurance,  self-denial,  fortitude,  and  were  made  men  at 
arms — cautious,  courageous,  generous,  just  and  trusting  in  God.  They  had 
to  fight  Indians,  from  Philip,  on  Massachusetts  Bay,  to  Powhatan,  on  the 
river  of  Swans.  And  they  had  an  unexplored  continent  to  subdue,  with  its 
teeming  soil,  its  majestic  forests,  its  towering  mountains,  and  its  unequalled 
rivers.  Above  all  things,  they  needed  population,  more  fellow-settlers,  more 
foreigners  to  immigrate,  and  to  aid  them  in  the  task  of  founders  of  empire 
set  before  them,  to  open  the  forests,  to  level  the  hills,  and  to  raise  up  the 
valleys  of  a  giant  new  country.  Well,  these  foreigners  did  their  task  like 
men.  Such  a  work!  who  can  exaggerate  it?  They  did  it  against  all  odds 
and  in  spite  of  European  oppression.  They  grew  and  thrived,  until  they 
were  rich  enough  to  be  taxed.  They  were  told  taxation  was  no  tyranny. 
But  these  foreigners  gave  the  world  a  newr  truth  of  freedom.  Taxation  with- 
out representation  was  tyranny.  The  attempt  to  impose  it  upon  them,  the 
least  mite  of  it,  made  them  resolve,  "  that  they  would  give  millions  for 
defence,  but  not  a  cent  for  tribute."  That  resolve  drove  them  to  the  neces- 
sity of  war,  and  they,  foreigners,  Protestants,  Catholics  and  all,  took  the 
dire  alternative,  united  as  a  band  of  brothers,  and  declared  their  dependence 
upon  God  alone.  And  they  entered  to  the  world  a  complaint  of  grievances 
— a  Declaration  of  Independence  !  This  was  pretty  well  to  show  whether 
foreigners,  of  any  and  all  religions,  just  fresh  from  Europe,  could  be  trusted 
on  the  side  of  America  and  liberty.  One  of  the  first  of  their  complaints 
was : 

"  He  (George  III.)  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population  of  these 
states,  for  that  purpose  obstructing  the  laws  for  naturalization  of  foreigners, 
refusing  to  pass  others  to  encourage  their  emigration  hither,  and  raising  the 
conditions  of  new  appropriations  of  land." 

There  is  the   proof  that  they  valued  the  naturalization  of  foreigners 
the  immigration  of  foreigners  hither,   and  they  desired  appropriations,  new 
appropriations  of  land,  for  immigrants. 

Anotheir  complaint  was,  that  they  had  appealed  in  vain  to  "  British  breth- 
ren." They  said: 

"We  have  appealed  to  their  native  justice  and  magnanimity;  and  we 
have  conjured  them,  by  the  ties  of  our  common  kindred,  to  disavow  these 


14 

usurpations,  &c.  They,  too,  have  been  deaf  to  the  voice  of  justice  and  con- 
sanguinity. We  must,  therefore,  acquiesce  in  the  necessity  which  denounces 
our  separation,  and  hold  them,  as  we  hold  the  rest  of  mankind,  enemies  in 
war,  in  peace  friends." 

There  is  proof,  too,  that  Nativism  can't  always  be  relied  on  to  help  one's 
own  countrymen,  and  that  brethren,  and  kindred,  and  consanguinity,  will 
fail  a  whole  people  in  trouble,  just  as  kinship  too  often  fails  families  and  in- 
dividuals in  the  trials  of  life. 

"And,"  lastly,  "for  the  support  of  this  Declaration,  with  a  firm  reliance 
on  the  protection  of  Divine  Providence,  wre  mutually  pledge  to  each  other 
our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honor." 

There  was  tolerance,  there  was  firm  reliance  on  the  same  one  God ;  there 
was  mutuality  of  pledge,  each  to  the  other,  at  one  altar,  and  there  was  a 
common  stake  of  sacrifice — "lives,  fortunes  and  honor!"  And  who  were 
they  ?  There  were  Hancock  the  Puritan,  Penn  the  Quaker,  Rutledge  the 
Huguenot,  Carroll  the  Catholic,  Lee  the  Cavalier,  Jefferson  the  Free  Thinker. 
These,  representatives  of  all  the  signers,  and  the  signers,  representatives  of 
all  the  people  of  all  the  colonies. 

Oh!  my  countrymen,  did  not  that  "pledge"  bind  them  and  bind  us, 
their  heirs,  forever  to  faith  and  hope  in  God  and  to  charity  for  each  other — to 
tolerance  in  religion,  and  to  "mutuality"  in  political  freedom?  Down, 
down  with  any  organization,  then,  which  "denounces"  a  "separation" 
between  Protestant  Virginia  and  Catholic  Maryland — between  the  children 
of  Catholic  Carroll  and  Protestant  George  Wythe.  Their  names  stand  to- 
gether among  "  the  signatures,"  and  I  will  redeem  their  "mutual"  pledges 
with  my  "life,"  rny  "fortune,"  and  my  "sacred  honor,"  "so  far  as  in  me 
lies — so  help  me,  Almighty  God  !" 

I  think  that  here  is  proof  enough  that  "foreigners"  and  Catholics  both 
entered  as  material  elements  into  our  Americanism.  But  before  the  4th  day 
of  July  there  were  laws  passed  of  the  highest  authority,  to  which  this  secret 
organization  is  opposed. 

On  the  12th  of  June,  '76,  the  Convention  of  Virginia  passed  a  V  Declara- 
tion of  Rights."  Its  4th  section  declares:  "that  no  man,  or  set  of 
men,  are  entitled  to  exclusive  or  separate  emoluments  or  privileges  from  the 
community,  but  in  consideration  of  public  services ;  which  not  being  de- 
scendible, neither  ought  the  offices  of  magistrate,  legislator  or  judge  to  be 
hereditary." 

Now,  does  the  Know-Nothing  organization  not  claim  for  the  "native 
born"  "set  of  men"  to  be  entitled  to  exclusive  privileges  from  the  commu- 
nity as  against  naturalized  and  Catholic  citizens ;  and  thus,  by  virtue  of 
birth,  to  inherit  the  right  of  election  to  the  offices  of  magistrates,  legislator 
or  judge,  which  are  not  descendible  ?  They  set  up  no  such  claim  for  the 
individual  person  native  born,  but  they  do  set  up  a  quality  for  nativity,  to 
which,  and  to  which  alone,  they  claim,  pertains  the  privileges  of  eligibility 
to  offices. 

Again : — Does  this  organization  not  violate  the  7th  section  of  this  de- 
claration of  rights,  which  forbids  "  all  power  of  suspending  laws,  or  the  exe- 
cution of  laws,  by  any  authority  without  consent  of  the  representatives  of 
the  people,  as  injurious  to  their  rights,  and  which  ought  not  to  be  exer- 
cised?" When  the  laws  say,  and  the  representatives  of  the  people  say,  that 
Catholics  and  naturalized  citizens  shall  be  tolerated  and  allowed  to  enjoy 
the  privileges  of  citizenship,  and  eligibility  to  office,  have  they  not  organized 
a  secret  power  to  suspend  these  laws  and  to  prevent  the  execution  of  them, 
by  their  sole  authority,  without  consent  of  the  representatives  of  the  people  ? 
This  declaration  denounces  it  as  injurious  to  the  rights  of  the  people  and  as 
a  power  which  ought  not  to  be  exercised. 


15 

Again : — Does  not  this  organization  annul  that  part  of  the  8th  section  of 
this  declaration,  which  says  :  "  That  no  man  shall  be  deprived  of  his  liberty, 
except  by  the  law  of  the  land,  or  the  judgment  of  his  peers?"  This  don't 
apply  alone  to  personal  liberty,  the  freedom  of  the.  body  from  prison,  but  no 
man  shall  be  deprived  of  his  franchises  of  any  sort,  of  his  liberty  in  its 
largest  sense,  except  by  the  law  of  the  land  or  the  judgment  of  his  peers, 
the  trial  by  jury.  Has,  then,  a  private  and  secret  tribunal  a  right  to  impose 
qualifications  for  office,  and  to  enforce  their  laws  by  test  oaths,  so  as  to  de- 
prive any  man  of  his  liberty  to  be  elected?. 

Again : — Is  this  organization  not  an  Imperium  in  Imperio  against  the  14th 
section  of  this  declaration,  which  says:  "That  the  people  have  a  right  to 
uniform  government,  and,  therefore,  that  no  government  separated  from  or 
independent  of  the  government  of  Virginia,  ought  to  be  erected  or  estab- 
lished within  the  limits  thereof."  It  is  not  a  government,  but  doe.s  it  not,  will 
it  not,  politically  govern  the  portion  of  the  people  belonging  to  it,  differently 
from  what  the  portion  of  the  people  not  belonging  to  it,  are  governed  by  the 
laws  of  Virginia  ? 

Again: — It  does  not  adhere  to  the  "justice  and  moderation"  inculcated 
'in  the  15th  section  of  trie  declaration.  And  lastly,  it  avowedly  opposes  the 
16th  section,  which  declares.  "  that  religion,  or  the  duty  which  we  owe  to  our 
Creator,  and  the  manner  of  discharging  it,  can  be  directed  only  by  reason 
and  conviction,  not  by  force  or  violence ;  and,  therefore,  all  men  are  equally 
entitled  to  the  free  exercise  of  religion,  according  to  the  dictates  of  con- 
science ;  and  that  it  is  the  mutual  duty  of  all  to  practice  Christian  forbear- 
ance, love  and  charity  towards  each  other." 

But  this  organization  not  only  contravenes  the  rules  of  our  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  Rights,  but  it  is  in  the  face  of  a  positive  and  perpetual 
statute,  now  made  a  part  of  our  organic  law  by  the  new  Constitution — the 
Act  of  Religious  Freedom,  passed  the  16th  of  December,  1785.  Against 
this  law,  this  Know-Nothing  order  attacks  the  freedom  of  the  mind,  by  im- 
posing "  civil  incapacitations ;"  it  "attempts  to  punish  one  religion  and  to 
propagate  another  by  coercion  on  both  body  and  mind ;"  it  "  sets  up  its  own 
opinions  and  modes  of  thinking  as  the  only  true  and  infallible ;"  it  makes 
our  "  civil  rights  to  have  a  dependence  on  our  religious  opinions;"  it  "de- 
prives citizens  of  their  natural  rights,  by  proscribing  them  as  unworthy  the 
public  confidence,  by  laying  upon  them  an  incapacity  of  being  called  to 
offices  of  trust  and  emolument,  unless  they  profess  or  renounce  this  or  that 
religious  opinion;"  "it  tends  to  corrupt  the  principles  of  that  religion  it  is 
meant  to  encourage,  by  bribing  with  a  monopoly  of  worldly  honors  and 
emoluments,  those  who  will  externally  profess  and  conform  to  it;"  it  lacks 
confidence  in  Truth,  which  "is  great  and  will  prevail,"  if  left  to  herself: 
that  she  is  the  proper  and  sufficient  antagonist  to  Error,  and  has  nothing  to 
fear  from  the  conflict,  unless  by  human  interposition  disarmed  of  her  natural 
weapons,  free  argument  and  debate ;  it  withdraws  errors  from  free  argument 
and  debate,  and  hides  them  in  secret,  where  they  become  dangerous,  because 
it  is  not  permitted  freely  to  contradict  them. 

Let  it  not  be  said  that  this  is  a  restraining  statute  upon  government,  and 
is  a  prohibition  to  "legislators  and  rulers,  civil  as  wrell  as  ecclesiastical."  If 
they  even  are  restrained  by  this  law,  a  fortiori,  every  private  organization, 
or  order,  or  individual,  is  restrained.  The  Know-Nothings  will  hardly  pre- 
tend to  do  what  the  government  itself,  and  legislators,  and  rulers,  civil  as 
well  as  ecclesiastical,  dare  not  do.  If  such  be  their  pretensions  they  claim 
to  be  above  the  law,  or  to  set  up  a  higher  law — then,  sic  volo,  to  compel  a 
man  to  frequent  or  support  any  religious  worship,  and  to  enforce,  restrain, 
molest,  or  burthen  him,  or  "to  make  him  suffer"  on  account  of  his  religious 
opinions  or  belief;  or  to  deprive  men  of  their  freedom  to  profess,  and  by 


16 

argument  to  maintain,  their  opinions  in  matters  of  religion,  and  to  make  the 
same  diminish,  enlarge  or  affect  their  civil  capacities.  No,  when  our  Con- 
stitutions forbid  the  legislators  to  exercise  a  power,  they  intend  that  no  such 
power  shall  be  exercised  by  any  one. 

Not  only  is  the  law  of  Virginia  thus  liberal  as  to  religion,  but  also  as  to 
naturalization. 

So  far  as  "Know-Nothingism  "  opposes  our  naturalization  laws,  it  is  not 
only  against  our  statute  policy,  but  against  Americanism  itself.  In  this  it  is 
especially  anti-American.  One' of  the  best  fruits  of  the  American  Revolu- 

— • tion  was  to  establish,  for  the  first  time  in  the  world,  the  human  right  of  ex- 
patriation. Prior  to  our  separate  existence  as  a  nation  of  the  earth,  the  des- 
potisms of  the  old  world  had  made  a  law  unto  themselves,  whereby  they 
could  hold  forever  in  chains  those  of  mankind  who  were  so  unfortunate  as 
to  be  born  their  subjects.  In  respect  to  birthright  and  the  right  of  expatria- 
tion, and  the  duty  of  allegiance  and  protection,  and  the  law  of  treason, 
crowned  heads  held  to  the  ancient  dogma:  "  Once  a  citizen  always  a  citi- 
zen." If  'a  man  was  so  miserable  as  to  be  born  the  slave  of  a  tyrant,  he 
must  remain  his  slave  forever.  He  could  never  renounce  his  ill-fafed  birth-, 
right — could  never  expatriate  himself  to  seek  for  a  better  country — and 
could  never  forswear  the  allegiance  which  bound  him  to  his  chains.  He 
might  emigrate,  might  take  the  wings  of  the  morning  and  fly  to  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth,  might  cross  seas  and  continents,  and  put  oceans,  and 
rivers,  and  lakes,  and  mountains  between  him  and  the  throne  in  the  shadow 
of  which  he  was  born,  and  he  would  still  "but  drag  a  lengthening  chain." 
Still  the  despotism  might  pursue  him,  find  and  bind  him  as  a  subject  slave. 
If  America  beckoned  to  him  to  fly  to  her  for  freedom,  and  to  give  her  the 
cunning  and  the  strength  of  his  right  arm  to  help  ameliorate  her  huge  pro- 
portions and  to  work  out  her  grand  destiny,  the  tyrant  had  to  be  asked  for 
passports  and  permission  to  expatriate.  But  they  came — lo !  they  came  ! 
Our  laws  encouraged  them  to  come.  Before  '76,  Virginia  and  all  the  colo- 
nies encouraged  immigration.  It  was  a  necessity  as  well  as  a  policy  of  the 
whole  country.  Early  in  the  revolution,  the  king's  forces  hung  some  of  the 
best  blood  of  the  colonies  under  the  maxim,  "  Once  a  citizen,  always  a  citi- 
zen." They  were  traitors  if  found  fighting  for  us,  because  they  were  once 
subjects.  Washington  was  obliged  to  hold  hostages,  to  prevent  the  applica- 
tion of  this  barbarous  doctrine  of  tyranny.  At  last  our  struggle  ended,  and 
our  independence  wras  recognized.  George  III.  was  compelled  to  renounce 
our  allegiance  to  him,  though  we  were  born  his  subjects.  But  still,  when  we 
came  to  our  separate  existence,  we  were  called  on  to  recognize  the  same 
odious  maxim,  still  adhered  to  by  the  despots  of  Europe:  "Once  a  citizen, 
always  a  citizen."  Subjects  were  still  told  that  they  should  not  expatriate 
themselves,  and  America  wras  warned  that  she  should  not  naturalize  them 
without  the  consent  of  their  monarch  masters.  Spurning  this  dogma,  and 
the  tyrants  who  boasted  the  power  to  enforce  it,  the  4th  power  which  the 
Convention  of  1787,  that  formed  our  blessed  Constitution,  enumerated,  is : 

'  "The  Congress  shall  have  power  'to  establish  an  uniform  rule  of  naturaliza- 
tion.' ' 

The  meaning  of  this  was,  to  say  by  public  law  to  all  Europe  and  her  com- 
bined courts,  "  Your  dogma,  'once  a  citizen  always  a  citizen,' shall  cease 
forever  as  to  the  United  States  of  North  America.  We  need  population  to 
smooth  our  rough  places,  and  to  make  our  crooked  places  straight;  but, 
above  and  beyond  that  policy,  we  are,  with  the  help  of  God,  resolved  that 

^r  this  new  and  giant  land  shall  be  one  vast  asylum  for  the  oppressed  of  every 
other  land,  now  and  forever!  "  That  is  my  reading  of  our  law  of  liberty. 
Those  born  in  bondage  might  raise  their  eyes  up  in  hope  of  a  better  country ! 
They  might,  and  should  if  they  would,  expatriate  themselves,  fly  from 


17 

slavery  and  chains,  and  come! — Ho,  every  one  of  them,  come  to  our  country 
and  be  free  \\ith  us!  They  might  forswear  their  allegiance  to  despots,  and 
should  be  allowed  here  to  take  an  oath  to  liberty  and  her  flag,  and  her  free- 
dom, and  they  should  not  be  pursued  and  punished  as  traitors.  When  they 
came  and  swore  that  our  country  should  be  their  country,  we  would  swear  to 
protect  them  as  if  in  the  country  born,  as  if  natives — i.  e.,  as  naturalized 
citizens,  and  they  should  be  our  citizens  and  be  entitled  to  our  protection. 
And  this  was  in  conformity  to  the  only  true  idea  of  "  Naturalization,"  which, 
according  to  its  legal  as  well  as  its  etymological  sense,  means,  "when  one 
who  is  an  alien  is  made  a  natural  subject  by  act  of  law  and  consent  of  the 
sovereign  power  of  the  state."  The  consent  of  our  sovereign  power  is 
written  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  Congress,  at  an  early 
day  after  its  adoption,  passed  the  acts  of  naturalization.  The  leading  statute 
is  that  of  April  14th,  1802.  It  provided  that  any  alien,  being  a  free  white 
person,  may  be  admitted  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  or  any  of 
them,  on  the  following  conditions,  and  not  otherwise  : 

1st.  That  he  shall  have  declared  on  oath  or  affirmation  before  the  supreme, 
superior,  district  or  circuit  court  of  some  one  of  the  states,  or  of  the  territo- 
rial districts  of  the  United  States,  or  a  circuit  or  district  court  of  the  United 
States,  three  years  (two  years  by  act  of  May  26th,  1824,)  at  least  before  his 
admission,  that  it  was  his  lona  fide  intention  to  become  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  to  renounce  forever  all  allegiance  and  fidelity  to  any 
foreign  prince,  potentate,  state  or  sovereignty,  whereof  such  alien  may  at 
the  time  be  a  citizen  or  subject. 

•2(1.  That  he  shall,  at  the  time  of  his  application  to  be  admitted,  declare  on 
oath  or  affirmation  before  some  one  of  the  courts  aforesaid,  that  he  will  sup- 
port the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  that  he  doth  absolutely  and 
entirely  renounce  and  abjure  all  allegiance  and  fidelity  to  every  foreign 
prince,  potentate,  state  or  sovereignty  whatever,  and  particularly,  by  name, 
the  prince,  potentate,  state  or  sovereignty  whereof  he  was  before  a  citizen 
or  subject;  which  proceedings  shall  be  recorded  by  the  clerk  of  the  court. 

3rd.  That  the  court  admitting  such  alien  shall  be  satisfied  that  he  has 
resided  within  the  United  States  five  years  at  least,  and  within  the  state  on 
territory  where  such  court  is  at  the  time  held,  one  year,  at  least ;  and  it 
shall  further  appear  to  their  satisfaction,  that  during  that  time  he  has  behaved 
as  a  man  of  good  moral  character,  attached  to  the  principles  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  and  well  disposed  to  the  good  order  and 
happiness  of  the  same  ;  Provided,  That  the  oath  of  the  applicant  shall  in  no 
ca-c  be  allowed  to  prove  his  residence. 

4th.  That  in  case  the  alien  applying  to  be  admitted  to  citizenship  shall  have 
borne  any  hereditary  title  or  been  of  any  of  the  orders  of  nobility  in  the 
kingdom  or  state  from  which  he  came,  he  shall,  in  addition  to  the  above 
requisites,  make  an  express  renunciation  of  his  title  or  order  of  nobility  in 
the  court  to  which  his  application  shall  be  made,  which  renunciation  shall 
be  recorded  in  the  said  court:  Provided,  That  no  alien  who  shall  be  a  native, 
citizen,  denizen,  or  subject,  of  any  country,  state,  or  sovereign,  with  whom 
the  United  States  shall  be  at  war  at  the  time  of  his  application,  shall  then 
be  admitted  to  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 

The  act  ha*  other  provisions,  and  has  since  be" en  modified  from  time  to 
time.  This  statute  had  not  operated  a  legal  life  time  before  Great  Britain 
agaiu  asserted  the  dogma:  "  Once  a  citizen,  always  a  citizen  !"  The  base 
and  cowardly  attack  of  the  Leopard  on  the  Chesapeake,  at  the  mouth  of 
this  very  bay,  in  sight  of  the  Virginia  shore,  was  made  upon  the  claim  of 
right  to  seize  British  born  subjects  from  on  board  our  man-of-war.  The 
star-spangled  banner  was  struck  that  day  for  the  last  time  to  the  detestable 
maxim  of  tyranny: — "Once  a  citizen,  always  a  citizen."  It  must  not  be 
2 


18 

forgotten  that  it  was  upon  this  doctrine  of  despots  that  the  Right  of  Search 
was  founded.  They  arrogated  to  themselves  the  prerogative  to  search  our 
decks  on  the  high  seas,  and  to  seize  those  of  our  crews  who  were  born  in 
British  dominions.  In  1812,  we  declared  the  last  war.  For  what?  For 
"  Free  Trade,  and  Sailors'  Rights"  That  is,  for  the  right  of  our  naturalized- 
citizen-sailors  to  sail  on  the  high  seas,  and  to  trade  abroad  free  from  search 
and  seizure.  They  had  been  required  to  "renounce  and  abjure,"  all  "al- 
legiance and  fidelity"  to  any  other  country,  state,  or  sovereignty,  and 
particularly  to  the  country,  state,  or  sovereignty  under  which  they  have 
been  natives  or  citizens,  and  we  had  reciprocally  undertaken  to  protect  them 
in  consideration  of  their  oaths  of  allegiance  and  fidelity  to  the  United  States. 
How  protect  them  ?  By  enabling  them  to  fulfil  their  obligations  to  us  of  al- 
legiance and  fidelity,  by  making  them  free  to  fight  for  our  flag,  and  free  in 
every  sense,  just  as  if  they  had  been  born  in  our  country.  Fight  for  us 
they  did  ;  naturalized,  and  those  not  naturalized,  were  of  our  crews.  They 
fought  in  every  sea  for  the  flag  which  threw  protection  over  them,  from 
the  first  gun  of  the  Constitution  frigate  to  the  last  gun  of  the  boats  on 
Lake  Pontchartrain,  in  every  battle  where 

"  Cannon's  mouths  were  each  other  greeting, 
And  yard  arm  was  with  yard  arm  meeting." 

That  war  sealed  in  the  blood  of  dead  and  living  heroes  the  eternal,  Amer- 
ican principle: — "The  right  of  expatriation,  the  right  and  duty  of  naturali- 
zation— the  right  to  fly  from  tyranny  to  the  flag  of  freedom,  and  the  recip- 
rocal duties  of  allegiance  and  protection."  And  does  a  party — an  order  or 
what  not,  calling  itself  an  .American  party,  now  oppose  and  call  upon  me 
to  oppose  these  great  American  truths,  and  to  put  America  in  the  wrong 
for  declaring  and  fighting  the  last  war  of  independence  against  Great 
Britain  ?  Never  !  I  would  as  soon  go  back  to  wallowing  in  the  mire  of 
European  serfdom.  I  won't  do  it.  I  can't  do  it.  No ;  I  will  lie  down  and 
rise  up  a  Native  American,  for  and  not  against  these  imperishable  Amer- 
ican truths.  Nor  will  any  true  American,  who  understands  what  Amer- 
icanism is  do  otherwise.  I  put  a  case  : 

A  Prussian  born  subject  came  to  this  country.  He  complied  with  our 
naturalization  laws  in  all  respects  of  notice  of  intention,  residence,  oath  of  alle- 
giance, and  proof  of  good  moral  character.  He  remained  continuously  in  the 
United  States  the  full  period  of  five  years.  When  he  had  fully  filled  the  meas- 
ure of  his  probation  and  was  consummately  a  naturalized  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  he  then,  and  not  until  then,  returned  to  Prussia  to  visit  an  aged  father. 
He  was  immediately,  on  his  return,  seized  and  forced  into  the  Landwehr,  or 
militia  system  of  Prussia,  under  the  maxim  :  "  Once  a  citizen,  always  a 
citizen!"  There  he  is  forced  to  do  service  to  the  king  of  Prussia  at  this 
very  hour.  He  applies  for  protection  to  the  United  States.  Would  the 
Know-Nothings  interpose  in  his  behalf  or  not  ?  Look  at  the  principles  in- 
volved. We,  by  our  laws,  encouraged  him  to  come  to  our  country,  and 
here  he  was  allowed  to  become  naturalized,  and  to  that  end  required  to  re- 
nounce and  abjure  all  allegiance  and  fidelity  to  the  king  of  Prussia,  and  to 
swear  allegiance  and  fidelity  to  the  United  States.  The  king  of  Prussia 
now  claims  no  legal  forfeiture  from  him — he  punishes  him  for  no  crime — he 
claims  of  him  no  legal  debt — he  claims  alone  that  very  allegiance  and  fidelity 
which  we  required  the  man  to  abjure  and  renounce.  Not  only  so,  but  he 
hinders  the  man  from  returning  to  the  United  States,  and  from  discharging 
the  allegiance  and  fidelity  we  required  him  to  swear  to  the  United  States. 
The  king  of  Prussia  says  he  should  do  him  service  for  seven  years,  for  this 
was  what  he  was  bom  to  perform ;  his  obligations  were  due  to  him  first,  and 


19 

his  laws  were  first  binding  him.  The  United  States  say — true,  he  was  born 
under  your  laws,  but  he  had  a  right  to  expatriate  himself  ;  he  owed  allegi- 
ance first  to  you,  but  he  had  a  right  to  forswear  it  and  to  swear  allegiance  to 
us  ;  your  laws  first  applied,  but  this  is  a  case  of  political  obligation,  not  of 
legal  obligation  ;  it  is  not  for  any  crime  or  debt  you  claim  to  bind  him,  but 
it  is  for  allegiance  ;  and  the  claim  you  set  up  to  his  services  on  the  ground  of 
his  political  obligation,  his  allegiance  to  you,  which  we  allow  him  to  abjure 
and  renounce,  is  inconsistent  with  his  political  obligation,  his  allegiance, 
which  we  required  him  to  swear  to  the  United  States  ;  he  has  sworn  fidelity 
to  us,  and  we  have,  by  our  laws,  pledged  protection  to  him. 

Such  is  the  issue.  Now,  with  which  will  the  Know-Nothings  take  sides? 
With  the  king  of  Prussia  against  our  naturalized  citizen  and  against  Amer- 
ica, or  with  America  and  our  naturalized  citizen  ?  Mark,  now,  Know-Noth- 
ingism  is  opposed  to  all  foreign  influence — against  American  institutions. 
The  kin*  of  Prussia  is  a  pretty  potent  foreign  influence — he  was  one  of  the 
holy  alliance  of  crowned  heads.  Will  they  take  part  with  him,  and  not 
protect  the  citizen?  Then  they  will  aid  a  foreign  influence  against  our 
!aws!  Will  they  take  sides  with  our  naturalized  citizen?  If  so,  then 
upon  what  grounds  ?  Now,  they  must  have  a  good  cause  of  interposi- 
tion to  justify  us  against  all  the  received  dogmas  of  European  despotism. 

Don't  they  see,  can't  they  perceive,  that  they  have  no  other  grounds  than 
those  I  have  urged  ?     He   is  our  citizen,  nationalized,  owing  us  allegiance 
and  we  owing  him  protection.     And  if  we  owe  him  protection  abroad,  be- 
cause of  his  sworn  allegiance  to  us  as  a  naturalized  citizen,  what  then  can 
deprive  him  of  his  privileges  at  home  among  us  when  he  returns?     If  he  be 
a  citizen  at  all,  he   must  be  allowed  the  privileges  of  citizenship,  or  he  will" 
not  be  the   equal  of  his  fellow-citizens.     And   must  not  Know-Nothingism 
strike  at  the  very  equality  of  citizenship,  or  allow  him  to  enjoy  all  its  lawful 
privileges?     If  Catholics  and  naturalized  citizens  are  to  be  citizens  and  yet 
to  be  proscribed  from  office,  they  must  be  rated  as  an  inferior  class — an  ex-- 
eluded  class  of  citizens.     Will  it  be  said  that  the  law  will  not  make  this  dis- 
tinction?    Then  are  we  to  understand  that  Know-Nothings  would  not  make 
them   equal  by  law?     If  not  by  law,  how  can   they  pretend  to  make  them 
unequal,  by  their  secret  order,  without  law   and  against  law?     For  them, 
by   secret   combination,   to    make    them   unequal,   to   impose    a    burthen  or 
restriction  upon  their  privileges    which  the  law  does  not,  is  to  set  them- 
selves up  above  the  law,  and  to  supercede  by  private  and  secret  author- 
ity,  intangible   and    irresponsible,  the    rule    of  public,  political    right.     In- 
deed,  is  this  not  the  very   essence  of  the  "  Higher  Law"    doctrine?      It 
cannot   be    said   to   be   legitimate   public  sentiment   and  the   action  of  its 
authority.      Public    sentiment,    proper,    is    a   concurrence    of  the    common 
mind  in  some   conclusion,  conviction,  opinion,  taste  or  action   in  respect  to 
persons  or  things  subject  to  its  public  notice,     It  will,  and  it  must  control  the 
minds  and  actions  of  men,  by  public  and  conventional  opinion.     Count  Mole 
said  that  in  France  it  was  stronger  than  statutes.     It  is  so  here.     That  it  is 
which  should  decide  at  the  polls  of  a  Republic.     But,  here  is  a  secret  senti- 
ment, which   may  be  so  organized   as   to  contradict  the  public  sentiment. 
Candidate   A.  may  be  a  native  and  a  Protestant,  and  may  concur  with  the 
community,  if  it  be  a  Know-Nothing  community,  on  every  other  subject  ex- 
cept that  of  proscribing  Catholics  and  naturalized   citizens;   and  candidate 
B.  may  concur  with  the  community  on  the  subject  of  this  proscription  alone, 
and  upon  no^ other  subject ;  and  yet  the  Know-Nothing^   might  elect  B.  by 
their  secret  'sentiment  against  the  public  sentiment.  "Thus  it  attacks   not 
only  American  doctrines  of  expatriation,  allegiance  and  protection,  but  the 
equality  of  citizenship,  and  the  authority  of  public  sentiment.     In  the  affair 
of  Koszta,  how  did  our  blood  rush  to  his  rescue  ?     Did  the  Know-Nothing 


20 

side  with  him  and  Mr.  Marcy,  or  with  Hulseman  and  Austria?  If  with 
Koszta,  why  ?  Let  them  ask  themselves  for  the  rationale,  and  see  if  it  can 
in  reason  abide  with  their  orders.  There  is  no  middle  ground  in  respect  to 
naturalization.  We  must  either  have  naturalization  laws  and  let  foreigners 
become  citizens,  on  equal  terms  of  capacities  and  privileges,  or  we  must  ex- 
clude them  altogether.  If  wre  abolish  naturalization  laws,  we  return  to  the 
European  dogma:  "Once  a  citizen,  always  a  citizen."  If  we  let  foreigners 
be  naturalized  and  don't  extend  to  them  equality  of  privileges,  we  set  up 
classes  and  distinctions  of  persons  wholly  opposed  to  Republicanism.  We 
will,  as  Rome  did,  have  citizens  who  may  be  scourged.  The  three  alterna- 
tives are  presented — Our  present  policy,  liberal,  and  just,  and  tolerant,  and 
equal;  or  the  European  policy  of 'holding  the  noses  of  native  born  slaves  to 
the  grind-stone  of  tyranny  nil  their  lives ;  or,  odious  distinctions  of  citizen- 
ship tending  to  social  and  political  aristocracy.  I  am  for  the  present  laws  of 
naturalization.  .. 

As  to  religion,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  art.  6th,  sec.  3,  espe- 
cially provides  that  no  religious  test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  qualification 
to  any  office  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States.  The  state  of  Virginia 
has,  from  her  earliest  history,  passed  the  most  liberal  laws,  not  only  towards 
naturalization,  but  towards  foreigners.  But  I  have  said  enough  to  show  the 
spirit  of  American  laws  and  the  true  sense  of  American  maxims. 

3rd.  Know-Nothingism  is  against  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation  and  of  Pro- 
testantism ? 

What  was  there  to  Reform  ? 

Let  the  most  bigoted  Protestant  enumerate  what  he  defines  to  have  been 
the  abominations  of  the  church  of  Rome.  What  would  he  say  were  the 
worst  ?  The  secrets  of  Jesuitism,  of  the  Jiuto  dafe,  of  the  Monasteries  and 
of  the  Nunneries.  The  private  penalties  of  the  Inquisition's  Scavenger's 
daughter.  Proscription,  Persecution.  Bigotry,  Intolerance,  Shutting  up  of 
the  Book  of  the  Word.  And  do  Protestants  now  mean  to  out- Jesuit  the 
Jesuits  ?  Do  they  mean  to  strike  and  not  be  seen?  To  be  felt  and  not  to  be 
heard?  To  put  a  shudder  upon  humanity  by  the  Masks  of  Mutes?  Will 
they  wear  the  Monkish  cowls  ?  Will  they  inflict  penalties  at  the  polls 
without  reasoning  together  with  their  fellows  at  the  hustings  ?  Will 
they  proscribe  ?  Persecute  ?  Will  the}'-  bloat  up  themselves  into  that 
bigotry  which  would  burn  non-conformists?  Will  they  not  tolerate  free- 
dom of  conscience,  but  doom  dissenters,  in  secret  conclave,  to  a  forfeiture 
of  civil  privileges  fora  religious  difference  ?  Will  they  not  translate  the 
scripture  of  their  faith  ?  Will  they  visit  us  with  dark  lanterns  and  execute 
us  by  signs,  and  test  oaths,  and  in  secresy  ? 

Protestantism  !  forbid  it ! 

If  anything  was  ever  open,  fair  and  free — if  anything  was  ever  blatant 
even — it  was  the  Reformation.  To  quote  from  a  mighty  British  pen  :  "It 
gave  a  mighty  impulse  and  increased  activity  to  thought  and  enquiry,  agitated 
the  inert  mass  of  accumulated  prejudices  throughout  Europe.  The  effect  of 
the  concussion  was  general,  but  the  shock  was  greatest  in  this  country" 
(England.)  It  toppled  down  the  full  grown  intolerable  abuses  of  centuries 
at  a  blow ;  heaved  the  ground  from  under  the  feet  of  bigoted  faith  and  slavish 
obedience;  and  the  roar  and  dashing  of  opinions,  loosened  from  their  accus- 
tomed hold,  might  be  heard  like  the  noise  of  an  angry  sea,  and  has  never  yet 
subsided.  Germany  first  broke  the  spell  of  misbegotten  fear,  and  gave  the 
watchword;  but  England  joined  the  shout,  and  echoed  it  back,  with  her 
island  voice,  from  her  thousand  cliffs  and  craggy  shores,  in  a  longer  and 
a  louder  strain.  With  that  cry  the  genius  of  Great  Britain  rose,  and  threw 
down  the  gauntlet  to  the  nations.  There  was  a  mighty  fermentation  ;  the 
waters  were  out;  public  opinion  was  in  a  state  of  projection;  Liberty  was 


ft, 

» 

held  out  to  all  to  think  and  speak  the  truth ;  men's  brains  were  busy ;  their 
spirits  stirring:  their  hearts  full;  and  their  hands  not  idle.  Their  eyes  were 
opened  to  expect  the  greatest  things,  and  their  ears  burned  with  curiosity 
and  zeal  to  know  the  truth,  that  the  truth  might  make  them  free.  The  death 
blow  which  had  been  struck  at  scarlet  vice  and  bloated  hypocrisy,  loosened 
tongues,  and  made  the  talismans  and  love  tokens  of  Popish  superstitions 
with  which  she  had  beguiled  her  followers  and  committed  abominations  with 
the  people,  fall  harmless  from  their  necks." 

The  translation  of  the  Bible  was  the  chief  engine  in  the  great  work.  It 
threw  open,  by  a  secret  spring,  the  rich  treasures  of  religion  and  morality, 
which  had  then  been  locked  up  as  in  a  shrine.  It  revealed  the  visions  of 
the  Prophets,  and  conveyed  the  lessons  of  inspired  teachers  to  the  meanest 
of  the  people.  It  gave  them  a  common  interest  in  a  common  cause.  Their 
hearts  burnt  within  them  as  they  read.  It  gave  a  mind  to  the  people,  by 
giving  them  common  subjects  of  thought  and  feeling.  It  cemented  their 
Union  of  character  and  sentiment ;  it  created  endless  diversity  and  collision 
of  opinion.  They  found  objects  to  employ  their  faculties,  and  a  motive  in 
the  magnitude  of  the  consequences  attached  to  (hem,  to  exert  the  utmost 
eagerness  in  the  pursuit  of  truth,  and  the  most  daring  intrepidity  in  main- 
taining it.  Religious  controversy  sharpens  the  understanding  by  the  subtlety 
and  remoteness  of  the  topics,  it  discusses,  and  braces  the  will  by  their  infi- 
nite importance.  We  perceive  in  the  history  of  this  period  a  nervous,  mas- 
culine intellect.  No  levity,  no  feebleness,  no  indifference;  or,  if  there  were, 
it  is  a  relaxation  from  the  intense  activity  which  gives  a  tone  to  its  general 
character.  But  there  is  a  gravity  approaching  to  piety,  a  seriousness  of  im- 
pression, a  conscientious  severity  of  argument,  an  habitual  fervor  of  enthu- 
siasm in  their  method  of  handling  almost  every  subject.  The  debates  of  the 
schoolmen  were  sharp  and  subtle  enough;  but  they  wanted  interest  and 
grandeur,  and  were  besides  confined  to  a  few.  They  did  not  affect  the  gen- 
eral mass  of  the  community.  But  the  Bible  was  thrown  open  to  all  ranks 
and  conditions  "to  own  and  read,"  with  its  wonderful  table  of  contents, 
from  Genesis  to  the  Revelations.  Every  village  in  England  would  present 
the  scene  so  well  described  in  Burns'  "Cotter's  Saturday  Night."  How 
unlike  this  agitation,  this  shock,  this  angry  sea,  this  fermentation,  this  shout 
and  its  echoes,  this  impulse  and  activity,  this  concussion,  this  general  effect, 
this  blow,  this  earthquake,  this  roar  and  dashing,  this  longer  and  louder 
strain,  this  public  opinion,  this  liberty  to  all  to  think  and  speak  the  truth, 
this  stirring  of  spirits,  this  opening  of  eyes,  this  zeal  TO  KNOWT — not  nothing 
— but  the  truth)  that  the  truth  might  make  them  free.  How  unlike  to  this  is 
Know-Nothingism,  sitting  and  brooding  in  secret  to  proscribe  Catholics  and 
naturalized  citizens !  Protestantism  protested  against  secres^,  it  protested 
against  shutting  out  the  light  of  truth,  it  protested  against  proscription,  bigotry 
and  intolerance.  It  loosened  all  tongues  and  fought  the  owls  and  bats  of 
night  with  the  light  of  meridian  day.  The  argument  of  Know-Nothings  is 
the  argument  of  silence.  The  order  ignores  all  knowledge.  And  its  pro- 
scription can't  arrest  itself  within  the  limit  of  excluding  Catholics  and  natu- 
ralized citizens.  It  must  proscribe  natives  and  Protestants  both,  who  will 
not  consent  to  unite  in  proscribing  Catholics  and  naturalized  citizens.  Nor 
is  that  all ;  it  must  not  only  apply  to  birth  and  religion,  it  must  necessarily 
extend  itself  to  the  business  of  life  as  well  as  to  political  preferments.  The 
instances  have  already  occurred.  Schoolmistresses  have  been  dismissed 
from  schools  in  Philadelphia,  and  carpenters  from  a  building  in  Cincinnati. 

4th.  It  is  not  only  opposed  to  the  Reformation  and  Protestantism,  but  it  is 
opposed  to  the  faith,  hope  and  charity  of  the  gospel.  Never  was  any  triumph 
more  complete  than  that  of  the  open  conflict  of  Protestants  against  the 
Pope  and  priestcraft.  They  did  not  oppose  proscription  because  it  was  a  policy 


22 

of  Catholics ;  but  they  opposed  Catholics  because  they  employed  proscription. 
Proscription,  not  Catholics,  was  the  odium  to  them.  Here,  now,  is  Know- 
Nothingi.sm  combatting  proscription  and  exclusiveness  with  proscription  and 
exclusiveness,  secrecy  with  secrecy,  Jesuitism  with  Jesuitism.  Toleration, 
by  American  example,  had  begun  its  march  throughout  the  earth.  It  trusted 
in  the  power  of  truth,  had  faith  in  Christian  love  and  charity,  and  in  the 
certainty  that  God  would  decide  the  contest.  Here,  now,  is  an  order 
proposing  to  destroy  the  effect  of  our  moral  example.  The  Pope  himself 
would  soon  be  obliged,  by  our  moral  suasion,  to  yield  to  Protestants  in  Cath- 
olic countries  their  privileges  of  worship  and  rites  of  burial.  But,  no,  the 
proposition  now  is,  "  to  fight  the  devil  with  fire,"  and  to  proscribe  and  exclude 
because  they  proscribe  and  exclude.  And  they  take  up  the  weapons  of 
Popery  without  knowing  how  to  wield  them  half  so  cunningly  as  the  Catho- 
lics do.  The  Popish  priests  are  rejoiced  to  see  them  giving  countenance  to 
their  example,  and  expect  to  make  capital  arid  will  make  capital  out  of  this 
step  backwards  from  the  progress  of  the  reformation.  Protestantism  has  lost 
nothing  by  toleration,  but  may  lose  much  by  proscription. 

5th.  It  is  against  the  peace  and  purity  of  the  Protestant  churches  -and  in 
aid  of  priestcraft  within  their  folds,  to  secretly  organize  orders  for  religious 
combined  with  political  ends.  .The  world — I  mean  the  sinner's  world — will 
be  set  at  war  with  the  sects  who  unite  in  this  crusade  against  tolerance  and 
freedom  of  conscience  and  of  speech.  Christ's  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world,  and  freemen  will  not  submit  to  have  the  Protestant  any  more  than 
the  Catholic  churches  attempt  to  influence  political  elections,  without  a  strug- 
gle from  without.  And  the  churches  from  within  must  reach  a  point  when 
they  must  struggle  among  themselves  and  with  each  other.  Peace  is  the 
fruit  of  righteousness,  and  righteousness  and  peace  must  flee  away  together 
from  a  fierce  worldly  war  for  secular  power.  And  the  churches  must  be 
corrupted,  too,  as  evil  passions,  hatred,  and  jealousy,  and  ambition,  and 
envy,  and  revenge,  and  strife  arise  and  temptations  steal  away  the  hearts  of 
votaries  from  the  humble  service  of  the  "  meek  and  lowly  Jesus."  Protes- 
tant priestcraft  is  cousin  germain  to  Catholic ;  and  wThere  is  this  to  end  but 
in  giving  to  our  Protestant  priests — the  wrorst  of  them,  I  mean — such, as  will 
"put  on  the  livery  of  heaven  to  serve  the  devil  in" — a  control  of  political 
power,  and  thus  to  bring  about  the  worst  union  which  could  be  devised,  of 
church  and  state  !  The  state  will  prostitute  and  corrupt  any  church,  and 
any  church  will  enslave  any  state.  Corrupt  our  Protestant  priests  as  the 
Catholics  have  been,  with  temporal  and  political  power,  and  they  will  be  of 
the  same  "old  leaven" — the  same  old  beast — the  same  old  ox  going  about 
with  straw  in  his  mouth!  And  where  will  the  war  of  sects  end?  When 
the  Protestant  priests  have  gotten  the  power,  which  of  their  sects  is  to  prevail? 
The  Catholics  proscribed,  which  denomination  next  is  to  fall?  The  Episco- 
pal church,  my  mother  church,  is  denounced  by  some  as  the  bastard  daughter 
of  the  whore  of  Rome.  Is  she  next  to  be  put  upon  the  list  of  proscription  ? 
Arid  when  she  is  excluded,  how  are  the  Predesiinarians  and  Armenians  to 
agree  among  themselves  ?  Which  is  to  put  up  the  Governor  for  Virginia  or 
the  President  for  the  United  States?  Which  is  to  have  the  offices,  and  how 
is  division  to  be  made  of  the  spoils  ?  Sir,  this  secret  association,  founded  on 
proscription  and  intolerance,  must  end  in  nothing  short  of  corruption  and 
persecution  of  all  sects,  and  in  a  civil  war  against  the  domination  of  priest- 
craft, Protestant  or  Catholic.  Indeed,  it  is  so,  already,  that  a  real  reason  for 
this  secrecy  is  that  the  priests,  who  have  a  zeal  without  knowledge  against 
the  Pope,  are  unwilling  to  be  seen  in  their  union  with  this  dark-lantern 
movement !  Woe,  woe,  woe  !  to  the  hypocrite  who  leaves  the  work  of  his 
Master,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  the  Great  High  Priest  after  the  order  of  Mel- 
chisedeck,  for  a  worldly  work  like  this  ! 


23 

6th.  It  is  against  free  civil  government,  by  instituting  a  secret  oligar- 
chy, beyond  the  reach  of  popular  and  public  scrutiny,  and  supported  by 
blind  instruments  of  tyranny,  bound  by  test  oaths.  If  the  oaths  and  pro- 
ceedings of  induction  of  members  published  be  true,  they  bind  the  noviciates 
from  the  start  to  a  passive  obedience  but  to  one  law,  the  order  of  intolerance 
and  proscription.  Men  are  led  to  them  by  a  burning  curiosity  to  know  that 
they  are  to  Know-J\ 'othing !  The  novelty  of  admission  beguiles  them  into 
adherence.  They  assemble  to  take  oaths  and  promise  to  obey.  To  obey 
whom?  Do  the  masses,  will  the  masses,  is  it  intended  that  the  masses  of 
their  members  shall  know  whom  ?  Where  is  the  central  seat  of  the  Veiled 
Prophet  1  In  New  York?  New  England?  or  Old  England?  Who  knows 
that  Know-Nothingism  is  not  influenced  by  a  cabal  abroad — by  a  foreign 
influence  ?  Whence  passes  the  sign  ? — Of  course  from  a  common  centre 
somewhere.  Is  that  centre  in  Virginia,  for  the  orders  here  ?  If  not,  is  it 
not  alarming  that  our  people  in  this  state  are  to  be  swerved  by  a  sign  from 
somewhere,  anywhere  else,  to  go  for  this  or  that  side  of  a  cause,  for  this  or 
that  candidate  for  election  ?  Those  orders  must  have  degrees  ;  the  degrees 
are  higher  and  lower,  of  course,  and  the  higher  must  prescribe  the  rule  to 
govern.  Each  degree  must  have  its  higher  officers,  and  all  the  orders  must 
be  subject  to  some  one.  Now,  how  many  persons  constitute  the  select  few 
of  the  highest  functionaries,  nobody  knows.  Nobody  knows  who  they  are, 
where  they  are,  or  how  many  of  them  there  are.  They  exist  somewhere  in 
the  dark.  Their  blows  can't  be  guarded  against,  for  they  strike,  riot  like 
freemen  bold,  bravely  for  rights,  but  unseen,  and  to  make  conquest  of 
rights.  Their  adherents  are  sworn  to  secrecy  and  to  obey.  They  magnify 
their  numbers  and  influence  by  the  very  mystery  of  their  organization,  and 
the  timid  and  time-serving  fly  to  them  for  fear  of  proscription  or  for  hope  of 
reward.  They  quietly  warn  friends  not  to  stand  in  the  way  of  their  axe, 
and  friends  begin  to  apprehend  that  it  is  time  to  save  themselves  by  Know- 
ing Nothing.  They  threaten  their  enemies,  and  some  of  their  enemies  skulk 
from  fear  of  offending  them.  They  alarm  a  nation,  and  a  nation,  with  its 
political  and  church  parties,  gives  them  at  oncce  consideration  and  respect  as 
a  power  to  be  dreaded  or  courted.  Thus,  in  a  night,  as  it  were,  has  an  oli-* 
garchy  grown  up  in  secret  to  control  our  liberties,  to  dictate  to  parties,  to 
guide  elections,  and  to  pass  laws.  They  are  establishing  presses,  too,  but  we 
cannot  define  from  their  positions  a  single  principle  which  we  can  say  Know- 
Nothings  may  not  disown  and  disavow.  The  Prophet  of  Khorassan  never 
gave  out  words  more  cabalistic — words  to  catch  by  sounds,  and  sounding  the 
very  opposite  of  what  they  really  mean.  When  they  have  men's  fears, 
curiosity,  hopes,  the  people's  voices,  the  ballot  boxes,  the  press,  at  their 
command,  how  long  will  our  minds  be  free,  or  persons  safe,  or  property 
secure  ?  How  long  will  stand  the  pillars  of  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the 
pen,  when  liberty  of  conscience  is  gone  and  birth  is  made  to  "make  the 
man  ?"  He  is  a  dastard,  indeed,  who  fears  to  oppose  an  oligarchy  or  secret 
cabal  like  this,  and  loves  not  human  rights  well  enough  to  protect  them^^-"'' 

7th.  It  is  opposed  to  our  progress  as  a  nation.  No  new  acquisition  can 
ever  be  made  by  purchase  or  conquest,  if  foreigners  or  Catholics  are  in  the 
boundaries  of  the  acquired  countries;  for,  surely  we  would  not  seek  to  take 
jurisdiction  over  them;  to  make  them  slaves  ;  to  raise  up  a  distinct  class  of 
persons  to  be  excluded  from  the  privileges  of  a  Republic.  If  not  for  their 
own  sakes,  for  the  sake  of  the  Republic  we  would  save  ourselves  from  this 
example. 

As  early  as  1787,  we  established  a  great  land  ordinance.  The  most  per- 
fect system  of  eminent  domain,  of  proprietary  titles,  and  of  territorial  settle- 
ments, which  the  world  had  ever  beheld  to  bless  the  homeless  children  of 
men.  It  had  the  very  housewarming  of  hospitality  in  it.  It  wielded  th« 


24 

logwood  axe,  and  cleared  a  continent  of  forests.  It  made  an  exodus  in  the 
old  world,  and  dotted  the  new  with  log-cabins,  around  the  hearths  of  which 
the  tears  of  the  aged  and  the  oppressed  were  wiped  away,  and  cherub  child- 
ren were  born  to  liberty,  and  sang  its  songs,  and  have  grown  up  in  its 
strength  and  might  and  majesty.  It  brought  together  foreigners  of  every 
country  and  clime — immigrants  from  Europe  of  every  language  and  religion, 
and  its  most  wonderful  effect^  has  been  to  assimilate  all  races.  Irish  and 
German,  English  and  French,  Scotch  and  Spaniard,  have  met  on  the  western 
prairies,  in  the  western  woods,  and  have  peopled  villages  and  towns  and 
cities — queen  cities,  rivalling  the  marts  of  eastern  commerce ;  and  the  Teu- 
tonic and  Celtic  and  Anglo-Saxon  races  have  in  a  day  mingled  into  one 
undistinguishable  mass — and  that  one  is  American!" — American  in  every 
sense  and  in  every  feeling,  in  every  instinct,  and  in  every  impulse  of  Ameri- 
can patriotism.  The  raw  German's  ambition  is  first  to  acquire  land  enough 
upon  which  to  send  word  back  to  the  Baron  he  left  behind  him,  that  he  does 
not  envy  him  his  principality ! 

The  Irishman  no  longer  hurra's  for  "my  Lord"  or  "my  Lady,"  but  ex- 
claims in  his  heart  of  hearts  that  "this  is  a  free  country."  The  children  of 
all  are  crossed  in  blood,  in  the  first  generation,  so  that  ethnology  can't  tell  of 
what  parentage  they  are — they  all  become  brother  and  sister  Jonathans — 
Jonathans  to  sow  and  plant  grain — Jonathans  to  raise  and  drive  stock — Jona- 
thans to  organize  townships  and  counties  and  states  of  free  election — Jona- 
thans to  establish  schools  and  colleges  and  rear  orators,  sages  and  statesmen  for 
the  Senate — Jonathans  to  take  a  true  heart  aim  with  the  rifle  at  any  foe  who 
dares  invade  a  common  country — Jonathans  to  carry  conquest  of  liberty  to 
other  lands,  until  the  whole  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  glory  of  American- 
ism !  As  in  the  colonies,  as  in  the  revolution,  as  in  the  last  war,  so  have 
foreigners  and  immigrants  of  every  religion  and  tongue,  contributed  to  build 
the  temple  of  American  law  and  liberty,  until  its  spire  reaches  to  heaven, 
whilst  its  shadow  rests  on  earth  ! !  If  there  has  been  a  turnpike  road  to  be 
beaten  out  of  the  rocky  metal,  or  a  canal  to  be  dug,  foreigners  and  immi- 
grants have  been  armed  with  the  mattock  and  the  spade  ;  and,  if  a  battle  on  sea 
or  land  had  to  be  fought,  foreigners  and  immigrants  have  been  armed  with 
the  musket  and  the  blade.  So  have  foreigners  and  immigrants  proved  that 
y  their  influence  has  not  impaired  the  genius,  or  the  grace,  or  gladness,  or  glory 
of  American  institutions.  At  no  time  have  they  warred  upon  our  religion 
in  the  west,  and  they  have  been  at  peace  among  themselves.  The  Pope  has 
lost  more  than  he  has  gained  of  proselytes  by  the  Catholics  coming  here. 
No  proscription  but  one  has  ever  disturbed  the  religious  tolerance  of  the 
west,  and  that  one  was  to  drive  out  the  religion  of  an  imposter  which  struck 
at  every  social  relation  surrounding  it.  If  Know-Nothings  may  tolerate 
Mormons,  I  can't  see  why  they  leave  them  to  their  religious  liberty  and 
select  the  very  mother  church  of  Protestantism  itself  for  persecution  and 
proscription.  But  the  west,  I  repeat,  made  up  of  foreigners  and  immigrants 
of  every  religion  and  tongue,  the  west  is  as  purely  patriotic,  as  truly  Ameri- 
can, as  genuinely  Jonathan,  as  any  people  who  can  claim  our  nationality. 
Now,  is  not  here  proof  in  war  and  in  peace  that  the  apprehension  of  foreign 
influence,  brought  here  by  immigrants,  is  not  only  groundless  but  contra- 
dicted by  the  facts  of  our  settlements  and  developments  ?  Did  a  nation  ever 
so  grow  as  we  have  done  under  land  ordinances  and  our  laws  of  naturaliza- 
tion ?  They  have  not  made  aristocracies,  but  sovereigns  and  sovereignties 
of  the  people  of  the  west.  They  have  strengthened  the  stakes  of  our  do- 
minion and  multiplied  the  sons  ,and  daughters  of  America  so  that  now  she 
can  muster  an  army,  and  maintain  it,  too,  outnumbering  the  strength  of  any 
invaders,  and  making  "a  host  of  freedom  which  is  the  host  of  God  !" 

Now,  shall  all  this  policy  and   its   proud   and  happy  fruits  be  cast  aside 


25 

for  a  contracted  and  selfish  scheme  of  intolerance  and  exclusion?  Shall  the 
unnumbered  sections  of  our  public  lands  bo  fenced  in  against  immigrants? 
Shall  hospitality  be  denied  to  foreign  settlers?  Shall  no  asylum  be  left  open 
to  the  poor  and  the  oppressed  of  Europe  ?  .  Shall  the  clearing  of  our  lands 
be  stopped?  Shall  population  be  arrested?  Shall  progress  be  made  to 
stand  still?  Are  we  surfeited  with  prosperity?  Shall  no  more  territory  be 
acquired  ?  Shall  Bermuda  be  left  a  mare  clausum  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  Jamaica,  a  key  of  South  American  conquest  and  acquisition,  in  the 
hands  of  England  ;  Cuba,  a  depot  of  domination  over  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi,  in  the  hands  of  Spain,  just  strong  enough  to  keep  it  from  us  for 
some  strong  maritime  power  to  seize,  whenever  they  will  conquor  or  force  a 
purchase,  Central  America,  in  the  gate-way  of  commerce  between  our 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  possessions — lest  foreigners  be  let  in  among  us,  and 
Catholics  come  to  participate  in  our  privileges  ?  Verily,  this  is  a  strange 
way  to  help  American  institutions  and  to  promote  American  progress. 
No,  we  have  institutions  which  can  embrace  a  world,  all  mankind  \vith 
all  their  opinions,  prejudices  and  passions,  however  diverse  and  clash- 
ing, provided  we  adhere  to  the  law  of  Christian  charity  and  of  free 
toleration.  But  the  moment  we  dispense  with  these  laws,  the  pride,  and 
progress,  and  glory,  and  good  of  American  institutions  will  cease  forever,  and 
the  memory  of  them  will  but  goad  the  affections  of  their  mourners.  Self- 
ishness, utter  selfishness  alone,  can  enjoy  these  American  blessings,  without 
desiring  that  all  mankind  shall  participate  in  their  glorious  privileges.  Noth- 
ing, nothing  is  so  dangerous  to  them,  nothing  can  destroy  them  so  soon  and 
so  certainly,  as  secret  societies,  formed  for  political  and  religious  ends  com- 
bined, founded  on  proscription  and  intolerance,  without  necessity,  against 
law,  against  the  spirit  of  the  Christian  Reformation,  against  the  whole  scope 
of  Protestantism,  against  the  faith,  hope,  and  charity  of  the  Bible,  against 
the  peace  and  purity  of  the  churches;  against  free  government  by  leading 
to  oligarchy  and  a  union  of  church  and  state;  against  human  progress, 
against  national  acquisitions,  against  American  hospitality  and  comity, 
against  American  maxims  of  expatriation,  and  allegiance  and  protection, 
against  American  settlements  and  'land  ordinances,  against  Americanism  in 
every  sense  and  shape  ! 

Lastly.  What  are  the  evils  complained  of,  to  make  a  pretext  for  these 
innovations  against  American  policy,  as  heretofore  practised  with  so  much 
success  and  such  exceeding  triumph? 

1st.  The  first  cause,  most  prominent,  is  that  the  native  and  Protestant 
feeling  has  been  exasperated  bv  the  course  pursued  by  both  political  parties, 
in  the  last  several  Presidential  campaigns  ;  they  have  cajoled  and  "  honey • 
fi/frgtefl"  with  both  Catholics  and  foreigners  by  birth,  naturalized  and  un- 
naturalized,  ad  nauseam. 

Foreigners  and  Catholics  were  not  so  much  to  blame  for  that  as  both  par- 
ties. And  take  these  election  toys  from  them,  and  does  any  one  suppose 
that  they  would  not  resort  to  some  other  humbug  ?  Is  not  another  hobby 
now  arising  to  put  down  both  of  these  pets  of  party?  Is  not  the  donkey 
of  Know-Nothingism  now  kicking  its  heels  .at  the  lap-dogs  of  the  "rich 
Irish  brogue"  and  the  "sweet  German  accent,"  for  the  fondlings  and  pet- 
tings  of  political  parties  ? 

2nd.  Both  parties  have  violated  the  election  laws  and  laws  of  naturaliza- 
tion, in  rushing  green  emigrants,  just  from  on  ship-board,  up  to  the  polls 
to  vote. 

This,  again,  is  the  fault  of  both  parties.  And  this  is  confined  chiefly,  if 
not  entirely,  to  the  cities.  It  don't  reach  to  the  ballot  boxes  of  the  country  at 
large,  and  is  not  a  drop  in  the  ocean  of  our  political  influence.  In  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Cincinnati,  and  New  Orleans,  the  abuse,  I 


26 

venture  to  say,  don't  number,  in  fact,  500  votes.  It  is  nothing  everywhere 
else,  in  a  country  of  universal  suffrage  and  of  twenty  millions  of  free  peo- 
ple. And  would  perjury  and  fraud  in  elections  be  arrested  by  the  attempt 
to  exclude  Catholics  and  foreigners  by  birth  from  office  ? — or,  by  extending 
the  limitation  of  time  for  naturalization  ? — or.  by  repealing  the  naturaliza- 
tion laws  ?  Either  of  these  remedies  for  the  error  would  multiply  the  per- 
juries and  the  frauds  and  the  foreign  votes.  Then  there  would  be  a  pre- 
text for  obtaining  by  fraud  and  force  what  was  denied  under  law.  By  mak- 
ing naturalization  rather  to  follow  immediately  upon  the  oath  of  allegiance, 
and  that  to  depend  on  the  will  and  the  good  character  of  the  applicant, 
fraud  and  perjury  would  rather  be  stripped  of  their  pretexts.  The  foreign- 
ers would  be  at  once  exalted  in  their  self-respect  and  dignity  of  deportment, 
right  would  enable  them  to  exercise  the  elective  franchise  in  peace,  and  the 
country  would  escape  the  demoralization  resulting  from  a  violation  of  the 
laws,  and  from  the  means  employed  to  set  at  nought  their  force  and  effect. 

3rd.  Foreigners  have  abused  the  protection  of  the  United  States  abroad. 

If  they  have,  it  was  a  violation  of  law.  They  cannot  well  do  it,  without 
the  want  of  care  and  vigilance  in  our  consular  and  diplomatic  functionaries 
abroad.  Citizens  at  home  abuse  our  protection,  and  they  are  not  always 
punished  for  their  crimes. 

4th.  Catholics,  it  is  urged,  have  been  combined  and  obeyed  the  signs  of 
their  bishops  and  priests  in  elections,  and  have  been  influenced  in  their 
votes  to  a  great  extent  by  religious  and  exclusive  considerations. 

If  they  have,  that  is  one  of  the  best  reasons  why  Protestants  should  not 
follow  their  example.  It  is  evil,  and  the  less  there  is  of  it  the  better  for  all. 
Let  bigotry  and  proscription  belong  to  any  sect  rather  than  to  Protestants. 
When  they  follow  alleged  Catholic  examples,  which  they  arraign,  as  danger- 
ous and  mischievous,  then  they  themselves  become  as  Catholics,  according 
to  their  own  opinions,  dangerous  and  mischievous. 

5th.  Catholics  and  Catholic  governments,  it  is  urged,  have  always  ex- 
cluded Protestants  from  religious  and  social  privileges  in  their  countries. 

And  how  much  have  we  gained  upon  them  by  following  the  opposite  poli- 
cy ?  By  tolerance  we  have  grown  so  great  as  now  to  make  them  feel  the 
necessity  to  respect  our  title  to  comity  and  right  to  a  separate  enjoyment  of 
the  privileges  of  Protestants.  Our  government  is  interposing  in  that  behalf, 
and  I  fear  it  will  not  be  assisted  any  in  its  negotiations  by  the  attempt  here 
to  proscribe  Catholics  and  strangers  by  birth. 

6th.  It  is  complained  that  in  some  instances,  in  New  York  particularly, 
the  Catholics  have  been  arrogant,  exclusive  and  anti-republican  in  their  at- 
tempts to  control  the  public  schools,  and  to  exclude  from  them  the  free  and 
open  study  of  the  word  of  God. 

How  can  this  bigotry  be  subdued  by  bigotry,  which  retires  itself  in  secrecy 
and  proscribes  all  who  don't  proscribe  Catholics  ?  There  is  no  homcepathy 
in  moral  disease.  Proscription  and  bigotry  and  secrecy  must  not  be  prescrib- 
ed for  the  maladies  of  proscription,  bigotry,  and  hiding  of  the  word  !  The 
diseases  would  then  be  epidemics  among  Protestants,  Catholics,  and  all. 
The  open  and  lawful  and  liberal  means  for  either  prevention  or  correction  of 
this  evil  are  simple  and  efficacious  if  righteously  applied. 

7th.  It  is  urged  that  Catholics  recognize  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope  and 
submission  to  priestcraft,  which  might,  under  circumstances,  be  destructive 
of  our  free  government. 

Suppose  that  to  be  so,  there  are  worse  sects  among  us,  whom  Know-Noth- 
ings  pretend  not  to  assail.  There  are  the  Mormon  polygamies ;  there  are 
the  necromancers  of  Spiritual  Rappings  ;  and  there  is  a  sect  which  aspires 
not  only  to  destroy  free  government,  but  the  great  globe  and  all  that  it  in- 
habit— the  millenial  Millerites.  And,  it  is  about  as  likely  that  Millerites  will 


27 

set  the  world  on  fire  in  one -day,  as  that  Popery  will  ever  be  able  to  break  up 
or  bow  down  this  republic.  The  prophecies  must  all  fail,  and  Christ's  dominion 
upon  earth  must  cease,  and  printing  presses  and  telegraphs  and  steam  must 
be  lost  to  the  arts,  and  revolutions  must  go  backwards,  arid  the  sky  must  fall 
and  catch  Know-Nothings,  before  the  times  of  Revelations  are  out,  and  the 
Pope  catches  "  Uncle  Sam." 

No,  no,  no — there  is  not  a  reason  in  all  these  complaints,  which  is  not 
satisfied  by  our  laws  as  they  exist,  and  not  an  error,  which  may  not  be  cor- 
rected by  the  proper  application  of  the  lawful  authority  at  our  command, 
without  resorting  to  the  extraordinary,  extrajudicial,  revolutionary,  and  anti- 
American  plan  of  a  secret  society  of  intolerance  and  proscription. 

I  belong  to  a  secret  society,  but  for  no  political  purpose.  I  am  a  native 
Virginian  intus  et  in  cute,  a  Virginian  ;  my  ancestors  on  both  sides  for  two 
hundred  years  were  citizens  of  this  country  and  this  state — half  English,  half 
Scotch.  I  am  a  Protestant  by  birth,  by  baptism,  by  intellectual  belief  and 
by  education  and  by  adoption.  I  am  an  American,  in  every  fibre  and  in  every 
feeling  an  American ;  yet  in  every  character,  in  every  relation,  in  every 
sense,  with  all  my  head,  and  all  my  heart,  and  all  my  might,  I  protest 
against  this  secret  organization  of  native  Americans,  and  of  Protestants  to 
proscribe  Roman  Catholic  and  naturalized  citizens  ! 

Now,  will  they  proscribe  me? 

That  question  weighs  not  a  feather  with 

Your  obedient  servant, 

HENRY  A.  WISE. 


THE    FIRST    APPEARANCE    OF    KNOW-NOTHINGISM   IN 

VIRGINIA. 

It  is  unknown  to  the  unitiated  at  what  precise  time  Know-Nothingism 
made  its  entrance  into  Virginia  ;  but,  from  the  most  reliable  information  we 
can  gather,  the  first  council  was  organized  in  the  town  of  Charlottesville, 
some  time  in  the  month  of  July,  1854,  and  very  soon  after  another  in  the  city 
of  Richmond.  These  councils,  in  pursuance  to  the  Know-Nothing  Ritual,  were 
organized  by  the  authority  of  the  Grand  Council  of  Thirteen  of  the  city  of 
New  York.  From  this  time  until  about  the  latter  part  of  October,  we  have  no 
newspaper  account  of  operations.  But  during  this  interim  of  nearly  three 
months,  it  is  our  impression  that  the  Grand  Council  of  Thirteen  was  very 
industriously  organizing  councils  in  the  various  towns  and  cities  of  the  state. 
After  the  state  had  become  well  checkered  with  councils,  the  Grand  Council 
of  Thirteen  delegated  one  Rev.  Mr.  Evans  to  establish  a  state  council  in  the 
city  of  Richmond.  This  state  council  was  empowered  by  the  parent  body  in 
New  York  to  grant  charters  for  the  establishment  of  councils  in  every  nook 
and  corner  of  the  state  ;  and  the  consequence  was,  that  in  nearly  every 
secluded  grove,  retired  school-house,  and  concealed  recess,  could  be  found  a 
band  of  men,  veiled  in  secrecy  and  under  the  cover  of  darkness,  administer- 
ing Jesuitical  oaths  and  teaching  cabalistic  signs  to  the  thoughtless,  indis- 
creet and  unsuspecting  noviciates.  The  citizens  of  this  commonwealth 
should  keep  it  fresh  in  their  minds,  that  a  portion  of  her  citizens  were  once 
engaged  in  the  work  of  palming  upon  them  a  political  heresy,  through  the 


28 

instrumentality  of  a  Northern  emissary,  coming  under  the  specious  guise  and 
cloak  of  religion.  New  York  was  the  hot  bed  of  corruption  from  which  a 
northern  plague  was  to  sweep  the  home  and  resting-place  of  Washington 
and  Jefferson.  The  Richmond  Enquirer  noticed,  in  the  following  spirited 
manner,  the  organization  of  the  state  council  by  the  Rev.  Evans,  of  New 
York : 

KNOW-NOTHING  COUNCIL  IN  RICHMOND. — It  is  not  generally  known,  we 
suspect,  that  a  state  council  of  the  Know-Nothing  order  is  to  be  held  in 
this  city  to-day.  In  spite  of  the  severe  secrecy  of  their  movements,  this 
fact  has  transpired  ;  and  with  it  comes  the  additional  intelligence  that  one 
Reverend  Mr.  Evans  is  present  as  representative  of  the  "  Grand  National 
Council  of  Thirteen,"  of  which  Barker  of  New  York  is  President.  This 
emissary  brings  along  a  redundant  supply  of  the  venom  of  intolerance; 
wherewith  to  inoculate  the  brethren  in  this  region  and  to  corrupt  the  native 
generosity  of  the  Virginia  character.  He  imports,  also,  a  copious  supply 
of  pass- words  and  other  cabalistic  signs,  and  is  in  every  way  equipped  for 
the  work  of  drill-sergeant  and  hierophant.  Is  it  not  a  shame  that  such  crea- 
tures should  come  here,  and,  under  cover  of  darkness,  deposit  the  poison  of 
intolerance  and  proscription  on  the  soil  which  Jefferson  has  consecrated  to 
civil  liberty  and  to  freedom  of  conscience  ?  The  movements  of  the  order 
are  directed  and  controlled  by  a  cabal  in  New  York,  and  thus,  should  Know- 
Nothingism  triumph  in  this  state,  the  government  of  Virginia  will  be  the 
creature  of  the  "  Council  of  Thirteen."  Esteeming  themselves  competent 
to  the  management  of  their  own  affairs,  Virginians  have  been  proverbially 
jealous  of  foreign  influence;  nor  will  they  now  submit  to  the  usurpation  of 
this  conclave  of  New  York  Know-Nothings.  The  sentiment  of  state-sove- 
reignty and  the  pride  of  personal  independence  are  equally  outraged  by  the 
attempt  thus  to  subjugate  us. 

Our  neighbor  of  the  Dispatch,  with  commendable  forethought,  has  warned 
persons  attending  the  Fair  against  the  depredations  of  the  thieves  who  rifle 
pockets  in  the  confusion  of  the  crowd.  It  is  our  business  to  admonish  all 
good  citizens  of  the  presence  of  the  Know-Nothings,  who,  adopting  the  cun- 
ning artifice  of  pick-pockets  and  burglars,  have  availed  themselves  of  the 
confusion  and  excitement  of  this  occasion,  to  mature  their  plot  against  the 
security  of  society. 


THE  STAUNTON  DEMOCRATIC  CONVENTION. 

After  the  claims  of  the  various  candidates  spoken  of  for  Governor  had 
been  thoroughly  discussed  through  the  public  journals,  delegates  were  sent 
from  various  counties  of  the  state  to  meet  in  Convention  at  the  .town  of 
Staunton,  November  30th,  1854,  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  proper  selec- 
tion of  candidates  for  the  office  of  Governor,  Lieut.  Governor  and  Attorney 
General.  This  Convention  was  one  of  the  largest  and  most  talented  that 
ever  assembled  in  the  state  for  a  political  purpose. 

Its  proceedings  were  very  animated.  Parties  soon  resolved  themselves 
into  two,  one  of  them  supporting  Mr.  WISE,  the  other  Mr.  LEAKE.  Its 
session  lasted  three  days,  and  Mr.  Wise  was  not  nominated  until  the  morn- 
ing of  the  third  and  last  day.  As  its  proceedings  were  marked  by  great 


29 

excitement  and  warmth  of  feeling,  and  only  an  elaborate  and  detailed  rehear- 
sal of  them,  too  voluminous  for  our  space,  could  do  justice  to  all  who  partici- 
pated in  the  debates  and  ballotings,  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  a  mere 
skeleton  recital  of  its  leading  transactions. 

The  Convention  was  organized  by  the  appointment  of  Oscar  M.  Crutch- 
field,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  President,  and  Wm.  F.  Ritchie, 
editor  of  the  Enquirer,  and  Ro.  W.  Hughes,  editor  of  the  Examiner,  Secre- 
taries. 

The  great  debate  and  turning  point  of  everything  done  by  the  Convention 
was  upon  the  original  resolution  presented  by  Mr.  Shackelford,  and  upon  an 
amendment  which  was  offered  by  Mr.  Garnett,  of  Essex,  to  the  same. 

Mr.  Shackelford's  resolution  was — 

Resolved,  That  this  Convention  will  not  make  a  nomination  for  Governor, 
Lieutenant  Governor,  or  Attorney  General,  unless  the  candidate  receive 
votes  of  this  Convention  sufficient  to  represent  a  majority  of  the  whole  Dem- 
ocratic vote  of  the  state. 

To  this  resolution,  Mr.  Muscoe  R.  H.  Garnett,  of  the  county  of  Essex, 
who  was  the  leader  of  Mr.  Wise's  friends,  offered  the  following  amendment : 

Resolved,  That  it  shall  require  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  to  nominate 
candidates  for  Governor,  Lieutenant  Governor  and  Attorney  General. 

This  amendment  was  opposed  with  great  ability  by  many  of  the  leading 
men  of  the  Convention.  The  speeches  of  Messrs.  Fauntleroy,  Irving, 
Aylett,  James  Barbour,  N.  C.  Claiborne,  J.  W.  Massie  and  W.  H.  Harman 
were  of  great  ability  and  eloquence.  It  was  the  most  spirited  and  able 
off-hand  debate  that  ever  transpired  in  a  political  convention.  The 
debate  was  continued  into  the  night  of  Thursday,  the  30th  November, 
1854,  the  first  day  of  the  session.  The  vote  was  then  taken,  and  was  scaled 
on  the  principle  of  allowing  each  county  represented  a  number  equal  to  its 
Democratic  vote  in  the  presidential  election  of  1852.  The  process  of  scaling 
the  vote  was  so  tedious,  that  the  Convention  adjourned  over  until  the  next 
morning  in  order  to  allow  the  secretaries  time  to  compute  the  result. 

Friday,  Dec.  1. — On  the  meeting  of  the  Convention  this  morning,  the 
result  of  the  vote  on  Garnett's  amendment  was  announced  as  follows : 

For  the  amendment,  35,212 

Against  the  amendment,  26,194 

Majority,  9,018 

So  decided  was  the  opposition  manifested  to  this  result,  and  to  the  amend- 
ment, that  a  re-consideration  was  at  once  moved,  and  a  long  and  most  ani- 
mated debate  was  kept  up  through  the  greater  portion  of  the  day.  Finally, 
a  second  vote  was  taken  on  the  same  proposition  as  at  first  with  the  follow- 
ing result : 

For  the  amendment,  32,903 

Against  it,  29,059 

Majority,  3,844 


30 

This  vote,  of  course,  settled  the  question,  and  the  Convention  decided 
that  the  majority  of  the  votes  cast  in  the  Convention  should  nominate  a  can- 
didate for  the  party — without  reference  to  thirty  unrepresented  counties. 

The  contest  on  this  important  proposition  Was  warm  and  excited  from  the 
fact  that  the  adoption  of  Garnett's  amendment  was  equivalent  to  the  nomina- 
tion of  Mr.  Wise;  while  the  adoption  of  Shackelford's  resolution,  if  not 
equivalent  to  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Leake,  by  requiring  a  vote  larger  than  Mr. 
Wise's  friends  could  have  polled,  would  have  resulted  in  the  nomination  of 
a  compromise  candidate. 

This  amendment  having  been  adopted,  the  Convention  proceeded  at  once  to 
the  nomination  of  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  governor. 

Mr.  Douglas,  of  New  Kent,  put  Mr.  H.  A.  Wise  in  nomination,  and  Mr. 
N.  C.  Claiborne,  of  Franklin,  presented  the  name  of  Shelton  F.  Leake.  Pro- 
minent among  the  speakers  during  the  evening  were  Messrs.  Berry  of  Alex- 
andria, Fauntleroy  of  Winchester,  Skinner  of  Augusta,  Brown  of  Kanawha, 
Browne  of  Stafford,  Meade  of  Petersburg,  Kenna  of  Kanawha,  and  English 
of  Logan. 

All  of  these  speeches  were  creditable,  and  many  of  them  eloquent  and  tell- 
ing. It  cannot  be  said  that  they  were  sermons  inculcating  doctrines  of  affec- 
tion and  brotherly  love.  Although  the  speakers  were  personally  courteous, 
yet  their  political  reviews,  comments,  &c.,  on  public  men  were  the  bitterest 
it  is  ever  one's  fortune  to  listen  to.  An  excited  audience,  by  loud  applause 
and  boisterous  manifestations  of  approbation  and  displeasure,  rendered  the 
whole  scene  one  of  extraordinary  excitement.  The  large  badly  lighted  hall 
seemed  the  theatre  of  the  bitterest  and  most  envenomed  feelings  during  this 
long  and  acrimonious  debate.  Such  a  scene  was  never  presented  in  a  Dem- 
ocratic Convention  before,  and  we  hope  never  will  be  presented  again.  The 
most  violent  and  pointed  assaults  upon  the  prominent  men  of  our  own  party 
were  the  most  loudly  applauded. 

Late  on  the  night  of  the  second  day  of  the  session  a  vote  was  taken,  and 
the  Convention  adjourned  over  until  the  next  morning. 

Saturday,  Dec.  2. — The  first  thing  done  was  the  announcement  of  th« 
vote  for  the  nominees  for  Governor,  as  follows : 

H.  A.  Wise,  31,416 

S.  F.  Leake,  25,762 

Wm.  Smith,  2,125 

Alex.  R.  Holladay,  -1,236 

J.  A.  Seddon,  2,491 

Faulkner,  259 


63,289 

Necessary  to  a  choice  31,645. 
Wise  falling  short  of  a  majority  229. 
Some  further  debate  took  place.     Ex-Governor  Smith  was  put  in  nomi- 
nation by  Mr.   Hiner,  of  Pendleton,  and  withdrawn.     Finally  another  vote 
was  taken,  and  the  result  was — 


31 

Wise,  34,034 

Leake,  28,009 
Seddon,  973 

Holladay,  67 

Smith,  290  • 

63,373 

Necessary  to  a  choice  31,687. 
Majority  for  Wise  2,347. 

And  Mr.  Wise,  was  declared  to  be  nominated. 

The  result  of  the  second  ballot  was  announced  on  Saturday  afternoon,  and 
in  consequence  of  changes  in  the  vote  of  Halifax  and  Greenbrier,  Mr.  Wise 
was  nominated,  getting  a  majority  of  2,347.  A  proposition  to  make  it  unan- 
imous failed. 

The  Convention  then  proceeded  to  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  for  the 
office  of  Lieut.  Governor. 

Dr.  C.  R.  Harris  of  Augusta,  A.  G.  Pendleton  of  Giles,  Henry  A.  Ed- 
mundson  of  Roanoke,  Elisha  W.  McComas  of  Kanawha,  and  Dan'l  H. 
Hoge  of  Montgomery,  were  all  put  in  nomination ;  but  all  except  Dr.  Harris 
and  Mr.  Pendleton  were  afterwards  withdrawn.  After  zealous  and  urgent 
appeals  for  the  candidates,  a  vote  was  taken,  and  the  result  was — 

Harris,  29,126 

Pendleton,  27,859 

McComas,  1,121 

Edmundson,  2.880 

Hoge,  1,015 

Necessary  to  a  choice,  31.002. 
No  election. 

The  names  of  Dr.  Harris  and  Mr.  Pendlelon  were  withdrawn. 
Mr.  McComas  was  again  put  in  nomination,  and  Col.  W.  H.  Harman  was 
also  nominated.     A  spirited  series  of  eulogies  of  the  nominees  ensued,  and 
the  vote  being  taken,  was  announced,  after  a  recess,  as  follows : 

McComas,  32,520 

Harman,  26,447 

Mr.  McComas  was  declared  duly  nominated  ;  and  on  motion  of  Col.  Har- 
man the  nomination  was  made  unanimous. 

W.  P.  Bocock,  the  then  Attorney  General,  was  re-nominated  by  accla- 
mation. 

Mr.  McComas  being  present  addressed  the  Convention. 
The  following  resolution  was  adopted: 

Resolved,  That  the  official  career  of  Franklin  Pierce  has  been  marked  by 
a  perfect  observance  of  the  limitations  of  the  Constitution  and  an  entire 
fidelity  to  the  principles  upon  which  he  came  into  power;  and  therefore  he 
is  entitled  to  the  confidence  of  the  friends  of  Constitutional  Liberty  in  every 
section  of  the  Confederacy. 

So  the  result  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention  was  the  following 

ticket : 

For  Governor— HENRY  A.  WISE,  of  Accomac. 

For  Lieut.  Governor— ELISHA  W.  McCOMAS,  of  Kanawha. 

For  Attorney  General— WILLIS  P.  BOCOCK,  of  Richmond. 


32 

The  Convention  adjourned  sine  die  a  little  after  twelve  o'clock  at  night, 
the  Chairman  making  a  brief  valedictory  address.  The  closing  scenes  were 
quite  uproarious,  but  not  acrimonious  as  those  at  an  earlier  period  of  the 
session  had  been. 


COMMENTS  OF  THE  PRESS  UPON  THE  STAUNTON  NOMINEES. 

These  nominations  did  not  give  general  satisfaction  to  the  Democratic 
party  throughout  the  state.  The  principal  objection  was  to  Mr.  Wise  who 
had  voted  for  the  Whig  nominees  in  1840,  and  been  a  very  warm  op- 
ponent of  General  Jackson  in  Congress.  Although  Mr.  Wise  had  been  a 
strict  adherent  to  the  party  since  1841,  and  been  honored  as  a  public  ser- 
vant by  John  Tyler  and  James  K.  Polk,  and  performed  efficient  service  on 
various  occasions;  yet  it  was  the  disposition  of  many  not  to  give  him  their 
support.  He  was  held  up  to  the  party  as  an  inconsistent,  self-willed,  dan- 
gerous, and  unstable  man.  The  Know-Nothings  affected  great  satisfaction  at 
the  result  of  the  Staunton  deliberations.  No  candidate  ever  went  before  the 
people  for  any  office  under  more  discouraging  circumstances  than  Mr.  Henry 
A.  Wise.  Never  was  a  candidate  before  so  little  understood,  or  so  much 
misrepresented  arid  slandered ;  but  we  shall  see  how  gallantly  and  success- 
fully he  surmounted  these  difficulties  : 

From  the  (Rockingham)  Valley  Democrat. 

OUR  NOMINEES. — In  obedience  to  the  behest  of  the  Democratic  Conven- 
tion held  in  Staunton  last  week,  we  proudly  throw  our  banner  to  the  breeze, 
inscribed  on  its  ample  folds  the  names  of  WISE,  McCoMAS  and  BOCOCK, 
the  chosen  standard-bearers  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the  coming  guberna- 
torial contest. 

We  frankly  acknowledge  the  nominations  ar«  not  our  first  choice.  We 
preferred  others,  and  endeavored  to  secure  their  nomination  in  Convention. 
We,  however,  were  disappointed  in  our  wishes,  the  majority  thinking  the 
above  ticket  the  most  acceptable  one  to  be  recommended  to  the  Democracy 
of  Virginia.  We,  therefore,  surrender  our  predilections  upon  the  altar  of 
our  party,  and  shall  use  our  utmost  exertions  to  secure  the  election  of  the 
ticket. 

It  cannot  be  denied  by  any  that  the  ticket  is  composed  of  men  of  the 
highest  order  of  intellect.  They  are  men  around  whom  any  party  may  be 
proud  to  rally.  Our  candidate  for  governor,  HENRY  A.  WISE,  the  fearless 
tribune  of  the  people,  will  sweep  the  state  like  an  avalanche.  As  an  emi- 
nent Southern  and  fearless  advocate  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  we  could 
desire  no  better  leader.  His  eloquent  voice  will  summon  the  Democracy  to 
the  contest  like  the  red  cross  of  Murdock  the  sons  of  Clan-Alpine  to  the 
fight.  It  will  arouse  the  latent  energies  of  the  old  and  excite  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  young — a  blaze  of  enthusiastic  fire  will  burn  from  every  crag  and  from 
every  cliff,  and  be  reflected  from  the  broad  waters  of  the  Ohio  to  the  billowy 
ocean.  Its  echoes,  like  the  shrill  whistle  of  Rhoderick  Dhu,  will  arouse  the 
Democracy  from  the  lowlands  and  the  highlands,  before  whose  resistless 
march  the  contemptible  ism  of  the  day  and  miserable  trumperies  of  an  hour 
will  be  scattered  like  autumnal  leaves  before  the  raging  whirlwind. 


33 

We  deem  it  superfluous  to  speak  of  his  political  character.  In  the  halls 
of  legislation  he  has  won  a  national  reputation,  and  stands  before  the  country 
as  a  brilliant  orator  and  accomplished  statesman.  Like  Portia,  his  private 
character  is  above  reproach.  The  breath  of  suspicion  has  not  even  dared  to 
dim  its  lustre  and  brightness. 

Our  candidate  for  Lieutenant  Governor,  E.  W.  McCoMAS,  is  a  young 
man  of  ability  and  of  the  strictest  integrity.  As  a  member  of  the  late  Re- 
form Convention  he  distinguished  himself  as  an  able  and  eloquent  debater, 
and  fearless  advocate  of  the  people's  rights.  He  is  eminently  qualified  for 
the  position,  and  cannot  fail  to  make  an  excellent  presiding  officer  of  the 
Senate.  He  has  borne  the  flag  of  his  country  on  the  burning  plains  of  Mex* 
ico,  and  won  the  distinction  of  a  brave  arid  generous  soldier.  He  will  ably 
sustain  the  leader  of  the  Democracy  in  bearing  aloft  the  democratic  banner, 
and  is  entitled  and  should  receive  the  cordial  support  of  the  democratic  party 
of  Virginia. 

The  name  of  WILLIS  P.  BOCOCK,  our  candidate  for  Attorney  General,  is 
familiar  to  the  people  of  Virginia.  He  has  proven  himself  to  be  a'sound  and 
able  lawyer,  pre-eminently  qualified  for  the  position  to  which  he  has  been 
elevated.  We  trust  the  democracy  will  honor  him  again  with  their  confi- 
dence. 

Our  candidates  are  now  in  the  field,  and  it  behooves  every  lover  of  demo* 
cratic  principles  to  buckle  on  his  armor  and  go  forth  to  battle  against  the 
hosts  of  Federalism  and  Know-Nothingism.  The  old  flag  ship  of  democracy 
must  be  kept  on  the  old  democratic  platform  of  Jefferson  and  Madison.  If 
the  democracy  do  their  duty  we  doubt  not  the  result.  With  such  chivalric 
spirits  as  Wise,  McComas  and  Bocock  as  leaders,  the  democratic  party 
proudly  go  forth  to  the  battle,  and  challange  our  opponents  to  marshal  their 
forces  under  whatever  flag  they  may  see  proper.  We  care  not  whether  it 
be  under  the  banner  of  Federalism  or  the  contemptible,  drooping  and 
cowardly  oriflamb  of  Know-Nothingism  ;  we  shall  meet  them  with  the  same 
pleasure,  confident  that  our  gallant  champions  will  fearlessly  and  gallantly 
bear  the  States-Rights  banner  triumphantly  to  victory. 

Democrats  of  the  Tenth  Legion  !  sleep  not  at  your  posts  !  If  you  would 
fulfil  the  just  expectations  of  your  party,  and  acquit  yourselves  with  credit, 
you  roust  prepare  for  the  contest.  Let  action,  ACTION  !  be  your  motto — plant 
the  standard  of  democracy  upon  every  hill-top  and  in  every  valley,  and  rally 
beneath  its  broad  folds,  with  unity  of  feeling  and  sentiment,  for  Wise, 
McCornas  and  Bocock. 

Not  less  emphatic  was  the  endorsement  of  the  Richmond  Examiner, 
which  had  most  earnestly,  of  all  the  Democratic  journals,  remonstrated 
against  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Wise.  We  extract  its  declaration  of  adhesion 
to  the  Staunton  nominations  : 

From  the  Richmond  Examiner  of  December  8th,  1854. 

We  should  feel  sorry,  indeed,  if  there  could  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  course 
we  and  those  who  acted  w*ith  us  at  Staunton  shall  pursue  in  the  canvass  now 
commenced.  We  shall  go  for  the  ticket.  We  have  attested  the  sincerity  of 
our  preferences  for  men,  openly,  honestly  and  sufficiently.  We  have  done 
so  without  reference  to  the  maxim  which  modern  political  ethics  have  made 
a  cardinal  rule  of  conduct  with  successful  candidates,  that  they  have  friends 
to  reward  and  enemies  io punish;  for  we  went  to  Staunton  under  the  convic- 
tion that  we  should  not  be  able  to  overcome  the  vote  by  which  our  preference* 
were  defeated.  The  question  between  men  has  been  decided  against  us  by 
regular  and  authoritative  adjudication.  The  only  question  now  is  between 
the  ticket  of  the  Republican  party  of  Virginia  and  that  of  the  opposition  to. 
3 


34 

it,  of  whatever  hue,  form  and  creed.  There  is  but  one  honorable  choice; 
and,  whether  the  opposition  comes  from  the  bosom  of  the  Democratic  party 
itself,  or  the  dark  caverns  of  secret  conspiracy,  or  the  veteran,  scarred  ranks 
of  the  ancient,  open,  declared  Whig  adversary,  or  from  all  quarters  com- 
bined, we  shall  defend  the  Staunton  nominations. 

We   have  no  fulsome  eulogy  for  the   distinguished   nominees.     We   are 
more  skilled  in  the  language  of  censure  than  of  laudation.     Panegyric  is  not 
our  forte,  nor  man-worship  our  besetting  sin.     But  we  will  say,  that  Mr. 
Wise  is   eminently  worthy  of  the  confidence   and   support  of  the  Virginia 
people.     His  brilliant  qualities  as  a  man  will  reflect  lustre  upon  the  office  tor 
•which  he  is  recommended.     He  is  a  man  to  whom  we  have  never  felt  but 
one  objection  personally,  and  that  was,  that  though,  as  sound  in  politics  now 
as  the  strictest  Republican  of  the  Virginia  school,  his  career  had  been  incon- 
sistent and  his  record  contradictory  in  a  manvier  and  to  a  degree  which  ren- 
dered it  difficult  for  the  party  speakers  and  writers  in  this  canvass  to  defend 
him,  according  to  the  old  mode  of  party  re-asoriing.     We  have  said  this  fre- 
quently, and  we  do  not  mean  to  unsay  it  in  the  canvass  at  hand.     But  of  all 
claims  to  public  office,  those  of  the  meve    party  men  are  the  flimsiest  and 
most  wretched.     Consistency,  in  the  mer.e  party  sense — that  of  having  voted 
the  party  ticket  blind,  on  all  occasions,   wright  or  wrong,  through  thick  and 
thin — that  of  having  sworn  and  argue'd  that  a  measure  was  right  whenever  it 
was  endorsed  by  party,  and  wronr;  v whenever  not — consistency  of  this  base, 
cheap,  description,  is  anything  but  •<  a  jewel."     Thejnan  who  is  ever  faith- 
ful to  his  own  convictions,  scoruir.jg  to  submit  his  judgment  to  the  behests 
either  of  party  or  of  any  othe-f  influence  but  his  own  conscience,  is  a  true 
man,  and  is  very  apt  to  be  fh  r  ecipient  of  public  trust.     The  man  who  holds 
no  opinion  of  bis  own,  and  w\-,0  boasts  to  have  never  differed  from  his  party 
in  any  act  or  thought  of  h'is   |ife,  is  more  apt  to  be  a  demagogue  than  a  states- 
man.    True  consistency  li-.»g  jn 'fidelity  to  one's  convictions  of  duty,  however 
changing ;  and  he  is  thf .;  s  ,afe  politician  who  boldly  avows  and  bravely  adheres 
to  those  convictions  up.d^r  all  circumstances.    It  is  remarked  that  all  the  really 
great  women  the  worjr'j  has  produced  have  held  peculiar  notions  on  the  point 
of  virtue.     It  is  cer  tr  ^  that  the  greatest  statesmen  of  our  country  have  been 
distinguished  for  tf  ie'.,r  political  inconsistency.     Even  Jefferson  himself  repu- 
diated in  the  wr\ti  no-s   from  Monticello  the  anti-slavery  principles  to  which 
the  prime  of  n"is    fjg  had  been  devoted.     Jackson  went  into  the  executive 
office  advocat^rr  f  some  of  the  worst  measures  of  the  Federalists,  proclaimed 
during  his  ai^rr  imistration  the  most  alarming  and  arrogant  Federal  dogmas, 
and  yet  lai'J  '" jown  the  reins  of  government  with  the  merited  reputation  of  a 
hero  and  «cb  ampl0n  of  state  rights.     Calhoun,  the  honest  politician,  the  Cato 
of  his  d  ar    '          be    uoted  on  both  sides  of  almost  every  great  measure  ot 
public  Yc'/icy      Honesty,  fidelity,  capacity— the  Jeffersoman  tests— these,  at 
last,  a- fe     th*  true  qualifications  for  office.     Consistency,  in  the  vulgar  accep- 
tation,   beiongs  oftener  to  the  demagogue  and  ignoramus  than  to  the  honest 
Poli'Li   cian  and  the  capable  statesman.     Those  high  personal  qualities  which 
m'J~  .e  us  love,  admire,  and  trust  in  men,  belong  oftener  to  the  rash,  impu. 
^lv  e  and  brave,  than  to  the  cautious,  calculating,  and  "consistent. 
Jr  <d£e  Mr.  Wise  bv  the  acts  of  his  life,  we  admit  that,  in  our  opinion,  he  hs 
GwslQJins  to  consistency.     But  if  you  judge  him  by  the  impulses  of  his 

•nature,"  and  the  fidelity  and  chivalric  bravery  of  his   adherence  to  them,  the 

'verdict  in  his  favor  is  emphatic  and  beyond  question. 

The    political  horizon  is  filled  with   admonitions  of  trouble.     The  recent 

«lecii  ons  at  the  north  reveal  a  state  of  feeling  very  portentious  to  the  south. 

We    ne  upon  the  eve  of  times  which  will  try  men's  souls.     Let  us  have  a 

'"ied     brave,  true  southern  man  in  the  executive  office  of  Virginia.     At  a 
like  this,  let  us  look  to  the  metal  of  our  men,  rather  than  t 


35 

"records."  The  Democracy  of  Virginia  have  declared  at  Staunton  that 
they  care  not  for  political  antecedents  or  partisan  animosities,  twenty  years 
gone  by,  in  the  presence  of  the  danger  now  threatening  the  south.  They 
have  resolved  that  old  and  obsolete  differences,  such  as  used  to  divide  them 
from  their  political  opponents  at  home,  are  not  to  be  remembered  against  the 
true  southern  man  in  a  contest  upon  that  issue  above  all  other  issues — north- 
ern aggression  against  southern  rights. 

There  is  significance  in  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Wise.  The  Democracy  of 
of  Virginia  have  resolved,  in  disregard  of  past  domestic  animosities  and  old 
differences  of  opinion,  to  manifest  their  stern,  uncompromising  temper  on  the 
sectional  issue  by  the  man  they  mean  to  place  at  the  head  of  affairs.  When 
•we  make  Henry  A.  Wise  governor  of  Virginia,  the  north  will  know  what  we 
mean. 

Mr.  McComas  is  comparatively  a  young  man ;  but  has  already  distin- 
guished himself  by  valuable  public  service.  He  has  fought  gallantly  and 
won  enviable  laurels  upon  the  field  of  battle.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Re- 
form Convention  of  1850-51  ;  and  served  with  credit  to  himself  and  to  the 
satisfaction  of  his  constituents.  He  has  always  been  a  zealous  advocate  of 
the  doctrines  of  State  Rights;  and,  since  he  was  entitled  to  a  vote,  has  been 
an  active,  efficient  and  consistent  Democrat. 

Mr.  Bocock  has  already  passed  the  ordeal  of  the  polls;  and  has  proved 
an  industrious,  faithful  and  eminently  able  officer.  The  testimony  to  his 
efficiency,  capacity  end  industry  in  the  office  of  Attorney  General,  is  unqual- 
ified and"  conclusive,  and  is  alike  creditable  to  himself  and  to  the  party  which 
conferred  the  office  upon  bim. 

The  reasons  in  favor  of  rallying  to  this  ticket  are  conclusive ;  and  we  in- 
voke all  the  Democracy  of  Virginia  to  a  zealous  and  active  support  of  it. 
We  repeat  our  sincere  and  candid  opinions  :  The  party  will  do  its  duty  : — 
There  is  no  danger  of  defeat. 


CONFIDENCE  OF  THE  OPPOSITION. 

The  opposition  were  so  confident  that  the  Staunton  state  ticket  had  produced 
schism  and  discord  in  the  Democratic  ranks,  that  the  Richmond  Whig  made 
bold  to  forewarn  the  Democracy  of  their  coming  fate,  in  the  following 
language : 

"  The  indications  of  public  sentiment  throughout  the  country,  as  far  as  we 
can  gather  it,  from*  he  tone  of  the  Whig  and  Democratic  press,  and  from 
our  private  correspondence,  foreshadow  a  gloomy  prospect  for  the  nominees 
of  the  Staunton  Convention.  In  the  Whig  ranks  there  is  union  of  senti- 
ment, harmony  of  action,  and  resolution  of  purpose  ;  in  the  Democratic 
ranks  there  is  discord,  apprehension,  and  a  general  and  growing  mistrust. 
*  *  *  We  can  assure  our  neighbor  that  the  great  Whig  party  is  vital  in, 
its  existence — firmly  united — and  fully  prepared  for  a  successful  campaign. 
At  the  proper  time,  and  in  due  form,  and  with  united  forces,  it  will  unfold  its 
banner,  and  we  fear  nothing  for  its  success." 

As  soon  as  it  was  known  in  other  parts  of  the  Union  that  the  Democracy 
of  Virginia  were  ready  for  the  conflict,  with  the  hitherto  invincible  Know- 
Nothings,  all  eyes  were  turned  upon  the  state.  It  was  well  known  that  the 
Democracy  had  to  contend  with  a  formidable,  wily  and  insidious  enemy, 
flushed  with  victory.  The  Democratic  party  felt  its  danger  and  the  respon- 


36 

sibility  of  its  position.  Their  brethren  of  the  southern  states  felt  a  deep 
anxiety  for  the  success  of  the  Democracy  of  a  state  that  had  always  repu- 
diated and  withstood  Federalism  in  all  its  Protean  characters.  The  Wash. 
ington  Sentinel  contained  the  following  article  counseling  the  party  against 
the  snares  of  the  enemy,  the  boasts  of  the  new  party,  and  calling  upon  Vir- 
ginia to  preserve  her  escutcheon  untarnished  : 

THE  VIRGINIA  ELECTIONS. — The  state  of  Virginia  is  regarded  at  this  time 
with  great  interest  by  all  parties.  In  a  few  months  elections  for  state  offi- 
cers and  members  of  Congress  will  be  held,  and  more  than  ordinary  prepa- 
rations are  now  beingr  made  for  the  opening  canvass.  The  ancient  renown 
of  that  venerable  commonwealth,  her  undeviating  consistency,  and  her  poli- 
tical influence,  attract  to  her  a  large  share  of  public  attention. 

Thoroughly  and  consistently  Democratic,  as  she  has  ever  been,  the  Demo- 
crats are  naturally  solicitous  that  she  should  maintain  that  character.  When 
other  states  have  faltered  and  fallen,  she  has  been  true  and  unflinching,  and 
hence  it  would  be  a  signal  triumph  for  the  opposition  if  they  could  gain  her. 
To  that  triumph  they  proudly  and  ambitiously  aspire.  Already  they  begin 
to  boast.  Months  in  advance  of  the  election,  here  in  Washington,  they  be- 
gin to  claim  the  victory.  They  have  rolls,  lists  and  records.  In  imagination 
they  have  elected  their  governor  and  stricken  down  several  Democratic 
members  of  Congress.  They  give  the  figures  with  great  precision,  and 
boldly  aver,  that  all  arrangements  to  secure  their  success  have  been  com- 
pletely consummated. 

It  is  meet  that  the  free  citizens  of  Virginia  should  know  that  grand  coun- 
cils have  gravely  assembled  to  decide  for  whom  they  shall  vote,  and  that 
instructions  have  been  issued  which  they  are  imperiously  required  to  obey. 
The  time  was  when  they  owed  allegiance  to  their  state.  That  time  has 
passed.  The  time  was,  when  they  announced  their  opinions  and  their  pur- 
poses in  the  open  streets  and  in  the  public  highways.  That  time,  too,  has 
passed.  Those  mysterious  men  who  sprung  up  from  the  gutters  of  New 
York  and  commenced  their  remarkable  career  by  carrying  city  elections, 
have  swept  with  a  success  almost  unparalleled  the  abolitionized  state  of 
Massachusetts,  where  Democrats  were  odious,  and  even  Free  Soil  Whiga 
were  wanting  in  rankness— these  mysterious  men  have  taken  the  good  old 
«tate  of  Virginia  under  their  especial  guardianship.  In  the  secret  lodges — 
at  the  midnight  conclaves,  in  Boston  and  in  New  York,  in  Chicago  and  Syra- 
cuse, they  pray  and  they  weep  over  the  proud  old  commonwealth.  They 
have  vowed  to  win  her,  and  no  effort  will  be  spared  to  execute  that  vow. 
WTe  are  told  that  here  in  Washington  plans  have  be^en  consummated  by 
which  the  fate  of  Democracy  in  Virginia  is  sealed !  Of  course  we  attach 
no  importance  to  the  information.  It  is  but  the  boast  that  is  designed  to  dis- 
courage Democrats  and  encourage  the  opposition. 

The  opposition  !  What  is  it  ?  It  is  not  that  old  and  respectable  and 
avowed  Whig  opposition  that  we  were  wont  to  encounter,  with  Bank,  Tariff 
and  Distribution  inscribed  on  its  banners.  It  is  not  that  opposition  that  Clay  led 
and  Wrebster  battled  for.  It  is  a  fusion,  an  amalgation  of  isms.  For  the 
first  time  fusion  is  proposed  in  Virginia.  For  the  first  time  an  ism  has 
dared  to  rear  its  crest  in  that  ancient  Dominion. 

Those  who  join  this  opposition  will  not  do  as  our  opponents  of  the  olden 
time  were  accustomed  to  do.  They  will  not  stand  up  and  declare  their  sen- 
timents like  freemen.  When  these  men  meet  in  the  open  streets  and  the 
public  highways,  they  will  give  mysterious  signals — that  none  but  the  initi* 
ated  can  understand.  They  dare  not  talk  out  like  honest  men. 

Has  the  Old  Dominion  fallen  so  low  that  her  sons  are  afraid  to  proclaim 


37 

their  sentiments  ?  Are  those  who  are  wont  to  interchange  their  opinions  on 
public  affairs,  when  they  met  at  court  greens,  at  country  stores,  or  at  cross 
roads,  struck  dumb  by  a  secret  and  a  despotic  association  that  had  its  origin 
in  a  distant  state,  with  different  institutions  ?  We  devoutly  pray  that  no 
such  degeneracy  will  curse  that  good  old  state,  whose  greatest  fault  has  been 
that  she  uttered  her  sentiments  too  boldly. 

Yet,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  opposition  to  Democracy,  in  Vir- 
ginia, has  resolved  itself  into  this  mysterious  organization.  Most  of 
those  who  were  Whigs,  are  Whigs  no  longer.  Without  pretending 
to  be  convinced  of  the  unsoundness  of  their  principles,  they  have 
renounced  those  principles,  and  gone  over  to  a  party  that  professes  its 
willingness  to  support  either  a  Bank  or  an  anti-Bank,  a  Tariff  or  anti-Tariff, 
a  Distribution  or  an  anti-Distribution  man.  Indeed,  although  nearly  the 
whole  of  those  who  belong  to  this  opposition  to  the  Democracy  of  Virginia 
are  Whigs,  they  declare,  privately  and  publicly,  that  they  would  rather  sup- 
port Democratic  than  Whig  candidates.  Two  contradictions  are  involved  in 
this  declaration.  First,  that  being  Whigs,  they  should  prefer  Democrats  ; 
and.  secondly,  that,  prefering  Democrats,  they  should  oppose  the  regular 
Democratic  nominees.  This  contradiction,  or  rather  these  contradictions, 
are  explained  in  this  way :  They  want  to  get  disappointed  and  disaffected 
Democrats  to  run  against  the  regular  nominees,  in  order  to  relieve  them- 
selves of  the  odium  of  being  a  Whig  organization,  and  in  order  to  entice 
Democrats  into  that  organization. 

But  we  are  happy  to  say  that  the  better  sort  of  Whigs — those  who  scorn 
impure  alliances,  those  who  love  open  honesty  and  manly  independence,  and 
who  will  not  agree  to  be  controlled  by  a  secret  society  that  sprang  up  outside 
of  Virginia  and  in  an  anti-slavery  state,  will  not  act  in  conjunction  with  this 
opposition.  They  will  do  as  many  of  the  strongest  Whigs  of  Illinois  did  in 
the  recent  election  in  that  state.  They  will  vote  for  the  Democratic  candi- 
dates. If  they  are  forced  to  quit  their  party,  they  will  rather  vote  with  an 
open,  a  manly,  and  an  honest  party,  than  with  a  secret  and  a  mysterious 
order  that  has  disbanded  and  scattered  them.  A  state  rights  Whig  is  more 
1  a  Democrat  than  a  Know-Nothing. 


THE  CBY  OF  DISAFFECTION. 

A  report  was  industriouily  circulated  throughout  the  state  that  many  of 
the  most  prominent  men  of  the  party  were  not  only  dissatisfied  with  the 
Staunton  ticket,  but  would  not  give  it  their  support.  This  had  not  only  a 
great  tendency  to  dissatisfy  a  large  portion  of  the  masses,  but  almost  threat- 
ened a  rupture,  the  very  object  aimed  at  by  the  Know-Nothing  party. 
The  report  was  false.  It  was  true  that  there  were  some  dissatisfied  individ- 
uals who  had  had  the  confidence  of  the  Democratic  party;  but  these  were,  for 
the  most  part,  or  had  been  regarded,  to  use  a  popular  term,  as  "  fishy."  It  was 
these  persons,  claiming  prominence  and  position  in  the  party,  and  considering 
their  claims  for  office  and  honor  overlooked,  that  exhibited  these  disloyal  pro- 
clivities. But  the  report  was  wholly  untrue  in  regard  to  the  sound  members  of 
the  party.  The  Charlottesville  Jeffersonian  disposed  in  the  following  very 
effectual  manner  of  the  report  in  regard  to  several  prominent  and  influential 
men: 


38 


From  the  Charlottesville  JefFersonian. 

One  of  the  many  means  resorted  to  by  the  Whigs,  in  order  to  produce 
disaffection  in  the  Democratic  party  towards  their  nominees,  is  the  state- 
ment which  has  been  going  the  rounds  of  the  opposition  press,  to  the  effect 
that  live  of  the  Democratic  members  of  Congress  from  Virginia,  (viz :) 
Messrs.  Bayly,  Letcher,  McMullen,  Smith  and  Powell,  would  not  sustain 
the  nomination  of  Mr.  Wise.  Now,  for  the  satisfaction  of  our  Democratic 
friends,  we  are  authorized  to  state  upon  authentic  information,  that  this  ru- 
mor is  a  sheer  fabrication  of  the  enemies  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  that 
all  the  above  named  gentlemen,  together  with  the  entire  Virginia  delegation 
in  Congress,  will  support  Mr.  Wise  and  the  rest  of  the  ticket.  We  were 
assured  by  Mr.  Powell  himself,  in  a  personal  interview  with  him,  that  the 
entire  ticket  would  receive  his  support.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Leake  should 
not  permit  any  such  influences  to  induce  them  to  withhold  their  support  from 
the  nominee  of  our  party.  We  have  been  assured  by  Mr.  Leake  himself, 
that  he,  too,  would  give  a  zealous  support  to  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Wise, 
and  he  urges  that  all  of  his  friends  should  do  likewise  ;  since,  in  refusing  to 
support  Mr.  Wise,  they  may  lose  everything,  and  cannot  by  possibility  gain 
anything.  They  may  not  only  Ipse  the  governor,  but  also  their  delegates  to 
the  Legislature,  and  their  representatives  in  Congress.  Issues  of  momen- 
tous importance  depend  upon  the  triumph  of  the  Democracy  in  the  approach- 
ing election.  The  New  York  Herald  and  its  co-adjutors  boast  that  they 
have  for  the  present  prostrated  the  administration  party  in  the  North,  and 
they  urge  upon  their  friends  in  Virginia  by  all  means  to  defeat  Mr.  Wise,  or 
they  regard  his  election  as  a  test  of  the  strength  of  the  administration, 
and  of  Democratic  States  Rights  principles  in  Virginia.  They  regard 
Mr.  Wise  as  a  champion  of  the  administration  in  its  support  of  the 
constitutional  guarantees  of  the  South.  They  know,  moreover,  that  his 
election  would  crush  out  Nnow-Nothingism  in  this  section  of  the  Union,  and 
would  present  an  impassable  barrier  to  the  progress  of  that  fusion  which  in 
the  North  has  resulted  in  the  election  of  a  majority  of  anti-Nebraska  and 
anti-Fugitive  Slave  Law  men  to  Congress.  Hence  their  anxiety  to  have 
him  defeated.  As  we  intimated  above,  in  the  approaching  election,  not 
only  the  supremacy  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the  executive  department  of 
our  state  government,  but  the  political  complexion  of  the  next  Legislature, 
and  of  the  Virginia  representation  in  both  Houses  of  Congress  are  involved. 
Upon  the  next  Legislature  will  devolve  the  duty  of  electing  two  United 
States  Senators,  in  the  place  of  Messrs.  Mason  and  Hunter,  whose  terms 
"will  soon  expire.  We,  therefore,  regard  the  success  of  our  county  delega- 
tions, and  of  our  candidates  for  Congress,  and  the  consequent  ascendancy  of, 
the  Democracy  of  Virginia  in  both  branches  of  the  National  Legislature,  as 
of  paramount  importance.  For  it  is  evident  already,  that  another  great  bat- 
tle must  be  fought  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  with  the  anti-Nebraska,  Know- 
Nothing  Fusionists  of  the  North,  who,  'tis  said,  have  now  a  majority  in  the 
House  of  Representatives.  We  would,  entreat  our  friends,  then,  for  the  sake 
of  the  success  of  our  county  delegations,  and  of  our  faithful  and  sterling 
representative  in  Congress,  Hon.  Paulus  Powell,  if  from  no  other  considera- 
tion, to  come  up  unitedly  to  the  support  of  the  nominees  of  the  party,  and 
present  an  unbroken  phalanx,  as  in  days  past,  to  the  common  enemies  of 
Democracy. 


39 


MR.  WISE  OPENS  THE  CANVASS— HIS  ANTECEDENTS. 

The  Hon.  Henry  A.  Wise,  after  publishing  a  list  of  appointments,  opened 
the  canvass  at  Ashland  Hall,  Norfolk  city,  January  the  5th,  1855,  in  the 
manner  thus  described  by  the  Argus  newspaper  of  that  city : 

The  campaign  was  commenced  on  Wednesday  evening  at  Ashland  Hall 
by  our  gallant  and  glorious  nominee  for  Governor,  in  an  address  to  a  most 
crowded  audience.  The  room  was  filled  to  overflowing  by  the  most  eager 
listeners,  whom  the  eloquence  of  his  words  held  strictly  attentive  for  over 
two  hours.  The  address  was  his  own — such  as  he  alone  can  deliver — forci- 
ble, well  arranged,  argumentative ;  abounding  in  the  most  bitter  sarcasm 
and  the  most  soothing  appeals.  It  was  one  of  his  noblest  efforts.  Of  its 
effect,  we  can  say,  as  our  neighbor  of  the  News,  that  "we  can  only  judge 
by  the  strict  order  maintained,  the  earnest  attention  with  which  it  was 
heard,  and  the  frequent  bursts  of  applause  that  followed  his  telling,  sabre- 
like  flashes  of  eloquence."  His  words  "were  as  fire  that  ran,"  and  thrilled 
the  whole  audience. 

He  reviewed  briefly  and  lucidly  his  opinions  on  those  principles  upheld 
by  the  Democratic  party  for  government,  both  federal  and  state — the 
great  fundamentals  of  all  republican  institutions,  and  the  safety  of  our  own 
glorious  Union.  He,  in  every  way,  surrounded  himself  by  arguments  and 
illustrations  that  were  unanswerable  ;  and  when  he  burst  forth  upon  the 
principles  that  underlie  the  Know-Nothing  question,  he  portrayed  the  real 
views  of  this  secret  organization ;  the  fallacy  of  its  positions ;  its  proscrip- 
tion on  account  of  religion ;  and  exposed  fully  the  dangers  that  were  to  fol- 
low from  the  success  of  a  secret  political  party.  His  views  were  such  as 
to  render  conclusive  to  the  mind  of  any  man  as  to  which  side  he  should 
take  in  this  new  sect — that  of  openly  expressing  whatever  touches  on  po- 
litical questions.  It  would  be  useless  in  us  to  attempt  to  give  even  a  sy- 
nopsis of  his  speech.  His  manner  is  so  original,  his  style  so  peculiarly  his 
own,  and  the  force  of  his  remarks  such,  that  in  attempting  to  give  them  in 
synopsis  by  our  own  words,  wrould  be  futile  and  weak.  We  may  recur 
again  to  this  subject.  One  must  hear  Mr.  Wise  for  himself.  With  us  it  is 
as  with  Job — our  language  must  be,  "  Whom  I  shall  see  [and  hear]  for 
myself,  and  not  for  another." 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Wise  thus  sounded  the  note  of  battle,  the  Know-Nothing 
and  Whig  press  commenced  an  examination  of  his  political  antecedents. 
Their  great  effort  was  to  prove  that  he  had  been  an  aclive  Whig  in  the 
vigor  of  his  life,  had  been  an  acknowledged  and  most  distinguished  leader 
of  that  organization,  and  that  he  now  proclaimed  that  he  had  "  no  recan- 
tations to  make."  Never  was  the  political  history  of  any  man  so  little  under- 
•tood  by  the  masses  as  that  of  Henry  A.  Wise,  during  the  late  canvass  in 
Virginia.  We  will  here  introduce  Mr.  Wise's  own  explanation  as  appeared 
in  the  Richmond  Enquirer,  April  14,  1843.  This  explanation  is  satisfactory 
to  every  unprejudiced  mind,  and  did  much  to  allay  the  prejudices  of  the 
"old  line  Democracy"  against  him: 


40 


MR.  WISE  IN  1843. 


To  the  Editor  of  the  Enquirer  : 


NORTHUMBERLAND,  APRIL  4,  1843. 


Dear  Sir : — Yesterday  was  a  great  day  in  old  Northumberland.  Mr.  Wise 
was  here,  and  the  high  character  he  brought  with  him,  acquired  in  Congress, 
and  from  the  hustings,  drew  out  an  unusually  large  concourse  of  persons. 
I  had  often  heard  of  his  powers  before  the  people  ;  but  his  efforts  on  this 
occasion  exceeded  my  most  extravagant  calculations.  He  enchained  the 
attention  of  his  audience  for  about  four  hours,  in  a  speech  characterised  for 
ability,  eloquence,  and  the  most  withering  sarcasm.  He  commenced  by  giv- 
ing us  a  history  of  his  political  career,  begun  about  ten  years  ago  in  the 
-Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  showed,  conclusively,  that  so  far  as  the 
great  principles  which  at  present  agitate  the  country,  the  Bank,  the  Tariff, 
Internal  Improvement,  Distribution,  and  Abolition  are  concerned,  he  has  not 
changed  one  jot  or  tittle.  The  evidence  he  adduced  was  irresistible.  No 
candid  and  unprejudiced  mind  could  have  listened  to  him  and  not  been  con- 
vinced. He  stated,  (what  I  have  no  doubt  was  the  fact,)  that  John  Tyler 
was  nominated  at  Harrisburg,  because  of  his  States  Rights  .Republican 
Whig  principles,  and  that  there  was  in  that  Convention  a  union  of  National 
Republicans  and  States  Rights  Whigs,  for  a  common  object,  (with  the  un- 
derstanding that  the  states  rights  doctrines  were  to  be  carried  out,  if  they 
succeeded,)  and  that  object,  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  to  whose  re-elec- 
tion Mr.  Wise  was  then  opposed — that  this  same  republican  portion  of  the 
Whig  party  was  that  fragment  of  the  old  Jackson  party  that  had  gone  off  under 
the  white  flag  of  '36 — that  as  soon  would  oil  and  water  unite,  as  the  principles 
of  the  old  Hamiltonian  federal  party,  and  those  of  the  republican  states 
rights  portion  of  the  Whig  party  of  1840 — arid  that,  upon  their  ascendancy 
to  power,  should  they,  (the  federal  portion  of  the  Whig  party  of  1840,)  at- 
tempt to  carry  out  the  federal  doctrines,  the  states  rights  portion,  who  had 
no  sympathy  for  them  in  principle,  would  rebel — and  that  the  party  common 
of  1840,  must  be  dissolved  into  its  original  elements.  This,  Mr.  Wise  de- 
monstrated, as  with  a  pencil  of  light,  was  the  relative  position  of  the  repub- 
lican and  federal  wing  of  the  great  Whig  army,  when  General  Harrison 
came  into  power.  In  relation  to  his  Hanover  letter,  to  which  allusion,  in 
some  way  by  speech,  sign,  or  manner,  was  made,  he  explicitly  said,  before 
he  ever  pledged  his  support  in  any  form  to  Mr.  Clay,  he  obtained  a  distinct 
avowal  of  his  sentiments,  and  a  pledge  in  regard  to  five  cardinal  points. 
Said  he,  "  Mr.  Clay,  we  differ  widely  upon  fundamental  principles,  which 
must  ever  be  a  gulf  between  us,  unless  relinquished  by  you.  How  do  you 
stand  on  the  subject  of  a  bank  ?  Virginia  is  opposed  to  one."  "  Why,  my 
dear  sir,"  replied  Mr.  Clay,  "  this  is  a  subject,  which,  whatever  may  be  my 
theoretical  views,  the  public  mind  is  not  now  ripe  for,  and  I  am  perfectly 
willing  to  leave  it  to  'the  arbitrament  of  public  opinion."  "  But,  Mr.  Clay, 
on  the  subject  of  the  Tariff,  you  are  looked  upon  as  the  father  of  this 
system,  and  you  are  so  wedded  to  it,  you  could  hardly  be  tempted  to  give  it 
up.  I  am  uncompromisingly  opposed  to  it."  "Why,"  said  Mr.  Clay,  "all 
I  wanted  in  the  first  instance,  was  to  give  a  stimulus  to  the  manufacturing 
interests  of  the  country.  That  is  already  done.  I  am  perfectly  willing  to 
abide  by  the  compromise  act — however  much  we  differ  upon  the  subject, 
theoretically,  practically,  we  will  be  together."  "  But  tfcea,  Mr.  Clay,  on  the 
subject  of  internal  improvement,  how  are  you?*'  "Why,  wy  dear  sir,  all 
I  wished  was  to  encourage  a  spirit  of  improvement  am«ng  the  states,  and 
this  has  been  carried  already  too  far  by  the  states  themselves."  "  But  on 
the  subject  of  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District,  Mr.  Clay,  you  admit  the 


41 

power  of  Congress  to  act  upon  the  subject,  upon  the  principle  of  'exclusive 
legislation,1'  "My  dear  sir,"  rejoined  Mr.  Clay,  "while  these  are  my 
opinions  conscientiously  formed,  I  am  a  son  of  Virginia,  and  a  slaveholder 
of  Kentucky,  and  I  would  suffer  the  tortures  of  the  inquisition,  before  I 
would  sign  a  bill  having  for  its  object  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District, 
or  in  any  manner  give  countenance  to  the  subject."  Now,  by  these  pro- 
fessions and  tests,  how  wide  were  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Wise,  practically  apart  ? 
and  had  not  Mr.  Wise  every  reason  to  suppose  that  Mr.  Clay,  as  a  gentle- 
man, would  literally  fulfil  these  pledges  ?  Let  those  who  are  holding  up 
this  Hanover  letter  in  judgment  against  Mr.  Wise,  take  it  in  connection 
with  these  pledges  of  Mr.  Clay,  and  Mr.  Clay's  own  Hanover  speech,  and 
they  are  welcome  to  all  the  advantage  they  can  derive.  Mr.  Wise  admitted 
he  had  undergone  more  changes  with  respect  to  Mr.  Clay,  as  a  man,  than 
he  had  ever  done  towards  any  one  in  his  life — that  he  went  to  Congress  the 
first  time  with  strong  prejudices  and  no  very  kind  feelings  towards  him — 
that  it  was  a  long  time  before  he  had  an  introduction  to  him — and  that  when 
political  co-operation  brought  them  together,  he  felt  the  fascination  and 
power  of  the  charmer.  Now,  Mr.  Wise  says,  for  reasons  which  he  assigned, 
and  which  are  perfectly  satisfactory  to  every  unprejudiced  and  honest  mind, 
he  has  no  opinion  of  Henry  Clay,  either  as  a  politician  or  as  a  man.  He 
has  forfeited  his  respect  forever  as  to  both. 

But  to  return  to  the  canvass  of  1840,  and  the  events  which  have  suc- 
ceeded. In  1840,  pending  the  contest  of  that  memorable  campaign,  whilst 
Mr.  Clay  was  looking  forward  to  succeed  General  Harrison,  and  to  be  "  the 
power  behind  the  throne,  greater  than  the  throne  itself," — in  his  administra- 
tion, he  was  the  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Mr.  Wise,  never  meeting  him  after 
a  separation,  however  short,  but  with  the  utmost  cordiality  and  kindness. 
After  the  election,  and  Virginia  had  gone  against  General  Harrison,  what  was 
his  manner  on  meeting  Mr.  Wise  in  Washington  ?  Cordial  as  before?  No, 
Bays  Mr.  Wise,  but  with  the  cold  salutation  :  "  How  do  you  do,  sir?  I  con- 
gratulate myself  that  Virginia  has  gone  for  Mr.  Van  Buren ;  we  will  no 
longer  be  embarrassed  by  her  peculiar  opinions."  Well  may  this  expression 
have  struck  Mr.  Wise  with  amazement.  The  cloven  foot  was  shown — the 
policy  of  the  Federal  Whigs  was  developed  by  their  leader.  "  No  longer 
embarrassed  by  her  peculiar  opinions,"  by  which  he  intended  contempt  and 
derision  of  "  Virginia  abstractions,"  or  of  a  strict  construction  of  our  glori- 
ous Federal  Constitution.  From  that  hour,  Mr.  Wise's  confidence  was  gone, 
and  who  could  blame  him  for  indulging  feelings  of  indignation  towards  a 
man  who  had  wormed  himself  artfully  into  his  confidence,  and  when  he  had 
seen  the  Whig  ticket  triumph  despite  of  the  opposition  of  Virginia,  turned 
Lis  back' upon  his  pledges,  and  disregarded  those  courtesies  and  civilities 
which  characterize  the  intercourse  of  mutual  friends?  With  such  a  man, 
ambition  is  the  vortex  which  swallows  up  every  kind  feeling  of  the  human 
heart,  and  leaves  scarcely  a  redeeming  quality  behind.  An  extra  session 
of  Congress  was  called,  and,  though  Mr.  Clay  had  agreed  practically  to  go 
along  with  Mr.  Wise,  all  those  measures  which  had  been  renounced  and 
given  up  by  Mr.  Clay  in  1840,  were  sought  in  hot  haste,  through  his  instru- 
mentality, to  be  palmed  off  upon  the  nation.  The  bank  question,  which  was 
to  be  left  to  the  enlightenment  of  public  opinion,  was  snatched  from  the 
people — a  rivalry  was  begot  between  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Webster,  in  conse- 
quence of  General  Harrison's  preference  for  the  latter ;  and  ere  the  old  chief 
had  been  killed  by  the  annoyance  of  hungry  office-seekers,  (the  Simon  Purea 
of  1840,)  and  the  course  of  political  aspirants  for  the  presidency,  Mr.  Clay 
secretly  aimed  at  his  administration  the  artillery  of  war.  All  this  Mr.  Wise 
proved,  and  proved  satisfactorily.  The  compromise  act  was  violated,  and  an 


42 

odious  bankrupt  law  passed,  contrary  to  every  pledge  Mr.   Clay  had  made 
Mr.  Wise. 

Mr.  Wise,  in  the  course  of  his  address,  triumphantly  vindicated  John 
Tyler  against  the  charges  of  treachery,  Iscariotism,  Arnoldism,  immorality, 
fraud,  dishonesty,  and  the  thousand  and  one  coarse  and  malicious  epithets 
which  have  been  heaped  upon  him  by  Federal  Whiggery,  without  stint  and 
without  measure.  He  proved,  beyond  the  possibility  of  a  doubt,  that  Mr.  Tyler 
had  always  been  opposed  to  the  constitutionality  of  a  bank,  and  that  he  could 
not,  have  signed  a  charter  without  perjury — that  there  was  no  evidence  to  show 
that  even  General  Harrison  would  have  signed  a  bank  charter;  and  he  quoted 
the  letter  of  the  General  in  '22,  wherein  he  states,  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  is  unconstitutional,  it  not  being  necessary  to  carry  out  an  expressly 
granted  power,  and  that  had  he  the  power,  he  would  issue  a  fieri  facias,  and 
revoke  the  charter — and,  also,  the  Whig  address  in  Richmond  in  1840, 
wherein  it  is  claimed  for  General  Harrison,  that  he  is  as  much  opposed  to 
the  United  States  Bank  as  any  man  could  be,  and  far  sounder  upon  that  sub- 
ject than  Mr.  Van  Buren.  Mr.  Wise  said  he  advised  freely  with  Mr.  Tyler 
upon  the  subject  of  a  bank — that  he  differed  from  him  as  to  its  constitution- 
ality, but,  at  the  same  time,  urged  him  to  take  that  course  which  his  con- 
science dictated,  without  regard  to  whom  it  might  offend  or  whom  please — 
that  if  he  could  do  so,  as  did  Mr.  Madison,  according  to  the  principle  of 
stare  decisis,  to  do  so,  but  to  take  care  and  sign  only  a  full-blooded  animal, 
no  mongrel — only  such  as  would  confer  most  benefit  upon  the  country — but 
to  take  his  own  course  in  the  matter,  and  not  to  compromit  by  his  advice,  his 
character,  his  conscience  or  his  honor.  Mr.  Wise  said  he  had  frequently 
witnessed  the  agony  of  that  man  upon  this  very  question,  and  had  seen  him 
almost  sweat  drops  of  blood,  and  wished  that  he  could  have  been  in  his  place, 
as  he  believed  he  had  the  nerve  to  look  down  with  scorn  and  contempt  upon 
his  revilers  and  slanderers,  and  those  reptiles  whose  business  it  is  to  assail 
private  character  to  subserve  party  and  ambitious  ends.  Mr.  Wise  farther 
said,  they  had  tried  every  way  they  could  to  entrap  John  Tyler,  and  that  the 
very  bill  prepared  by  Mr.  Clay  himself  contained  the  same  objectionable 
feature  as  that  of  Mr.  Ewing,  which  Mr.  Clay  had  contemptuously  denomi- 
nated "a  rickety  concern" — that  any  bill  John  Tyler  could  have  framed,  or 
any  friend  of  Mr.  Webster,  would  have  met  his  unqualified  condemnation — 
that  he  wanted  the  credit  himself  of  preparing  the  bill,  and  getting  through 
Congress  all  the  Whig  measures,  that  he  might  retire  to  Ashland  upon  the 
dignity  of  these  measures,  become  the  idol  of  the  Whig  party,  and  the  can- 
didate for  the  succession.  Mr.  Wise,  in  defining  his  position  upon  the  bank 
question,  said,  though  he  differed  from  Mr.  Tyler,  and  knew  he  differed  in 
1840,  he  had  merged  that  into  questions  which  he  considered  of  far  greater 
magnitude.  Though  he  believed  a  United  States  Bank  constitutional,  the 
time  had  passed  for  chartering  one.  The  first  effect  of  a  bank,  he  contended, 
was  depletive,  and  he  cited  in  proof  the  history  of  the  country  from  1816  to 
1825.  He  assimilated  the  condition  of  the  country  now  to  a  patient  who 
was  already  prostrate  from  the  loss  of  blood,  and  asked  if,  in  this  state  of 
things,  a  physician  would  be  found  so  rash  and  foolish  as  to  think  of  taking 
more  blood,  and  thereby  sink  the  powers  of  the  system  beyond  the  point  of 
reaction.  He  said  the  fate  of  the  United  States  Bank  and  the  Bank  of  Penn- 
sylvania, which  was  but  a  continuation  of  it;  the  cries  of  orphans  and 
widows  who  had  been  reduced  to  penury  and  want  by  its  explosion  ;  and  the 
fact  that  Nicholas  Biddle,  with  all  his  financial  knowledge,  once  standing 
high  in  public  estimation,  had  failed  to  make  it  a  benefit,  and  himself  become 
a  bankrupt  in  character  and  person,  all  admonished  us  that  no  such  institu- 
tion could  ever  again  find  favor  with  the  people  of  the  United  States. 


43 

Mr.  Wise  showed,  and  showed  from  the  record,  the  Whig  address  of  1840, 
that  if  all  deserters  are  to  be  shot,  Mr.  Tyler  and  himself  should  not  be 
selected  as  the  victims,  but  those  who  put  forth  their  principles  in  1840,  and 
have  since  abandoned  them ;  and  humorously  said,  that  if  such  were  the 
sentence,  and  the  words  "take  aim,  fire"  to  be  given,  you  would  see  no  little 
dipping  and  doging  in  the  crowd,  among  the  old  Hamiltonian  National  Repub- 
lican Federalists,  who  had  long  cherished  and  often  lauded  the  doctrines  of 
Hamilton,  Pickering  and  Adams  to  the  stars.  He  also  satisfied  all  who  heard 
him,  that  in  regard  to  the  Cilley  duel,  the  mountain  of  odium,  which  he  had 
borne,  should  properly  have  rested  upon  the  shoulders  of  another.  He  said 
that  it  was  a  fair  duel — but  that  if  censure  and  odium  attached  to  any  one,  it 
should  be  to  Henry  Clay,  for  he  was  the  counseller  and  adviser,  and  dictated 
the  terms  of  the  duel — that  he  (Mr.  W.)  protested  against  the  rifle  and  the 
language  of  the  challenge,  which  closed  the  door  to  an  adjustment  of  the 
difficulty,  but  was  overruled  by  Mr.  Clay — that  he  expressed  an  unwilling- 
ness to  be  the  bearer  of  a  challenge  so  uncompromising  in  its  character,  but 
at  length  yielded  to  appeal  from  Mr.  Graves,  who  reminded  him  that  he  had 
been  his  friend  on  a  similar  occasion. 

The  development  of  these  facts  was  made  by  him,  because,  when  his 
character  was  assailed,  and  assailed  unjustly,  as  Mr.  Clay  knew,  Mr.  Wise 
appealed  to  him  to  do  him  justice,  and  put  this  matter  right  before  the  nation, 
Mr.  Clay  avoided  all  opportunity  to  do  so,  and  no  alternative  was  left  Mr. 
Wise  but  to  suffer  the  odium,  or  else  give  the  facts  to  the  public. 

Mr.  Wise,  in  conclusion,  said  his  private  vote  was  his  own,  and  he  should 
tell  no  one  how  or  for  whom  it  should  be  given  in  the  coming  presidential 
election.  But  he  would  not  hesitate  to  say  for  whom  it  should  not  be  given : 
that  he  could  never  vote  for  Henry  Clay,  as  constable,  or  anything  else.  He 
said  he  believed,  to  the  fullest  extent,  in  the  right  of  the  people  to  instruct 
their  representatives ;  and  if  the  election  went  before  Congress,  and  his  dis- 
trict had  voted  for  Mr.  Clay,  he  should  deposit  his  vote  for  him.  Mr.  Wise, 
upon  the  whole,  made  a  most  favorable  impression.  As  a  Virginian,  I  feel 
proud  of  him,  and  do  applaud  him  for  the  gallant  manner  in  which  he  has 
stood  by  Mr.  Tyler,  Virginia's  own  son,  in  one  of  the  most  trying  positions 
in  which  man  was  ever  placed,  when  slander  with  her  thousand  tongues  was 
at  work,  and  everything  done  by  a  reckless  party  to  destroy  the  fair  fame  of 
an  honest  and  upright  man. 


THE  ISSUES  OF  THE  CANVASS. 

Know-Nothingism  was  introduced  in  Virginia  under  the  specious  guise  of 
a  great  conservative  organization  ;  knowing  no  North,  no  South,  no  East,  no 
West;  repudiating  all  sectionalism,  and  utterly  discarding  old  party  lines 
and  old  party  issues.  It  professed  to  be  national,  republican,  and  constitu- 
tional in  all  its  tenets  and  intentions.  In  the  month  of  December,  1854,  the 
Richmond  Whig  denied  in  the  most  emphatic  terms,  that  the  Know-Nothing 
party  would  supercede  the  old  Whig  party,  counselled  against  the  abandon- 
ment of  a  single  Whig  tenet;  but  advised,  nevertheless,  a  fusion  w^ith  Know- 
Nothingism  in  a  common  effort  to  "expel  the  Goths  and  Vandals,"  who  had 
so  long  ruled  and  plundered  the  state.  Whig  orators,  Whig  editors,  Whig 
letter-writers  and  Whig  politicians  took  up  the  role  thus  assigned  them,  de- 
claring that  the  Know-Nothing  organization  was  no  Whig  trick,  but  a  great 


44 

party  of  reform,  embracing  alike  Democrats  and  Whigs.  Rather  than  sub- 
mit to  the  victorious  Democracy,  the  Whig  and  its  party  preferred  to  foster, 
encourage,  uphold  and  advance  a  Northernism  untried  upon  Southern  soil. 
Thus  were  presented  to  the  Democracy  the  old  issues  of  Federalism,  coupled 
with  religious  intolerance  and  proscription  of  foreigners.  The  Enquirer 
published  the  following  commentary  upon  the  issues  of  the  canvass,  January 
8th,  1854: 

THE  WHIG  FLAG  IN  THE  DUST — AMALGAMATION  WITH  THE  KNOW- 
NOTHINGS. — When,  in  its  issue  of  the  25th  December,  the  Richmond  Whig 
scornfully  repelled  the  suggestion  that  the  Whig  party  of  Virginia  should 
abandon  their  organization  and  submit  to  the  sway  of  Know-Nothingism,  we 
did  not  suspect  the  sincerity  of  its  purpose,  nor  mistrust  the  strength  of  its 
resolution.  Nor  for  one  moment  did  we  entertain  the  thought  that  the  Whig 
could  be  driven  from  its  manly  position  by  the  threats  of  the  American  Or- 
gan, and  be. forced  to  accept,  with  expressions  of  satisfaction,  the  very  over- 
ture which  it  had  just  rejected  with  an  air  of  insulted  dignity. 

From  an  article  in  the  Whig  of  Wednesday,  which  proposes  to  indicate 
the  present  policy  of  its  party,  we  select  the  following  extract : 

"  We  remark,  then,  that  our  first  impressions  were  in  favor  of  holding  a 
Whig  State  Convention.  But  subsequent  reflection,  and  an  impartial  survey 
of  the  whole  field,  and  a  calm  review  of  all  the  circumstances  by  which  we 
are  surrounded,  have  conducted  us  to  an  opposite  conclusion.  The  Whig 
party,  at  the  last  trial  of  strength,  was  in  a  large  minority  in  the  state,  and 
while  we  believe  that  we  might,  and  probably  would  succeed  alone,  consid- 
ering the  elements  that  might  perhaps  combine  in  our  favor,  yet  it  is  better 
and  safer,  in  our  opinion,  not  to  rely  too  confidently  upon  our  own  unaided 
^strength,  but  to  so  act  as  to  gather  to  our  side,  men  of  all  parties  and  per- 
\i  suasions  who  are  sick  of  misrule  and  wish  for/  reform.  We  counsel  not  the 
abandonment  of  a  single  Whig  tenet,  but  only  urge  a  course  which  will, 
first,  effectually  expel  the  Goths  and  Vandals,  and  ultimately,  probably  im- 
mediately,  result  in  putting  Whig  measures  and  Whig  policy  in  the  ascend- 
.  We,  therefore,  respectfully  and  kindly  suggest  to  such  of  our  friends 
as  entertain  a  wish  for  a  convention,  to  abandon  it  at  once — at  least  for  the 
present.  If  unforeseen  circumstances  should  hereafter  arise  to  render  one 
necessary,  March  or  April  will  be  early  enough  to  consider  the  matter." 

The  contrast  between  the  spirit  of  its  former  declaration,  and  the  temper 
of  this  paragraph,  is  sufficiently  striking  to  convict  the  Whig  of  a  very  fla- 
grant inconsistency.  But,  it  is  not  to  this  point  that  we  wish  to  direct  the 
attention  of  the  public.  The  article  in  the  Whig  is  not  cited  for  any  purpose 
of  controversy,  but  to  exhibit  the  policy  of  its  party  in  this  important  crisis  of 
public  affairs.  We  have  here  the  distinct  avowal  of  its  recognised  organ 
that  the  Whig  party  of  Virginia  no  longer  exists  as  an  independent  organiza- 
tion, but  is  disbanded  and  merged  into  Know-Nothingism.  And  we  have 
moreover  the  declaration,  that  the  motive  of  this  extraordinary  proceeding 
springs  from  no  higher  impulse  than  an  appetite  for  the  spoils  of  office. 

We  are  reluctant  to  believe  that  the  VVhig  party  of  Virginia  will  submis- 
sively adopt  the  advice  of  their  organ.  The  opinion  we  entertain  of  their 
character  forbids  the  inference  that  they  will  consent  to  desert  the  flag  under 
which  they  hav«  fought  so  long  and  so  gallantly,  and  transfer  their  principles 
and  their  allaghtJtyM  to  the  up-start  order  of  Know-Nothings.  We  may  be 
deceived,  but  we  will  not  admit  the  possibility  of  an  absolute  and  ignomin- 
ious submission  of  the  Whigs  of  Virginia  to  the  insolent  dictation  of  the 
Know-Nothings,  until  the  surrender  is  ratified  by  the  party.  The  leaders  we 
know  are  too  often  ready  to  adopt  any  expedient  that  may  gratify  their  lust  of 


45 

power,  but  the  honest  masses  of  the  Whig  party  are  exempt  from  the  influ- 
ence of  any  such  motive,  and,  if  we  be  not  mistaken,  they  will  indignantly 
refuse  to  play  the  menial  and  the  lackey  to  a  secret  and  suspected  cabal  of 
bigots  and  demagogues. 

The  Whig,  anticipating  certain  success  from  the  coalition  with  the  Know- 
Nothings,  exultingly  predicts  the  speedy  ascendancy  of  Whig  measures  and 
Whig  policy.  If  any  well-meaning  Democrat  has  been  misled  by  the  deceit- 
ful promises  of  Know-Nothingism,  this  declaration  will  startle  him  from  his 
delusion,  for  it  is  equivalent  to  an  avowal  that  the  Know-Nothing  organization 
is  but  a  contrivance  for  the  restoration  of  the  Whig  party  to  power. 

The  article  from  the  Whig  is  suggestive  of  much  instructive  reflection  to 
the  people  of  Virginia,  and  we  propose  to  resume  its  consideration  to-mor- 
row. Meanwhile,  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Richmond  Whig  recom- 
mends a  fusion  of  Whigs  and  Know-Nothings,  for  the  purpose  of  effecting 
an  immediate  restoration  of  Whig  measures  and  Whig  policy  in  the  govern- 
ment of  Virginia. 

"  We  counsel  not  the  abandonment  of  a  single  Whig  tenet,  but  only  urge 
a  course  which  will  first  effectually  expel  the  Goths  and  Vandals,  and  ulti- 
mately, probably  immediately,  result  in  putting  Whig  measures  and  Whig 
policy  in  the  ascendant." — [Richmond  Whig,  Jan.  3. 

In  the  beginning,  the  Know-Nothing  organization  was  represented  as  a 
protest  of  the  people  against  the  selfishness  and  corruption  of  politicians,  and 
its  ostensible  aim  was  the  reform  of  abuse  and  the  rescue  of  the  government 
from  the  despotism  of  party.  Under  this  specious  pretence,  Know-Nothing- 
ism was  introduced  into  Virginia;  with  a  pledge  from  its  advocates  of  equal 
antagonism  to  the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties.  Its  deceitful  promise  of 
neutrality  and  reform,  seduced  some  Democrats  from  their  party,  and  im- 
parted strength  and  impulse  to  the  organization. 

We  never  mistook  the  character  and  tendency  of  Know-Nothingism. 
From  the  start,  we  denounced  it  as  an  imposture.  We  detected  the  falsity 
of  its  pretensions,  and  exposed  the  hidden  purpose  of  its  authors.  We 
affirmed  that  it  was  at  bottom  a  political  movement,  and  foretold  that  if  not 
arrested  it  would  result  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Democratic  party. 

Our  suspicions  were  justified,  and  our  prediction  fulfilled,  in  the  progress 
of  event*.  The  political  aim  and  party  affinity  of  Know-Nothingism  were 
•oon  developed  in  its  successes.  Every  Know-Nothing  triumph  was 
achieved  in  alliance  with  the  Whig  party,  and  was  in  effect  a  Democratic 
defeat. 

Still  the  organs  of  Know-Nothingism  protested  its  independence  of  part 
and  persisted  in  the  endeavor  to  seduce  Democrats  into  its  embrace. 

At  last  an  alliance  between  the  Whig  party  in  Virginia  and  the  Know- 
Nothings,  has  been  concluded,  and  although  its  conditions  have  not  been 
communicated  to  the  world,  an  organ  of  one  of  the  high  contracting  parties 
has  very  distinctly  foreshadowed  its  effect.  The  prodigious  boasting  of  the 
British  journals,  after  the  accession  of  Austria  to  the  alliance  of  the  Wrestern 
Powers,  is  eclipsed  by  the  excessive  exultation  of  the  Richmond  Whig  over 
the  league  between  the  Know-Nothings  and  the  Whig  party  in  Virginia.  It  will 
result,  exclaims  the  Whig,  in  an  ecstacy  of  enthusiam,  "in  the  expulsion  of 
the  Goths  and  Vandals" — that  is,  the  Democrats — from  power,  and  "in  the 
ultimate,  if  not  immediate  ascendancy  of  Whig  measures  and  Whig  policy." 
We  thank  the  Whig  for  this  candid  avowal,  and  we  trust  that  its  simplicity 
and  naivete  will  not  be  corrupted  by  the  associations  into  which  it  will  be 
thrown  by  its  alliance  with  the  Know-Nothings. 

If  the  deceptive  pretences  of  Know-Nothingism  have  seduced  any  honest 
Democrat  into  the  order,  he  will  make  haste  and  come  out  of  it,  after  learn* 


46 

ing  that  he  is  aiding  in  the  ascendancy  of  Whig  measures  and  Whig  policy. 
If  any  Democrat  who  has  not  yet  foresworn  allegiance  to  his  party,  imagines  that 
there  is  nothing  in  the  character  or  probable  issue  of  the  present  canvass,  to 
incite  him  to  the  zealous  support  of  Wise,  he  will  learn,  from  the  declara- 
tion of  the  Richmond  Whig,  that  the  defeat  of  Wise  will  result  in  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Goths  and  Vandals,  and  the  ascendancy  of  Whig  measures  and 
Whig  policy ;  and  learning  this,  he  will  repress  every  feeling  of  disappoint- 
ment and  disaffection,  and  exhibiting  the  disinterested  devotion  of  a  patriot, 
will  throw  himself  with  all  his  soul  and  all  his  might  into  a  struggle  on 
which  depends  the  triumph  or  defeat  of  his  party  and  his  principles.  The 
coalition  is  not  animated  by  an  impulse  of  personal  hostility  to  Henry  A. 
Wise,  nor  is  its  object  limited  to  his  defeat.  It  makes  war  upon  him  as 
the  champion  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  it  contemplates  nothing  less  than, 
the  expulsion  of  the  Goths  and  Vandals,  and  the  ascendancy  of  Whig 
measures  and  Whig  policy.  The  pretence  of  neutrality  and  independence 
of  party,  by  which  Know-Nothingism  seeks  to  allure  recruits  to  its  standard, 
is  a  deception  and  a  snare,  and  the  aim  of  the  organization  is  the  ascendancy 
of  Whig  measures  and  Whig  policy. 

Again  we  thank  the  Whig  for  its  manly,  out-spoken  candor.  Disdaining 
to  practice  a  deception  on  the  people,  the  Whig  frankly  avows  what  it  ex- 
pects to  accomplish  by  its  alliance  with  the  Know-Nothings.  Let  no  man 
reproach  it  with  indiscretion;  it  saw  the  advantage  of  secrecy  and  dissimu- 
lation, but  chose  rather  than  compromise  its  character,  to  apprise  the  Demo- 
cracy of  the  aim  of  the  coalition,  and  to  admonish  them  of  the  necessity  of 
vigilance  and  effort  in  defence  of  their  principles. 


THE  KNOW-NOTHING  KITUAL  EXPOSED. 

The  Know-Nothing  party  or  organization  was  the  first  political  party  in  the 
history  of  this  government  that  undertook  to  follow  the  example  of  the  Ja- 
cobin clubs  of  France.  This  Know-Nothing  part}'-  was  one  of  the  deepest 
and  most  skillfully  panned,  and  most  dangerous  political  movements  that  was 
ever  concocted  in  any  country.  There  were  many  true  patriots  that  were 
deluded  into  the  organization,  some  of  whom  had,  and  many  of  wrhom  had 
not  the  courage  to  withdraw ;  but  we  trust  we  shall  be  pardoned  for  express- 
ing the  decided  conviction  that  the  leaders  of  the  order  should  have  their 
names  classed  in  history  with  those  of  Burr  and  Arnold.  This  new  party 
had  a  regularly  prescribed  ritual,  to  which  every  man  who  became  a  mem- 
ber had  to  conform.  This  ritual  was  composed  of  oaths,  pass-words,  signs, 
and  ceremonies  of  initiation.  Many  who  went  through  these  ceremonies 
•were  offended  with  their  puerility,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  some  few, 
shocked  at  the  incendiarism  thus  inculcated  should,  from  a  patriotic  con- 
viction of  duty,  have  resolved  to  lay  them  before  their  countrymen.  We 
here  introduce  the  ritual  in  full,  as  published  in  the  various  Democratic  pa- 
pers of  the  state  ;  the  authenticity  of  which  was  repeatedly  acknowledged 
by  members  of  the  order.  Mr.  Wise  was  the  first  Democrat  in  the  state 
that  came  in  possession  of  the  ritual.  It  was  first  exposed  in  the  state  of 
Illinois,  and  as  soon  as  Governor  Ly brook  procured  the  ritual  he  endorsed 
it  to  Mr.  Wise.  Through  Mr.  Wise  it  was  published  simultaneously  in  the 


47 

Richmond  Enquirer  and  Examiner,  then  copied  by  Democratic  papers 
throughout  the  state.  After  the  conclusion  of  the  canvass,  Mr.  Wise  en- 
closed it  to  the  sender,  Governor  Lybrook.  The  Demecracy  of  Virginia  re- 
turn to  Governor  Lybrook  their  sincere  thanks  for  his  efficient  and  timely 
service  so  considerately  rendered  to  our  gallant  standard  bearer. 

THE  KNOW-NOTHING  RITUAL  OR  "CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  GRAND  COUN- 
CIL OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  NORTH  AMERICA — ADOPTED  UNANI- 
MOUSLY, JUNE  17,  1854 — THE  ANNIVERSARY  OF  THE  BATTLE  OF  BUN- 
KER HILL." 

ARTICLE  I. 
This  organization  shall   be  known  by  the  name  and  title  of  The   Grand 

Council  of  the   United  States  of  North  America,   and   its  jurisdiction  and 

power  shall  extend  to  all  the  states,  districts,  and  territories  of  the   United 

States  of  North  America. 

ARTICLE    II. 

A  person  to  become  a  member  of  any  subordinate  council  must  be  twenty- 
one  years  of  age ;  he  must  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being  as 
the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  Universe  ;  he  must  be  a  native  born  citi- 
zen ;  a  Protestant,  born  of  Protestant  parents,  reared  under  Protestant  in- 
fluence, and  not  united  in  marriage  with  a  Roman  Catholic;  Provided,  nev- 
ertheless, that  in  this  last  respect,  the  state,  district,  or  territorial  council 
shall  be  authorized  to  so  construct  their  respective  constitutions  as  shall  best 
promote  the  interest  of  the  American  cause  in  their  several  jurisdictions ; 
And  provided,  moreover,  that  no  member  who  may  have  a  Roman  Catholic 
wife  shall  be  eligible  to  any  office  in  this  order. 

ARTICLE    III. 

SEC.  1.  The  object  of  this  organization  shall  be  to  resist  the  insidious 
policy  of  the  Church  of  "Rome,  and  other  foreign  influence  against  the  in- 
stitutions of  our  country  by  placing  in  all  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  or 
by  appointment,  none  but  native  born  Protestant  citizens. 

SEC.  2.  The  Grand  Council  shall  hold  its  annual  meeting  on  the  first 
Tuesday  in  the  month  of  June,  at  such  place  as  shall  be  designated  by, the 
Grand  Council  at  the  previous  annual  meeting,  and  it  may  adjourn  from 
time  to  time.  Special  meetings  shall  be  called  by  the  President  on  the 
written  request  of  five  delegations  representing  five  State  Councils ;  Provi- 
ded, that  sixty  days'  notice  shall  be  given  to  the  State  Councils  previous  to 
said  meeting. 

SEC.  3.  The  Grand  Council  shall  be  composed  of  thirteen  delegates, 
from  each  state,  to  be  chosen  by  the  State  Councils  ;  and  each  district,  or 
territory  where  a  District  or  Territorial  Council  shall  exist,  shall  be  entitled 
to  send  five  delegates,  to  be  chosen  from  said  Councils ;  and  when  no  Dis- 
trict or  Territorial  Council  shall  exist,  such  district  or  territory  shall  be  en- 
titled to  send  five  delegates,  if  five  or  more  Subordinate  Councils  shall  exist 
in  sudi  district  or  territory;  Provided,  that  in  the  nomination  of  candidates 
for  President  and  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  each  state  shall  be 
entitled  to  the  same  number  of  votes  as  they  shall  have  members  in  both 
houses  of  Congress.  In  all  sessions  of  the  Grand  Council,  thirty-two  dele- 
gates, representing  thirteen  states,  territories,  or  districts,  shall  constitute  a 
quorum  for  the  transaction  of  business. 

SEC.  4.  The  Grand  Council  shall  be  vested  with  the  following  powers 
and  privileges  : 

It  shall  be  the  head  of  the  organization  for  the  United  States  of  North 


48 

America,  and  shall  fix  and  establish  all  signs,  grips,  pass-words,  and  such 
other  secret  work  as  may  seem  to  it  necessary. 

It  shall  have  power  to  decide  upon  all  matters  appertaining  to  national 
politics. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  exact  from  the  State  Councils  quarterly  or  an- 
nual statements  as  to  the  number]  of  members  under  their  jurisdictions,  and 
in  relation  to  all  other  matters  necessary  for  its  information. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  form  state,  territorial  or  district  councils,  and  to 
grant  dispensations  for  the  formation  of  such  bodies  when  five  subordinate 
councils  shall  have  been  put  in  operation  in  any  state,  territory  or  district, 
\arid  application  made. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  determine  upon  a  mode  of  punishment  in  case 
of  any  dereliction  of  duty  on  the  part  of  its  members  or  officers. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  adopt  cabalistic  characters  for  the  purpose  of  writ- 
ing or  telegraphing — said  characters  to  be  communicated  to  the  presidents  of 
the  State  Councils,  and  by  them  to  the  presidents  of  the  Subordinate  Coun- 
cils. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  adopt  any  and  every  measure  it  may  deem  neces* 
sary  to  secure  the  success  of  the  organization ;  provided,  that  nothing  shall 
be  done  by  the  said  Grand  Council  in  violation  of  the  Constitution  ;  and  pro- 
vided, further,  that  in  all  political  matters,  its  members  may  be  instructed  by 
the  State  Councils,  and  if  so  instructed,  shall  carry  out  such  instructions  of 
the  State  Councils  which  they  represent  until  overruled  by  a  majority  of  the 
Grand  Council. 

ARTICLE     IV. 

The  president  shall  always  preside  over  the  Grand  Council  when  present, 
and  in  his  absence  the  vice  president  shall  preside,  and  in  the  absence  of 
both,  the  Grand  Council  shall  appoint  a  president  pro  tempore  ;  and  the  pre- 
siding officer  may  at  all  times  call  a  member  to  the  chair,  but  such  appoint- 
ment shall  not  extend  beyond  one  session  of  the  Grand  Council. 

ARTICLE    V. 

SEC.  1.  The  officers  of  the  Grand  Council  shall  be  a  president,  vice  presi* 
dent,  corresponding  secretary,  recording  secretary,  treasurer,  two  sentinels 
and  such  other  officers  as  as  the  Grand  Council  may  see  fit  to  appoint  from 
time  to  time,  and  the  secretaries  and  sentinels  may  receive  such  compensa- 
tions as  the  Grand  Council  shall  determine. 

SEC.  2.  The  duties  of  the  several  officers  created  by  this  Constitution  shall 
be  such  as  the  work  of  this  organization  prescribes. 

ARTICLE    VI. 

SEC.  1.  All  officers  provided  for  by  this  Constitution,  except  the  sentinels, 
shall  be  elected  annually  by  ballot.  The  president  may  appoint  sentinels 
from  time  to  time,  or  otherwise. 

SEC.  2.  A  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast  shall  be  requisite  to  an  election  to 
any  office. 

SEC.  3.  All  officers  and  delegates  must  be  full  degree  members  of  this 
organization. 

SEC.  4.  All  vacancies  in  the  elective  offices  shall  be  filled  by  a  vote  of  the 
Grand  Council,  and  only  for  the  unexpired  term  of  the  said  vacancy. 

ARTICLE     VII. 

SEC.  1.  The  Grand  Council  shall  entertain  and  decide  all  cases  of  appeal, 
and  it  shall  establish  a  form  of  appeal. 

SEC.  2.  The  Grand  Council  shall  levy  a  tax  upon  the  State,  District  or 
Territorial  Councils,  for  the  support  of  the  Grand  Council,  to  be  paid  in  such 
manner  and  at  such  times  as  the  Grand  Council  shall  determine. 

ARTICLE    VIII. 

The  Grand  Council  may  alter  or  amend  this  Constitution,  at  any  regul 


49 

annual  meeting,  by  a  two-thirds'  vote  of  the  members  present;  provided 
purh  amendment  shall  be  adopted  by  a  two-thirds'  vote  of  the  Grand  Coun- 
cil at  its  next  succeeding  annual  meeting. 

On  page  11  commences  the  "General  Rules  and  Regulations,"  which 
occupy  pages,  11,  12  and  13,  and  are  as  follows: 

GENERAL  RULES  AND  REGULATIONS. 

RULE  ONE. — Each  state,  district  or  territory  in  which  there  may  exist 
five  or  more  Subordinate  Councils  working  under  dispensations  from  the 
Grand  Council  of  the  United  States  of  North  America,  or  under  regular  dis- 
pensations from  some  state,  district  or  territory,  are  duly  empowered  to 
establish  themselves  into  a  State,  District  or  Territorial  Council,  and  when  so 
established,  to  form  for  themselves  constitutions  and  by-laws  for  their  gov- 
ernment, in  pursuance  of  and  in  consonance  with  the  Constitution  of  the 
Grand  Council  of  the  United  States  ;  provided,  however,  that  all  district  or 
territorial  constitutions  shall  be  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Grand  Council 
of  the  United  States. 

RULE  Two. — All  State,  District  or  Territorial  Councils,  wjien  established, 
shall  have  full  power  and  authority  to  establish  all  Subordinate  Councils 
within  their  respective  limits  ;  and  the  constitutions  and  by-laws  of  all  such 
Subordinate  Councils  must  be  approved  by  their  respective  State,  District  or 
Territorial  Councils. 

RULE  THREE. — All  State,  District  or  Territorial  Councils,  wrhen  estab- 
lished and  until  the  formation  of  constitutions,  shall  work  under  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  Grand  Council  of  the  United  States. 

RULE  FOUR. — In  all  cases  where,  for  the  convenience  of  the  organization, 
two  State  or  Territorial  Councils  may  be  established,  the  two  councils  together 
shall  be  entitled  to  but  thirteen  delegates  in  the  Grand  Council  of  the  United 
States — the  proportioned  number  of  delegates  to  depend  on  the  number  of 
members  in  the  organization ;  provided,  that  no  state  shall  be  allowed  to 
have  more  than  one  State  Council  without  the  consent  of  the  Grand  Council 
of  the  United  States. 

RULE  FIVE. — In  any  state,  district  or  territory,  where  there  may  be  more 
than  one  organization  working  on  the  same  basis  (to  wit:  <;  Lodges"  and 
"  Councils,")  the  same  shall  be  required  to  combine  ;  the  officers  of  each- 
organization  shall  resign,  and  new  officers  be  elected  ;  and  thereafter  these 
bodies  shall  be  known  as  State  Councils  and  Subordinate  Councils ;  and  new 
charters  shall  be  granted  to  them  by  the  Grand  Council. 

RULE  Six. — It  shall  be  considered  a  penal  offence  for  any  brother  not  an 
officer  of  a  Subordinate  Council,  to  make  use  of  the  sign  or  summons  adopted 
for  public  notification,  except  by  direction  of  the  president;  or  for  the  officer! 
of  a  council  to  post  the  same  at  any  other  time  than  from  midnight  to  one 
hour  before  daybreak ;  and  this  rule  shall  be  incorporated  into  the  by-laws  of 
the  State,  District  and  Territorial  Councils. 

RULE  SEVEN. — The  determination  of  the  necessity  and  mode  of  issuing 
the  posters  for  public  notification  shall  be  entrusted  to  the  judgment  of  the 
Stale.  District  or  Territorial  Councils. 

RULE  EIGHT. — The  respective  State,  District  or  Territorial  Councils  shall 
be  required  to  make  statements  of  the  number  of  members  within  their 
respective  limits  at  the  next  annual  meeting  of  the  Grand  Council,  and 
annually  thereafter  at  the  regular  annual  meeting. 

RULE  NINE. — The  Grand  Council  of  the  United  States  shall  pay  from  its 
treasury  the  necessary  expenses  of  its  members  in  attendance  upon  its  ses- 
cions. 

RULE  TEN. — Each  State,  District  or  Territorial  Council  shall  be  taxed  ten 
dollars  per  annum  for  each  Subordinate  Council  under  its  jurisdiction,  said 
4 


50 

tax  to  be  paid  in  semi-annual  instalments  of  five  dollars  each,  payable  in  the 
months  of  June  and  December. 

RULE  ELEVEN. — The  following  shall  be  the  key  to  determine  and  ascer- 
tain the  purport  of  any  communication  that  may  be  addressed  to  the  presi- 
dent of  a  State,  District  or  Territorial  Council  by  the  president  of  the  Grand 
Council,  who  is  hereby  instructed  to  communicate  a  knowledge  of  the  same 
to  said  officers : 


RULE  TWELVE. — The  clause  of  the  article  of  the  constitution  relative  to 
belief  in  the  Supreme  being  is  obligatory  upon  every  State  and  Subordinate 
Council,  as  well  as  upon  each  individual  member. 

Pages  15  and  16  treat  of  "  Special  Votes,"  viz: 
SPECIAL  VOTES. 

FIRST. — This  Grand  Council  hereby  grants  to  the  state  of  Virginia  two 
State  Councils — the  one  to  be  located  in  Eastern  and  the  other  in  Western 
Virginia,  the  Blue  Ridge  mountains  being  the  geographical  line  between  the 
two  jurisdictions. 

SECOND. — The  president  shall  have  power,  till  the  next  session  of  the 
Grand  Council,  to  grant  dispensations  for  the  formation  of  State,  District  or 
Territorial  Councils,  in  form  most  agreeable  to  his  own  discretion,  upon  appli- 
cation being  made. 

THIRD. — The  delegates  from  the  several  states,  districts  or  territories,  who 
were  elected  for,  or  in  attendance  upon,  this  Grand  Council,  shall  hold  their 
seats  for  one  year  ;  and  the  State,  District  or  Territorial  Councils  are  hereby 
authorized  to  fill  up  their  respective  delegations;  provided,  that  when  there 
are  two  or  more  organizations  in  any  one  state,  district  or  territory,  the  dele- 
gation shall  be  chosen  after  the  union,  as  provided  for  by  the  Constitution  of 
this  Grand  Council. 

FOURTH. — The  next  meeting  of  the  Grand  Council  shall  be  holden  at 
Cincinnati  on  the  third  Wednesday  of  November,  1854,  at  3  o'clock,  P.  M. 

FIFTH. — Messrs.  D ,  of  New  Jersey,   D and   S , 

of  Massachusetts,  are  appointed  a  committee  to  examine,  revise,  correct, 
and  prepare  for  publication,  the  constitution,  general  rules  and  regulations, 
and  special  votes  of  the  Grand  Council,  with  a  list  of  the  officers  and  mem- 
bers, with  their  autograph  address  in  full,  and  the  states,  districts  or  terri- 
tories they  represent,  and  such  other  necessary  matters  as  may  be  deemed 
expedient  and  judicious  to  publish,  and  forward  the  same  to  the  printer; 
when  issued,  to  the  number  of  five  hundred,  a  copy  to  be  sent  to  each  mem- 
ber of  this  Grand  Council,  and  the  residue  to  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  president. 

RITUAL. 

FIRST    DEGREE    COUNCIL. OUTSIDE. 

Marshal. — Gentlemen  :  Are  you  candidates  for  admission  to  this  organiza- 
tion ?  [Each  answers,  "I  am."] 

Marshal. — Before  proceeding  further  it  is  necessary  that  you  take  an  obli- 
gation of  secrecy. 

Are  you  willing  to  take  such  an  obligation  ?     ["  I  am."] 

Marshal. — You  will  now  place  yourselves  in  a  position  to  receive  it.  [Po- 
sition.— Place  the  right  hand  on  the  Holy  Bible  and  Cross.] 

Obligation. — You  do  solemnly  swear*  upon  this   Holy  Bible  and  Cross, 

*In  cases  where  candidates  are  known  to  be  conscientious  about  taking  an  oath, /hey 
may  be  allowed  to  make  solemn  affirmation — this  provision  to  be  understood  as  applying 
whenever  necessary  in  either  obligation. 


51 

before  Almighty  God  and  these  witnesses,  that  you  will  not  divulge  any 
question  now  proposed  to  you,  whether  you  become  a  member  of  this  organ- 
ization or  not,  and  that  you  will  -never,  under  any  circumstances,  mention 
the  name  of  any  person  or  persons  you  see  present,  nor  that  you  know  such 
an  organization  tc  be  in  existence,  and  that  you  will  true  answers  make  to 
every  question  asked  you  to  the  best  of  your  knowledge  and  belief:  so  help 
you  God.  ["I  do,"] 

First  Question. — Are  you  twenty-one  years  of  age?     ["I  am."J 

Second  Question. — Do  you  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being, 
the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  Universe,  and  that  an  obligation  at  this 
time  taken  will  be  binding  upon  you  through  life  ?  ["  I  do."] 

Third  Question. — Were  you  born  within  the  limits  or  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  United  States  of  America?  ["  I  was."] 

Fourth  Question. — In  religious  belief  are  you  a  Roman  Chatholic  ? 
["No."] 

Fifth  Question. — Have  you  or  have  you  not  been  reared  under  Protestant 
influence  ?  [ "  Yes,"  or  "  No."] 

Sixth  Question. — Are,  or  were,  either  of  your  parents  Roman  Catholic  in 
religious  belief ?  ["No."] 

Seventh  Question. — If  married,  is  your  wife  a  Roman  Catholic?  ["No," 
or  "Yes," — the  answer  to  be  valued  as  the  Constitution  of  the  State  Council 
provide.] 

Eighth  Question. — Are  you  willing  to  use  your  influence  and  vote  only 
for  native  born  American  citizens  for  all  the  offices  of  honor  or  trust  in  the 
gift  of  the  people,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  foreigners  and  aliens,  and  of  Roman 
Catholics  in  particular,  and  without  regard  to  party  predilections  ?  ["I  am."] 

INSIDE. 

Marshal. — Worthy  President:  I  have  examined  these  candidates,  and 
finding  them  duly  qualified,  present  them  for  obligation.  [If  the  examination 
in  the  ante-room  gave  evidence  of  even  partial  objection  to  any  candidate  the 
Marshal  should  state  it  to  the  President,  before  introducing  the  candidates.'] 

President. — My  friends:  Previous  to  your  uniting  with  and  becoming 
members  of  this  organization,  it  will  be  necessary  for  you  to  take  upon  your- 
selves a  solemn  obligation — one  which  we  have  all  taken  and  intend  sacredly 
to  keep  through  life.  It  will  not  conflict  with  the  duties  you  owe  to  your- 
selves, your  families,  your  country,  or  your  God.  With  this  assurance  are 
you  still  willing  to  proceed?  [Each  answers,  "I  am."] 

Obligation. — You  and  each  of  you,  of  your  own  free  will  and  accord,  in 
the  presence  of  Almighty  God  and  these  witnesses,  your  right  hand  resting 
on  this  Holy  Bible  and  Cross,  and  your  left  hand  raised  towards  Heaven, 
(ovifit  be  preferred,  your  left  hand  resting  on  your  breast  and  your  right 
hand  raised  towards  Heaven,)  in  token  of  your  sincerity,  do  solemnly^ 
promise  and  swear*  that  you  will  not  make  known  to  any  person  or  persons 
any  of  the  signs,  secrets,  mysteries,  or  objects  of  this  organization,  unless 
it  be  to  thosa  whom,  after  due  examination,  or  lawful  information,  you 
shall  find  to  be  members  of  this  organization  in  good  standing;  that  you  will 
not  cut,  carve,  print,  paint,  stamp,  stain,  or  in  any  way.  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, expose  any  of  the  secrets  or  objects  of  this  order,  nor  puffer  it  to  be 
done  by  others,  if  in  your  power  to  prevent  it,  unless  it  be  for  official  in- 
struction;  that  so  lorte  as  you  are  connected  with  this  organization,  if  not 
regularly  dismissed  from  it,  you  will,  in  all  things,  political  or  social,  so  far 
as  this  order  is  concerned,  comply  with  the  will  of  the  majority,  whrn  ex- 
pressed in  a  lawful  manner,  though  it  may  conflict  with  your  personal 

*  See  prior  note  relative  to  affirmation. 


52 

preference,  so  long  as  it  does  not  conflict  with  the  Grand,  State  or  Subordi- 
nate Constitutions,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America,  or  that 
of  the  State  in  which  you  reside ;  and  that  you  will  not,  under  any  circum- 
stances whatever,  knowingly,  recommend  an  unworthy  person  for  initiation, 
nor  suffer  it  to  be  done,  if  in  your  power  to  prevent  it.  You  furthermore  prom- 
ise and  declare  that  you  will  not  vote,  nor  give  your  influence  for  any  man 
for  any  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  unless  he  be  an  American  born  citizen, 
in  favor  of  Americans  born  ruling  America,  nor  if  he  be  a  Roman  Catholic, 
and  that  you  will  not,  under  any  circumstances,  expose  the  name  of  any 
member  of  this  order,  nor  reveal  the  existence  of  such  an  organization.  To 
all  the  foregoing  you  bind  yourselves,  under  the  no  less  penalty  than  that  of 
being  expelled  from  this  order,  and  of  having  your  name  posted  and  circula- 
ted throughout  all  the  different  councils  of  the  United  States  as  a  perjurer 
and  as  a  traitor  to  God  and  your  country,  as  a  being  unfit  to  be  employed  and 
trusted,  countenanced  or  supported  in  any  business  transaction,  as  a  person 
unworthy  the  confidence  of  all  good  men,  and  as  one  at  whom  the  finger 
of  scorn  should  ever  be  pointed.  So  help  you  God !  [Each  answers 
"I  do."] 

President. — Worthy  Marshal:  You  will  now  present  these  brothers  to  the 
Secretary  that  he  may  record  their  names  and  residences  ;  which  being  done, 
you  will  present  them  to  the  Instructor  for  final  instruction. 

Marshal. — Worthy  Instructor:  By  direction  of  the  Worthy  President,  I 
present  to  you  these  brothers  for  final  instructions,  they  having  signed  the 
constitution. 

Instructor. — Brothers:  At  the  outer  door  you  will  make  any  ordinary 
alarm.  When  the  wicket  is  opened,  you  will  ask  what  is  the  pass  ?  The 
outside  sentinel  will  reply,  give  it — when  you  wrill  give  the  term  pass,  and 
be  admitted  to  the  ante-room.  You  will  then  proceed  to  the  inner  door  and 
give  one  rap.  When  the  wicket  is  opened,  give  your  name,  the  number  of 
your  council,  the  explanation  of  the  term-pass,  and  the  degree  pass-word. 
If  these  be  found  correct,  on  being  reported  to  the  vice-president  you  will 
be  admitted  to  the  council.  You  will  then  proceed  to  the  centre  of  the  room, 
and  address  the  president  with  the  countersign,  which  is  performed  thus — 
[Position — the  right  hand  placed  on  the  heart  and  quickly  withdrawn,  the 
person  remaining  perfectly  erect.]  When  this  salutation  is  recognised,  you 
will  turn  to  the  vice-president  and  address  him  in  the  same  manner,  who  will 
also  reply.  You  will  then  quietly  take  your  seat.  This  sign  is  peculiar  to 
this  degree,  and  is  never  to  be  used  outside  of  the  council  room.  When 
retiring,  you  will  address  the  officers  in  the  same  manner,  and  also  give  the 
degree  pass-word  to  the  inside  sentinel. 

The  term  pass-word  is ,  [the  word  to  be  established  by  each  state 

council  for  its  respective  Subordinates.']     The  explanation  of  the  term  pass,  to 

be  used  at  the  inner  door,  is ,  [to  be  established  by  each  state,  fyc.~] 

The  degree  pass-word  is  twenty-one.  The  traveling  pass-word  and  explana- 
tion, (which  is  changed  annually  by  the  grand  president,  and  which  is  used 
only  when  the  brother  is  traveling  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  his  own  state, 
district  or  territory,)  is  Yorktown — the  place  of  final  victory. 

The  sign  of  recognition  is  by  placing  the  index  finger  of  the  right  hand  in 
the  space  between  the  buttons  of  the  coat,  vest  or  skirt,  and  elevating  the 
thumb.  The  answer  is  given  by  placing  the  thumb  of  the  right  hand  in  the 
same  place. 

The  grip  is  given  in  the  form  of  a  lady's  slight  shake  of  the  hand,  by 
bringing  the  three  fingers  of  the  right  hand  into  such  a  position  as  to  bring 
the  thumb  slightly  upon  the  nail  of  the  middle  finger,  dropping  the  hand  im- 
mediately, when  the  following  conversation  ensues — the  challenging  party 


53 

first  saying  \vhat  time?  The  answer,  time  for  work.  Then  the  response — 
are  you,  followed  by  the  rejoinder,  we  are. 

Public  notice  for  mass  meetings  is  given  by  means  of  a  right  angle  triangu- 
lar piece  of  paper,  [a  diagram  is  here  given,]  white  in  color.  If  informa- 
tion is  wanted  of  the  object  of  the  gathering,  or  of  the  place,  &c.,  the  inquirer 
will  ask  of  an  undoubted  brother  only,  have  you  seen  SAM  to-day  ?  The 

reply  will  be  go  to  ,  at  o'clock.  A  piece  of  paper  of  the 

same  shape,  red  in  color,  will  signify  suspected  danger.  If  the  color  is  red, 
with  an  equilateral  triangular  piece  cut  out,  thus:  [a  diagram  is  here  given] 
it  will  denote  actual  trouble,  which  requires  that  you  come  prepared  to  meet 
it. 

Brothers,  you  are  now  initiated  into  and  made  acquainted  with  the  work 
and  organization  of  a  council  of  this  degree  of  the  order;  and  here,  upon 
the  threshold  of  our  institution,  with  the  remembrance  of  your  solemn  obli- 
gation fresh  upon  us  all,  we  extend  to  you  the  welcome  and  the  sympathies 
of  honest  and  patriotic  hearts.  In  becoming  members  of  this  order,  we  do 
not  compel  you  to  act  with  us  against  your  better  judgment ;  and  should  you 
at  any  time  wish  to  withdraw,  from  conscientious  scruples,  it  will  be  our 
duty  to  grant  you  a  dismission  in  good  faith. 

It  has  no  doubt  been  long  apparent  to  you,  brothers,  that  foreign  influence 
and  Roman  Catholicism  have  been  making  steady  and  alarming  progress  in 
our  country.  You  cannot  have  failed  to  observe  the  significant  transition  of 
the  foreign  born  and  Romanist  from  a  character  quiet,  retiring  and  even 
abject,  to  one  bold,  threatening,  turbulent,  and  even  despotic  in  its  appear- 
ance and  assumptions.  You  must  have  become  alarmed  at  the  systematic 
and  rapidly  augmenting  power  of  these  dangerous  and  unnatural  elements  of 
our  national  condition.  So  it  is,  brothers,  with  others  besides  yourselves,  in 
every  state  of  the  Union.  A  sense  of  danger  has  struck  the  great  heart  of 
the  nation.  In  every  city,  town  and  hamlet  the  danger  has  been  seen  and 
the  alarm  sounded.  And  hence  true  men  have  devised  this  order  as  a  means 
of  disseminating  patriotic  principles,  of  keeping  alive  the  fire  of  national 
virtue,  of  fostering  the  national  intelligence,  and  of  advancing  America  and  the 
American  interest  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other  of  checking  the  stride 
of  the  foreigner  or  alien,  of  thwarting  the  machinations  and  subverting  the 
deadly  plans  of  the  Jesuit  and  Papist. 

SECOND  DEGREE  COUNCIL. 

Marshal — Worthy  President:  These  brothers  having  been  duly  elected 
to  the  2d  degree  of  this  order,  I  present  them  before  you  for  obligation. 

President. — Brothers :  You  will  place  your  left  hand  upon  your  right 
breast,  and  extend  your  right  hand  towards  the  flag  of  our  country  prepara- 
torv  to  obligation.  [Each  Council  room  should  have  a  neat  Jlmerican  flag 
festooned  over  the  platform  of  the  President.] 

Obligation. — You,  and  each  of  you,  of  your  own  free  will  and  accord,  in 
the  presence  of  Almighty  God  and  these  witnesses,  your  left  hand  resting  on 
your  right  breast,  and  your  right  hand  extended  to  the  flag  of  your  country, 
do  most  solemnly  and  sincerely  swear  that  you  will  not,  under  any  circum- 
stances, disclose  in  any  manner,  nor  suffer  it  to  be  done  by  others  if  in  your 
power  to  prevent  it,  the  name,  signs,  pass-words,  or  other  secrets  of  this  de- 
gree ;  that  you  will  in  all  things  conform  to  all  the  rules  and  regulations  of 
this  order,  and  to  the  Constitution  and  By-Laws  of  this  or  any  other  Council 
to  which  you  may  be  attached,  so  long  as  they  do  not  conflict  with  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  nor  that  of  the  state  in  which  you  reside  ;  that 
you  will,  under  all  circumstances,  if  in  your  power  so  to  do,  attend  all  regular 
signs  and  summonses  that  may  be  thrown  or  sent  out  by  a  brother  of  this  or 
any  other  degree  of  this  order ;  that  you  will  support  in  all  political  matters, 


54 

for  all  political  offices  2d  degree  members  of  this  order,  providing  it  be  necessa- 
ry for  the  American  interest;  that  if  it  may  be  done  legally,  you  will,  when 
elected  to  any  office  remove  all  foreigners,  aliens  or  Roman  Catholics  from  office, 
and  that  you  will  in  no  case  appoint  such  to  office.  All  this  you  promise 
and  declare  on  your  honor  as  Americans  to  sustain  and  abide  by  without  any 
hesitation  or  mental  reservation  whatever.  So  help  you  God,  and  keep  you 
steadfast!  [Each  will  answer,  "I  do."] 

President. — Brother  Marshal :  You  will  now  present  the  brothers  to  the 
Instructor  for  final  instruction  in  this  degree  of  the  order. 

Marshal. — Brother  Instructor:  By  direction  of  our  worthy  President,  I 
present  these  brothers  before  you  that  you  may  instruct  them  in  the  secrets 
and  mysteries  of  the  second  degree  of  the  order. 

Instructor. — Brothers :  In  this  degree  we  have  an  entering-sign  and  coun- 
ter-sign. At  the  outer  door  proceed  the  same  as  in  the  first  degree.  At  the 
inner  door  you  will  make  too  distinct  raps  and  proceed  as  in  the  first  degree, 
giving  the  second  degree  pass-word,  which  is  seventy-six,  instead  of  that  of 
the  first  degree.  If  found  to  be  correct,  you  will  then  be  admitted,  and  pro- 
ceed to  the  centre  of  the  floor,  giving  the  counter-sign,  which  is  made  thus: 
POSITION. — Place  the  left  hand  upon  the  right  breast,  the  right  hand  ex- 
tended towards  the  flag  of  our  country,  which  should  be  suspended  over  the 
platform  of  the  President.  When  recognized,  you  will  quietly  take  your 
seat. 

Brothers,  you  are  now  duly  initiated  into  this,  the  second  degree  of  the 
order.  Renewing  the  congratulations  which  we  extended  to  you  upon  your 
admission  to  the  first  degree,  we  admonish  you  by  every  tie  that  may  move 
you  as  patriots  to  aid  us  in  our  efforts  to  restore  the  political  institutions  of 
our  country  to  their  original  purity.  Begin  with  the  youth  of  our  land. 
Refresh  their  minds  with  the  history  of  our  country,  the  glorious  battles  and 
the  brilliant  acts  of  patriotism,  which  is  our  common  inheritance.  Point 
them  to  the  wise  sages  and  the  profound  statesmen  who  founded  our  govern- 
ment. Instil  into  their  bosoms  an  ardent  love  for  the  Union.  Above  all 
else,  keep  alive  in  their  hearts  the  memory,  the  maxims  and  the  deathless 
example  of  our  illustrious  Washington. 

Brothers,  recalling  to  your  minds  the  solemn  obligations  which  you  have 
severally  taken  in  this  and  the  first  degree,  I  now  pronounce  you  entitled  to 
all  the  privileges  of  membership  in  this  organization,  and  the  President — 
who  ALONE  is  entitled  to  communicate  it, — will  inform  you  of  the  name  of 
the  order. 

President. — Brothers  :  You  are  members  in  full  fellowship  of  The  Supreme 
Order  of  the  Star  Spangled  Banner. 


KNOW-NOTHINGISM  AN  ALIAS  OF  FEDERALISM. 

No  charge  was  more  powerfully  urged,  or  made  a  deeper  impression  upon 
the  popular  mind  in  Virginia,  during  the  canvass  we  are  delineating,  than 
that  the  Know-Nothing  party  was  but  a  new  form  of  the  old  protean  party 
of  Federalists.  We  shall  not  undertake  to  run  over  the  proofs  that  were 
adduced  in  support  of  this  charge.  But  the  identity  of  the  Know-Nothing 
doctrines,  of  religious  intolerance  and  proscription  of  foreigners,  with  the 
leading  tenets  of  the  original  Federal  party,  is  so  striking  and  palpable,  that 
we  insert  here  from  the  Richmond  Examiner  of  February  20,  1855,  repub- 


55 

lished  from  its  issue  of  September  12,  1854,  that  journal's  remarks  on  this 
subject : 

THE  PATERNITY  OF  KNOW-NOTHINGISM — A  POLITICAL  CHRONICLE. — 
The  Democratic  party  of  this  country  was  first  built  up  by  Jefferson  and 
Madison,  for  the  purpose  of  crushing  the  Federal  or  Native  American  party, 
of  which  John  Adams  was  the  official  head.  Native  Americanism,  in  what- 
ever name  or  under  whatever  disguise  it  appears,  is  no  recent  thing  in  this 
country.  It  is  a  hoary  and  oft  punished  abomination  of  the  Federal  party. 
Opposition  to  the  foreigner,  cruel,  intolerant,  and  lawless,  has,  at  inter-^ 
vals,  characterized  that  party  ever  since  1787.  It  is  true  that  the  Federal 
party  had  no  formal  existence  at  that  time;  but  the  men  who,  a  few  years 
afterwards,  became  the  leaders  of  the  Federal  party  manifested  their  hos- 
tility to  foreign  J)orn  citizens  during  the  deliberations  of  the  Convention 
which  framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  The  men  who  shaped 
and  penned  the  odious  alien  law,  sought  to  engraft  "  Nativeism"  upon 
the  organic  law  of  the  country. 

The  Madison  Papers  establish  the  fact  that  the  leading  Federal  members 
of  the  Convention  of  1787,  sought  every  opportunity  for  excluding  the  for- 
eigners from  the  most  valued  rights  of  citizenship.  Upon  the  subject  of 
naturalization,  a  majority  of  the  subsequent  leaders  of  this  party  were  in 
favor  of  a  prohibitory  period  of  twenty-one  years.  Governeur  Morris,  af- 
terwards the  Corypheus  of  Federalism,  was  the  leader  of  the  party  hostile 
to  all  foreigners  seeking  a  refuge  in  America  ;  whilst  James  Madison  was 
the  leader  of  the  noble  party  which  proclaimed  in  the  Convention — and  that 
in  the  broadestjsense — the  doctrines  of  equal  rights  and  untrammeled  religious 
and  civil  liberty,  to  native  and  foreign  born  citizens.  That  great  Virginian, 
whose  principles  now  form  the  basis  of  those  of  the  Democratic  party,  was 
thus  early  enlisted,  by  all  the  sympathies  of  his  generous  heart,  in  defence 
of  the  poverty-stricken,  the  oppressed,  the  persecuted  and  unfortunate  of 
every  clime.  The  unexampled  growth  and  prosperity  of  this  republic  illus- 
trates the  wisdom  and  sagacity  of  those  noble  sympathies.  He  recognized 
and  proclaimed  that  America  was  forever  to  be  the  home  of  the  victims  of 
European  despotism,  religious  and  political,  and  the  Constitution  stands  as 
the  "Ark  and  Covenant"  of  the  solemn  pledges  of  our  forefathers.  The 
great  principles  of  republicanism  taught  Jefferson,  Madison  and  Washington 
the.  propriety  and  wise  policy  of  extending  to  respectable  foreign  emigrants 
that  protection  and  those  privileges  which  would  bind  them  by  the  ties  of 
gratitude  and  affection  to  the  land  of.  their  adoption.  This  they  considered 
better  than  having  in  our  midst  a  class  of  discontented,  restless  persons,  des- 
titute of  all  those  political  privileges  which  constitute  the  pride  of  an 
American  citizen.  Evidences  of  this  spirit  of  Catholic  humanity,  as  well 
as  of  statesmanlike  sagacity,  are  everywhere  to  be  found  in  the  debates  of  the 
Convention  of  1787.  Thus,  in  the  Madison  Papers,  page  1300  : 

"  Mr.  Madison  wished  to  maintain  the  character  of  liberality  which  had 
been  professed  in  all  the  constitutions  and  publications  of  America.  He 
wished  to  invite  foreigners  of  merit  and  republican  principles  among  us. 
That  part  of  America  which  had  encouraged  them  most,  had  advanced 
most  rapidly  in  population,  agriculture  and  the  arts." 

Contrast  this  noble  and  benevolent  language  with  that  of  a  leading  Fed- 
eralist, who,  with  all  the  stupidity  and  bigotry  of  his  party,  opposed  the 
protection  of  all  foreign  born  citizens. 

Mr.  Morris  said,  Madison  Papers,  page  1277: 

"As  to  the  citizens  of  the  world  (emigrants)  he  did  not  wish  to  see 
them  in  our  councils.  He  would  not  trust  them.  The  men  who  shake 
off  their  attachments  to  their  mother  country  can  never  love  another." 


56 

This  is  language  with  which  none  but  a  Federalist,  disgusted  with  repub- 
licanism, could  have  insulted  a  convention  of  patriots  and  heroes,  who  were 
fresh  from  battle  fields,  where  the  great  struggle  was  to  "  shake  off"  an  un- 
natural and  oppressive  mother  country.  And  in  this  extract  we  have  the 
sum  and  substance  of  that  senseless  and  brutal  hostility  which  the  Federal 
party  practiced,  under  all  its  names  and  disguises,  from  1787  to  1855.  The 
mere  fact  of  emigration,  not  the  vices  of  the  emigrant,  is  the  crime.  The 
oaths  of  naturalization  and  allegiance  violate  the  old  English  and  Federal 
doctrine  of  "once  a  subject,  always  a  subject."  If  the  emigrant  has  been 
driven  away  by  the  unjust,  cruel  laws,  or  lawlessness — as  the  case  may  be 
— of  the  mother  country;  if  he  has  been  imprisoned,  pillaged,  and  denied 
the  right  of  worshiping  his  God  in  his  own  way,  by  the  same  mother  coun- 
try, it  is  still  a  crime  for  him,  in  another  and  more  congenial  land,  to  make 
that  oath  of  allegiance  which  a  heart  overwhelming  with  gratitude  dictates. 
In  reply  to  Mr.  Morris'  denunciation  of  foreign  citizens,  Mr.  Madison 
said  : 

"  He  thought  any  restriction,  however,  in  the  Constitution  unnecessary 
and  improper  ;  unnecessary  because  the  National  Legislature  is  to  have  the 
right  of  regulating  naturalization  *  *  — improper  because  it  will  give  a 
tincture  of  illiberality  to  the  Constitution  ;  because  it  will  put  it  out  of  the 
power  of  the  National  Legislature,  even  by  special  acts  of  naturalization, 
to  confer  upon  meritorious  strangers  the  full  rank  of  citizenship ;  and  be- 
cause it  will  discourage  the  most  desirable  class  of  people  from  emigrating 
to  the  United  States.  Should  the  proposed  Constitution  have  the  intended 
effect  of  giving  stability  and  reputation  to  our  government,  great  numbers  of 
respectable  Europeans,  MEN  WHO  LOVED  LIBERTY,  and  wished  to  partake  of 
its  blessings,  would  be  ready  to  transfer  their  fortunes  hither." — Madison 
Papers,  page  1278. 

The  leaders  of  the  Federal  party  who  labored  to  convert  every  foreign 
emigrant  into  a  sort  of  Helot,  and  endeavored  to  perpetuate  his  degradation 
by  registering  in  the  organic  laws  of  the  United  States  the  act  of  outlawry, 
were  not  disheartened  by  their  defeat  in  the  Convention  of  1787.  The 
journals  and  debates  of  the  first  and  second  Congress  after  the  adoption  and 
ratification  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  prove  that  when  the  naturalization 
laws  were  under  consideration  and  discussion,  there  were  attempts  made  by 
those  who  at  a  subsequent  period  supported  John  Adams,  to  deny  all  emi- 
grants the  privilege  of  becoming  citizens  for  twenty  years  after  their  arrival 
in  this  country.  Thus,  again,  did  the  men  who  afterwards  aided  Jefferson 
and  Madison  in  crushing  the  alien  and'  sedition  laws,  prevent  the  Federal 
party  from  inflicting  a  grievous  wrong  upon  the  foreigners  who  had  sought 
this  country  to  enjoy  religious  and  political  liberty.  From  the  baptismal 
font  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  the  present  day,  the  Demo- 
cratic party  has  never  deserted  or  disregarded  the  rights  of  the  respectable 
foreign  born  citizen. 

But  the  intense  hatred  of  the  Federal  party  to  all  foreign  born  citizens 
triumphed  for  a  brief  period  during  the  administration  of  John  Adams.  The 
opposition  to  foreign  born  citizens  of  the  United  States,  manifested  by  a  few 
leading  Federalists  during  Washington's  administration,  became  the  settled 
policy  of  that  party  in  1796.  Laws  were  passed  during  the  administration  of 
John  Adarns  for  the  oppression  and  punishment  of  foreign  emigrants.  To  reach 
and  crush  these  unhappy  people,  the  Constitution  was  violated  by  the  passage  of 
the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws.  The  only  object  of  the  law  against  aliens, 
and  the  principal  object  of  the  Sedition  Law,  was  to  deny  resident  aliens 
and  foreign  born  citizens  the  rights  of  native  born  Americans.  These  laws 
were  aimed  especially  against  German,  French,  Scotch,  Irish  and  English 
emigrants.  They  were  genuine  native  American  laws  for  the  persecution  of 


57 

foreign  born  citizens.  The  Alien  law  enabled  the  President  to  arrest  a  man 
not  only  without  trial,  not  only  without  conviction,  not  only  without  certain 
information,  but  upon  mere  suspicion;  and  when  arrested^  to  send  him  from 
the  country  or  cast  him  into  prison.  It  denied  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  the 
privilege  of  habeas  corpus — in  a  word,  the  privileges  of  trial  which  wo  ex- 
tend to  the  vilest  negro.  The  other  law — that  against  sedition — was  intend- 
ed to  close  the  mouths  of  the  people,  to  prevent  free  discussion,  to  muzzle 
the  press,  to  check  the  constituent  from  commenting  upon  the  acts  of  his 
representatives,  and  to  render  the  President  sacred  by  penal  enactments. 
The  humblest  mechanic,  or  editor,  who  should  express  in  print  his  opinion  of 
the  President  or  any  member  of  Congress,  charging  them  with  faithlessness 
in  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  was  liable  under  the  Sedition  law,  to  im- 
prisonment and  a  fine  of  two  thousand  dollars.  Each  single  soul  within  the 
compass  of  this  Union,  native  or  foreign  born,  great  or  small,  rich  or  poor, 
who  uttered,  whispered,  or  declared  anything  containing  a  charge  against  the 
President,  was  subject  to  the  penalties  of  this  abominable  law. 

We  have  said  that  both  the  Alien  and  the  Sedition  laws  were  intended  for 
the  oppression  of  foreign  born  citizens.  The  Alien  law  was  intended  to 
bear  upon  none  others  than  foreigners ;  the  Sedition  law,  as  Adams  well 
knew,  would  operate  expressly  against  that  class.  During  the  administration 
of  John  Adams,  the  brilliant  and  most  uncompromising  opponents  of  his 
unconstitutional  measures,  were  the  political  refugees  from  other  countries. 
These  men  having  suffered  from  the  oppression  of  monarchical  laws  at  home, 
were  naturally  the  advocates  of  a  republican  form  of  government.  They 
believed  with  Thomas  Jefferson,  in  his  letter  to  Mazzei,  that  under  the 
blighting  influence  of  Federalism, — 

"  In  the  place  of  that  noble  love  of  liberty  and  republican  government  which 
carried  us  through  the  war,  an  Anglican  monarchical  and  aristocratic  party  had 
sprung  up,  whose  avowed  object  is  to  draw  over  us  .the  substance,  as  they 
have  already  done  the  powers,  of  the  British  government." 

And  another  authority  informs  us  that: 

"  There  were  then  two  hundred  papers  published  in  the  United  States; 
one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  were  in  favor  of  the  Federal  administration  ; 
about  twenty-two  were  opposed  to  the  measures  then  adopted,  and  a  greater 
portion  of  these  were  in  the  hands  of  foreigners." — Williams'  Mministrd- 
tion  of  John  Jlda.ms,  p.  133. 

This  affords  a  clue  to  the  secret  reasons  which  governed  the  Federal  party 
in  passing  the  Sedition  law.  It  was  to  crush  these  twenty-two  independent 
presses — to  put  down  all  opposition  to  the  monarchical  and  unconstitutional 
proceedings  of  the  Executive  and  a  corrupt  legislature.  The  first  prosecu- 
tions under  this  act  were  of  four  editors,  three  of  whom  were  foreigners. 
The  treatment  of  Callender,  Cooper,  Lyon  and  Holt,  furnish  the  best  com- 
mentary upon  the  Sedition  law.  Peters,  Iredell,  Addison,  and  Chase,  were 
the  judicial  blood-hounds  let  loose  upon  these  foreign  born  Democratic  edi- 
tors. Mr.  Lyon,  an  intelligent  Englishman,  in  a  Democratic  paper,  called 
"The  Time-Piece,"  spoke  of  "  the  ridiculous  pomp,  idle  parade,  and  selfish 
avarice  "  of  John  Adams. — (Wood's  Suppressed  History  of  Adams'  Admin- 
istration, page  164.) — He  was  arrested,  tried  and  convicted  by  a  packed 
jury,  and  Judge  Iredell,  after  commenting  upon  the  heinous  crime  of  ridi- 
culing the  President,  passed  sentence : 

"That  you  be  imprisoned  four  months  for  the  costs  of  this  trial,  and  fined 
one  thousand  dollars." — Wharloris  State  Trials  of  the  U.  S.,  page  337. 
"This  unfortunate  man  wras  then  conducted  out  of  court  and  thrown  into  a 
dungeon  six  feet  square,  where  he  was  left  to  starve  during  a  rigorous  win- 
ter."—  Wood's  Suppressed  History,  page  156. 

We  might  multiply,  if  it  was  necessary,  the  cases  of  cruel  prosecution  and 


58 

persecution  practiced  by  the  Federal  judges  and  Federal  officers  upon  our  for- 
eign born  citizens  during  the  administration  of  Adams.  They  were  hunted 
by  official  blood-hounds,  remorseless  as  Mohawks,  convicted  by  packed  juries, 
and  sentenced  by  judges  as  corrupt  as  Jeffries. 

These  were  the  blessings,  this  the  protection  afforded  to  foreign  born  citizens 
by  the  Federal  Whig  administration  of  John  Adams.  All  the  power,  all  the 
influence  of  that  administration,  were  directed  against  the  foreigners  who 
sought  refuge  in  this  country  after  the  revolution — for  they  were  Democrats. 
They  took  grounds  for  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  against  the  Federal  party,  and 
they  were  hunted  down  for  this  crime,  as  if  they  had  been  beasts  of  prey, 
and  unworthy  of  the  protection  which  the  negro  now  enjoys. 

They  were  torn  from  their  homes  at  the  discretion  of  the  President,  and 
the  social  rights  of  freemen,  open  accusation,  habeas  corpus,  and  trial  by  jury, 
denied.  They  were  incarcerated  if  they  dared  to  arraign  a  public  officer  for 
political  misdeeds. 

The  Native  American  party  of  the  days  of  John  Adams  was  more  respecta- 
ble, both  in  numbers  and  measures,  than  any  that  has  since  existed.  It  had  for 
its  leaders  nearly  all  the  educated  aristocratic  members  of  that  Federal  party 
which,  during  George  Washington's  eight  years'  administration,  was  omnipotent 
in  the  United  States.  It  had  the  prestige  of  education,  wealth,  talent,  posi- 
tion, office,  and  members.  It  is  idle  to  suppose  that  any  subsequent  organi- 
zation of  Native  Americans,  under  any  name  or  disguise,  will  ever  equal  in 
strength  or  influence  the  Native  American  organization  of  1796.  The 
first  had  for  its  executive  head  a  patriot  of  the  revolution,  John  Adams ;  the 
last  has  for  its  head  the  drunken  senator  in  Congress  of  one  of  the  smallest 
states  in  the  Union.  So  odious  did,  Native  Americanism  become  in  1800, 
that  the  Democratic  party,  formally  organized  only  two  years  before — led  on 
by  two  great  Virginians — crushed  the  party  that  originated  the  Alien  and 
Sedition  laws,  and  elevated  Jefferson  to  the  Presidency.  The  present  Demo- 
^X^ratic  party  was  formed  for  the  purpose  of  repealing  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
laws.  "Justice  to  the  oppressed  foreigners,"  was  the  cry  of  the  Democratic 
^/masses  who  rallied  to  the  resolutions  of  1798-'99.  Those  resolutions  the 
national  Democratic  party  unanimously  endorsed  at  Baltimore  in  1852. 

The  Old  Dominion,  God  bless  her,  ever  true  to  the  Constitution,  was  first 
to  raise  the  battle-cry  in  defence  of  persecuted  foreigners,  who  were  every 
where  falling  victims  to  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws. 

The  Virginia  resolutions  of  '98  and  '99,  and  the  report  of  James  Madi- 
son in  their  vindication,  prove  this.  The  following  constitutes  the  fourth  of 
the  series : 

"  That  the  General  Assembly  doth  particularly  protest  against  the  palpable 
and  alarming  infractions  of  the  Constitution  in  the  two  late  cases  of  the 
Alien  and  Sedition  acts,  passed  at  the  late  session  of  Congress  ;  the  first  of 
which  exercises  a  power  delegated  to  the  Federal  government,  and  which, 
by  uniting  legislative  and  judicial  powers  to  those  of  the  Executive,  utterly 
subverts  the  general  principle  of  a  free  government  as  well  as  the  particular 
organization  and  positive  provisions  of  the  Federal  Constitution ;  and  the 
other  of  which  acts  exercises  a  power  not  delegated  by  the  Constitution ;  a 
*J>ower  which,  more  than  any  other,  ought  to  excite  unusual  alarm,  because 
it  is  leveled  against  that  right  of  freely  examining  public  measures  and 
character,  which  has  ever  been  justly  deemed  the  only  effectual  guardian  of 
every  other  right." 

The  8th  of  the  series  is  not  less  emphatic.  Speaks  of  the  Alien  and  Sedi- 
tion laws  as 

"  Acts  which  assume  to  create,  define,  and  punish  crimes,  other  than 
those  enumerated  in  the  Constitution,  are  altogether  void  and  of  no  force, 
and  that  the  power  to  create,  define  and  punish  such  other  crimes,  is  reserved, 


59 

and  of  right  appertains  solely  and  exclusively,  to  the  respective  states,  each 
within  its  own  territory." 

Indeed,  so  indignant  was  the  Whig  Central  Committee  at  Washington 
with  the  Democratic  party,  for  having  reaffirmed  their  former  anti-Native 
American  resolutions  of  1798-'99,  that  it  burst  forth  during  the  canvass  of 
1852  in  the  following  tirade  against  the  fourth  and  eighth  resolutions : 

"These  resolutions  constituted  their  political  Bible,  from  which  they  are 
constantly  preaching  doctrines  utterly  subversive  of  the  government,  and 
which  would,  if  entertained  by  a  majority  of  even  one  or  two  states,  involve 
us  in  the  horrors  of  civil  war." 

The  Democratic  party,  under  the  lead  of  Jefferson,  acquired,  by  advoca- 
ting a  repeal  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws,  a  popularity  in  the  country 
which  it  has  never  lost.  A  wise  and  prevalent  change  of  the  policy  of  the 
general  government  towards  foreign  born  emigrants  characterized  the  ad- 
ministration of  Thomas  Jefferson.  In  his  first  annual  message  he  recom- 
mended to  Congress  the  adoption  of  naturalization  laws  calculated  to  attract 
intelligent  emigrants  from  all  portions  of  Europe.  The  Democratic  party, 
during  the  first  session  of  Congress  after  Jefferson's  election  to  the  presi- 
dency, lost  no  time  in  repealing  those  infamous  and  unconstitutional  Alien 
and  Sedition  laws  by  which  the  first  Native  American  party  in  this  country 
oppressed  the  friendless  strangers  of  every  clime. 

The  liberal,  humane  and  republican  policy  of  Jefferson  towards  our  foreign 
born  citizens  was  imitated  by  Madison,  and  tended  greatly  to  increase  the 
emigration  to  the  United  States.  Thousands  of  useful  men  flocked  to  this 
country.  The  repeal  of  the  original  naturalization  laws,  which  required  a 
residence  of  fourteen  years  previous  to  the  naturalization,  took  place  during 
Jefferson's  administration. 

>%  The  war  of  1812  was  declared  and  conducted  by  the  Democratic  party 
mainly  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  our  foreign  born  citizens  from  the  British 
pretence  that  Englishmen  could  not  get  rid  of  their  allegiance.  This 
doctrine  was,  as  we  have  seen,  the  popular  one  with  several  leading  federalists 
who  were  members  of  the  Convention  of  1787.  It  was  denied  by  the 
Democratic  party  of  the  United  States,  and  as  Great  Britain  proceeded  to 
practice  it,  war  war  the  result.  This  was  as  usual,  the  Whigs  of  that  day 
considered  damnable  and  accursed,  and  all  Native  Americans,  Yankee 
cowards  and  New  England  parsons  denounced  the  war,  Mr.  Madison  and  the 
foreign  born  citizens,  in  the  style  with  which  the  war  with  Mexico  was 
abused.  The  Whig  party  not  only  opposed  the  war  for  the  defence  of  our  En- 
glish born  citizens,  but  called  a  convention  to  abuse  and  villify  the  authors  of 
the  war  and  to  burn  blue  lights  for  the  enemy.  The  convention  is  pretty 
generally  known  as  the  Hartford  Convention,  and  was  composed  of  a  varied 
assortment  of  Whigs,  Federalists,  cowards,  traitors,  Yankee  demagogues, 
and  parsons,  every  man  of  whom  richly  deserved  hanging.  In  this  conven- 
tion, the  proceedings  of  which  constitute  the  most  nefarious  chapter  of  our 
political  history,  there  was  again  manifested  the  most  settled  and  deep  rooted 
hostility  to  the  foreign  born  citizens.  The  sentiment  which  blazed  in  1787, 
which  was  embodied  in  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws  of  1796,  and  which  was 
crushed  in  1800  and  1801,  burnt  fiercely  in  1812. 

The  following  extract,  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Hartford  Convention, 
will  be  worth  the  perusal  of  every  Democrat  who  contemplates  resorting  to 
any  other  political  organization  than  the  party  of  Madison  and  Jefferson  : 

"  Seventhly, — The  easy  admission  of  naturalized  foreigners,  to  places  of 
trust,  honor  or  profit,  operating  as  an  inducement  to  the  malcontent  subjects 
of  the  old  world  to  come  to  these  states  in  quest  of  executive  patronage  and 
to  repay  it  by  an  abject  devotion  to  executive  measures. 

"  Another  amendment,  subordinate  in  importance,  but  still  in  a  high  de- 


60 

gree  expedient,  relates  to  the  exclusion  of  foreigners  hereafter  arriving  in 
the  United  States  from  the  capacity  of  holding  offices  of  trust,  honor  or 
profit. 

•'  That  the  stock  of  population  already  in  these  states  is  amply  sufficient  to 
render  this  nation  in  due  time  sufficiently  great  and  powerful,  is  not  a  con- 
trovertible  question.  Nor  will  it  be  seriously  pretended,  that  the  national 
deficiency  in  wisdom,  arts,  science,  arms,  or  virtue,  needs  to  be  replenished 
from  foreign  countries.  Still,  it  is  agreed,  that  a  liberal  policy  should  offer 
the  rights  of  hospitality,  and  the  choice  of  settlement,  to  those  who  are  dis- 
posed to  visit  the  country.  But  why  admit  to  a  participation  in  the  govern- 
ment aliens  who  were  no  parties  to  the  compact — who  were  ignorant  of  the 
nature  of  our  institutions,  and  have  no  stake  in  the  welfare  of  the  country 
but  what  is  recent  and  transitory  ?  It  is  surely  a  privilege  sufficient,  to 
admit  them,  after  due  probation,  to  become  citizens  for  all  but  political  pur- 
poses. To  extend  ft  beyond  these  limits,  is  to  encourage  foreigners  to  come 
to  these  states  as  candidates  for  preferment.  The  convention  forbear  to 
express  their  opinion  upon  the  inauspicious  effects  which  have  already 
resulted  to  the  honor  and  piece  of  this  nation,  from  this  misplaced  and  indis- 
criminate liberality. 

"  Sixth. — No  person  who  shall  hereafter  be  naturalized  shall  be  eligible  as 
a  member  of  the  Senate  or  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States, 
nor  capable  of  holding  any  civil  office  under  the  authority  of  the  United 
States." 

Here  we  have  Know-Nothingism  with  a  vengeance.  Neither  the  Native 
American  party  of  1844,  nor  its  nameless  offspring  of  1854,  can  boast  of 
much  progress  since  the  days  of  the  Hartford  Convention  of  1812.  Every 
odious  feature  of  the  modern  creed  seems  to  have  been  embodied  in  that  of 
the  traitor  and  cowards,  who  met  at  Hartford  to  plot  and  conspire  against 
their  own  country  in  time  of  war.  Really  Native  Americanism,  although 
possessing  a  long  pedigree,  will  hardly  venture  to  boast  of  its  disreputable 
ancestors.  Its  blood  has  certainly  coursed  through  very  dirty  and  unclean, 
channels  ever  since  its  birth  in  the  Convention  of  1787. 

Nativeism  is  a  foul  and  ugly  eruption  that  has  broken  out  upon  the  body 
of  the  Federal  Whig  party  every  twenty  or  thirty  years  for  the  last  sixty- 
odd  years.  Democracy  found  a  cure  for  the  disease  in  1787,  in  1800,  in 
1812  and  in  1844,  and 'it  will  do  so  in  1855  and  1856.  The  swilling  Sena- 
tor of  Delaware  is  no  match  for  those  who  fight  for  the  great  principles  of 
Jefferson  and  Madison.  The  influence  and  opinions  of  two  such  dead  states- 
men are  ample,  in  the  old  Dominion,  against  the  machinations  of  twenty 
thousand  midnight  politicians  in  disguise  and  without  a  name.  Temporary 
defeat — if  defeat  were  possible — in  the  defence  of  the  largest  civil  and  reli- 
gious liberty  guaranteed  to  all  by  the  Constitution,  would  but  nerve  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  to  a  more  vigorous  and  determined  struggle.  God  never 
intended  this  fair  land  to  be  ruled  by  people  who  register  their  decrees  for 
the  destruction  of  the  Constitution  in  secret  and  midnight  conclaves. 

FOREIGN  BORN  DEMOCRATIC  MARTYRS. — The  subject  of  martyrdom, 
Popish  and  political,  has  become  a  theme  of  much  popular  excitement  and 
of  great  general  interest,  and  we  expect  soon  to  have  a  series  of  awful  reve- 
lations from  Sam  disclosing  the  existence  of  Spanish  inquisitions  in  every 
hamlet  of  a  thousand  inhabitants  in  the  land.  Mrs.  Partington  is  also  said 
to  entertain  and  to  have  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  Jesuits  are  at  the 
bottom  of  Know-Nothingism,  and  that  a  thumb  screw  can  be  found  in  the 
breeches-pocket  of  every  member  of  the  second  degree  of  the  secret  order. 
There  is  an  interesting  chapter  of  domestic  martyrology  to  which  justice  has 
never  been  done,  and  when  the  next  edition  of  Fox's  Martyrs  appears,  we 


61 

hope  to  see  it  incorporated  in  its  far-famed  pages.  We  refer  to  the  foreign 
born  citizen*  of  this  country  who  were,  fifty-seven  years  ago,  persecuted  by 
the  early  Know-Nothings,  or  Federalists,  for  exercising  liberty  of  the  press 
and  of  speech. 

For  Democracy,  in  its  infancy  in  this  country,  had  to  contend  against  a 
Know-Nothing,  prescriptive,  Native  American  spirit,  more  ferocious  and 
intolerant  than  that  which  now,  in  secrecy  and  at  midnight,  is  seeking  to 
trample  the  Constitution  under  foot.  From  the  very  commencement  of  our 
government,  the  more  intelligent  political  refugees  and  foreign  emigrants 
instinctively  attached  themselves  to  the  old  Democratic  party.  When  that 
party  was  weak,  and  in  a  hopeless  minority,  our  foreign  born  citizens  were 
loyal  and  true  as  they  now  are.  When  the  Federalists,  with  aristocratic 
pomp  and  splendor,  misruled  the  land,  they  failed  to  win  the  confidence  of 
the  emigrants  who  had  fled  from  monarchy  and  slavery  at  home  to  find  lib- 
erty and  Democracy  in  this  country.  The  early  emigrants  to  this  country 
were  men  of  education  and  intelligence.  The  political  disturbances  of 
the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  drove  them  across  the  Atlantic 
by  thousands.  Jefferson,  from  his  distinguished  sympathies  for  the  cause  of 
liberty  all  over  the  world,  was  the  object  of  their  especial  admiration.  Long 
suffering  and  tyranny  at  home  having  made  them  familiar  with  all  the  odious 
phases  of  aristocracy,  however  skilfully  disguised,  they  saw  through  the  thin 
and  semi-transparent  mask  of  republicanism  with  which  the  elder  Adams 
and  his  party  sought  to  conceal  their  opinions  and  purposes.  Hence,  the 
peevishness  and  notorious  irascibility  of  that  testy  old  gentleman  were  kept 
constantly  at  boiling  point  by  the  foreign  born  Democracy. 

There  were,  in  1787,  only  twenty-two  Democratic  newspapers  in  the 
United  States,  and  of  that  number  twenty  were  edited  by  foreigners.  Their 
assaults  drove  the  Federal  party  almost  to  madness.  Jefferson  records  in 
his  "  JInas"  how  Adams  and  his  political  associates  writhed  under  the  as- 
saults of  these  men.  The  Federal  party,  however,  was  then  powerful  in 
numbers  and  resources.  Adams  had  inherited  the  abundant  popularity  of 
his  great  predecessor,  but  to  lose  it  by  his  folly,  tyranny  and  aristocratic 
proclivities.  He  was  too  proud  to  correct  the  errors  of  his  administration, 
and  held  his  Democratic  opponents,  native  and  foreign,  in  too  great  contempt 
to  attempt  to  conciliate  them.  He  endeavored  to  put  down  Democracy,  as 
Know-Nothingism  proposes  to  crush  out  Catholicism,  by  persecution.  For- 
getting that  in  a  republic,  all  laws  rest  upon  public  opinion,  he  thought  to 
{strangle  Democracy  by  unconstitutional  enactments  against  aliens  and  the 
liberty  of  the  press.  The  attempt  was  made,  and  "the  blood  of  the  mar- 
tyrs became  the  seed  of  the  church."  A  Federal  Congress  readily  obeyed 
his  wishes  and  enacted  the  alien  and  sedition  laws.  Armed  with  those  stat- 
utes for  two  years  he  wreaked  his  vengeance  mainly  on  Democrats  of  for- 
eign birth.  At  the  end  of  that  time  the  Democratic  party  arose  like  a 
young  giant,  and  clashed  the  whole  structure  of  Federalism  to  the  earth, 
hurled  the  old  party  from  power,  and  inaugurated  the  great  National  Demo- 
cratic party  of  this  country.  From  that  day  to  this,  foreign  born  citizens 
have  been  ever  faithful  to  the  Democratic  party.  The  reasons  for  this  last- 
ing friendship  are  honorable  alike  to  both  parties.  The  only  Democratic 
martyrs  of  this  country  were  foreign  born  citizens,  and  when  the  Demo- 
cratic party  waxed  strong  they  blotted  from  our  statute  books  all  the  uncon- 
stitutional laws  by  which  our  foreign  born  citizens  were  once  placed  at  the 
mercy  of  a  Federal  Executive. 

For  th>e  express  purpose  of  depriving  this  class  of  citizens  of  their  rights 
and  liberties,  the  following  laws  were  enacted  by  Congress,  July  6th,  and 
14th,  1798.  As  the  Know-Nothings  are  endeavoring  to  manufacture  a  pro* 
scriptive  spirit  in  the  United  States  precisely  similar  to  that  of  the  year 


62 

1798,  it  may  be  well  for  the  people  of  Virginia  to  learn  a  few  timely  and 
instructive  lessons  from  a  perusal  of  the  laws  in  question. 

The  Sedition  Law  enacted — 

"  That  if  any  person  shall  write,  print,  utter,  or  publish,  or  shallj  cause  or 
procure  to  be  written,  printed,  uttered,  or  published,  or  shall  knowingly  and 
willingly  assist,  or  aid  in  writing,  printing,  uttering,  or  publishing  any  false, 
scandalous  and  malicious  writings  or  writing  against  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  or  either  house  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  or  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  with  intent  to  defame  the  said  government, 
or  either  house  of  the  said  Congress,  or  the  said  President,  or  to  bring  them 
into  contempt  or  disrepute,  or  to  excite  against  them,  or  either  or  any  of 
them,  the  hatred  of  the  good  people  of  the  United  States,  or  to  stir  up  sedition 
within  the  United  States,  *  he  shall  be  punished 

by  a  fine  not  exceeding  two  thousand  dollars,  and  by  imprisonment  not  ex- 
ceeding two  years. — 1  Peters'  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  598." 

The  "  Alien  Act,"  the  provisions  of  which  are  too  long  for  insertion  in 
extenso  in  this  article,  provided — 

"  That  the  President  of  the  United  States  shall  be  and  is  hereby  author- 
ized, in  any  event  aforesaid,  by  his  proclamation  thereof,  or  other  public 
act,  to  direct  the  conduct  to  be  observed  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  to- 
wards aliens  the  manner  and  degree  of  the  restraint 
to  which  they  shall  be  subjected,  and  in  what  cases  and  upon  what  security 
their  residence  shall  be  permitted,  and  to  provide  for  the  removal  of  those 
who,  not  being  permitted,  to  reside  in  the  United  States,  shall  refuse  or  neg- 
lect to  depart  therefrom. — 1  Peters'  Statutes  at  Large,  page  577." 

It  is  with  difficulty  that  the  present  generation  can  be  taught  to  believe 
that  such  laws  as  we  have  given  above  once  disgraced  our  statute  books, 
abridging  the  liberty  of  speech,  and  leaving  aliens  upon  our  soil  completely 
at  the  mercy  of  the  President,  denying  them  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  and 
of  confronting  their  accusers. 

JNot  only,  however,  were  there  such  laws,  but,  as  we  shall  presently  see, 
more  than  one  foreign  born  Democrat  was  martyred  for  his  hatred  of  feder- 
alism and  love  for  the  principles  of  Jefferson. 

I. —  The  Case  of  Mathew  Lym.— [American  State  Trials,  pp.  333,  343.] 
Mathew  Lyon  was  an  Irishman  by  birth,  who  came  to  this  country  uneducated 
and  destitute.  By  energy  and  honesty  he  arose  from  the  position  of  an 
apprentice  to  that  of  a  representative  in  Congress  from  the  state  of  Ver- 
mont. Whilst  a  member  of  Congress  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  patri- 
otic devotion  to  the  cause  of  Democracy,  and  his  spirited  opposition  to 
Adams'  administration. 

In  exercising  the  privileges  of  his  office  as  a  representative  in  Congress,  he 
addressed  a  series  of  articles  to  his  constituents,  commenting  upon  the  char- 
acter of  the  administration  of  John  Adams.  In  consequence  of  this,  on  the 
5th  of  October,  1798,  he  was  indicted  for  a  seditious  libel,  and  the  indict- 
ment set  forth  the  following  libellous  matter  : 

"As  to  the  executive,  when  I  shall  see  the  efforts  of  that  power  bent  on 
the  promotion  of  the  comfort,  the  happiness,  and  accommodation  of  the  peo- 
ple, that  executive  shall  have  my  zealous  and  uniform  support;  but  when- 
ever I  shall,  on  the  part  of  the  executive,  see  every  consideration  of  the 
public  welfare  swallowed  up  in  a  continual  grasp  for  power,  in  an  unbounded 
thirst  for  ridiculous  pomp,  foolish  adulation  and  selfish  avarice  ;  when  I  shall 
behold  men  of  real  merit  daily  turned  out  of  office  for  no  other  cause  but 
independency  of  sentiment;  when  I  shall  see  men  of  firmness,  merit,  years, 
ability  and  experience,  discarded  in  their  applications  for  office,  for  fear  they 
possess  that  independence,  and  men  of  meanness  preferred  for  the  ease  with 
which  they  take  up  and  advocate  opinions,  the  consequence  of  which  they 


63 

know  nothing ;  when  I  shall  see  the  sacred  name  of  religion  employed  as  a 
state  engine  to  make  mankind  hate  and  persecute  one  another,  I  shall  not  be 
their  humble  advocate." 

Although  this  language  was  as  just  as  it  was  proper  and  legitimate,  yet  a 
packed  jury  of  Yankee  Federalists  found  the  defendant  guilty,  and  a  Fede- 
ral hack.  Judge  Patterson,  pronounced  the  following  sentence: 

"  Mathew  Lyon,  as  a  member  of  the  federal  legislature,  you  must  be  well 
acquainted  with  the  mischiefs  which  flow  from  an  unlicensed  abuse  of  the 
government,  and  of  the  motives  which  led  to  the  passage  of  the  act  under 
which  this  indictment  is  proved.  Your  position,  so  far  from 

making  the  case  one  which  might  slip  with  a  nominal  fine  through  the  hands 
of  the  court,  would  make  impunity  conspicuous,  should  such  a  fine  be  im- 
posed. What,  however,  has  tended  to  mitigate  the  sentence,  which  would 
otherwise  have  been  imposed,  is,  what  I  am  sorry  to  hear  of,  the  reduced 
condition  of  your  estate.  The  judgment  of  the  court  is,  that  you  stand 
imprisoned  four  months,  pay  the  cost  of  prosecution,  and  a  fine  of  one  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  stand  committed  until  this  sentence  be  complied  with." 

The  mildness  of  early  Know-Nothing  despotism  is  here  beautifully  illus- 
trated. A  foreign  born  Democrat  addresses  a  letter  to  his  constituents,  com- 
menting upon  the  executive  department  of  the  government,  as  was  his  duty 
as  their  representative ;  he  is  tried  for  it  by  a  packed  jury  and  a  federal 
court,  found  guilty,  and  assured  by  the  judge  that  the  magnitude  of  his 
offence  is  greatly  increased  by  his  being  a  member  of  Congress,  and  that  the 
only  regret  of  the  federal  Jeffries  is,  that  the  smallness  of  the  defendant's 
fortune  forced  him  to  fine  him  only  one  thousand  dollars. 

All  of  Lyon's  sentence  was  rigourously  enforced.  He  was  at  first  denied 
the  use  of  pen,  ink,  paper  and  books,  and  confined  in  a  cell  sixteen  feet  wide 
by  twelve  long,  (see  Wharton's  State  Trials,  p.  341,)  the  common  receptacle 
for  horse-thieves,  money-forgers,  runaway  negroes,  and  other  rascals  and 
felons. 

A  Federal  newspaper  thus  gloated  in  coarse  and  inhuman  joy  over  his 
imprisonment,  precisely  as  a  Know-Nothing  organ  of  the  present  day  would 
do  if  a  foreign  born  Democrat  was  to  be  ejected  from  office : 

"  T/ie  Lyon  of  Vermont. — To-morrow  morning,  at  11  o'clock,  will  be  ex- 
posed to  view  the  Lyon  of  Vermont.  This  singular  animal  is  said  to  have 
been  caught  in  the  bogs  of  Hibernia,  and  when  quite  a  whelp  transported 
to  America;  curiosity  inducing  a  New  Yorker  to  buy  him,  and  moving  to 
the  country,  afterwards  exchanged  him  for  a  yoke  of  young  bulls  with  a 
Vermonter.  *  His  pelt  resembles  more  the  wolf,  or  the  tiger,  and  his 

gestures  bear  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  the  bear;  this,  however,  may  be 
ascribed  to  his  having  been  in  the  habit  of  associating  with  that  species  of 
wild  beast  on  the  mountains.  He  was  brought  to  this  place  in  a  waggon. — 
Porcupine  Gazette,  June  6M,  1797." 

TCut  this  poor  man,  whilst  languishing  in  a  foul  and  unwholsome  prison 
during  the  cold  months  of  a  New  England  winter,  the  victim  of  a  tyrant 
whose  native  American  antipathies  the  Know-Nothings  of  the  present  day 
appear  to  have  adopted,  was  not  forgotten  by  a  faithful  constituency.  They 
espoused  his  cause,  and  whilst  in  the  clutches  of  his  Federal  oppressors, 
re-elected  him  to  Congress — the  records  of  the  day  showing  the  following 
vote  : 

Lyon,  (Democrat,  and  in  prison,)  •     3,482 

Williams,  Federalist,  1,554 

Lyon's  majority,  1,928 

Released  from  prison  amid  the  tumultous  rejoicings  of  his   friends,  he 


64 

repaired  to  Philadelphia  to  take  his  seat  in  the   Congress  to  which  he  had 
been  elected  whilst  in  jail. 

The  insolent  Federal  majority  in  the  House  of  Representatives  met  him 
\vith  the  following  resolution  : 

"Resolved,  That  Mathew  Lyon,  a  member  of  this  House,  having  been 
convicted  of  being  a  notorious  and  seditious  person,  and  of  a  depraved  mind 
and  wicked  and  diabolical  disposition,  and  of  wickedly,  deceitfully  and  ma- 
liciously contriving  to  defame  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  of 
having,  with  design  and  intent  to  dtfame  John  Adams,  President  of  the 
United  States  *  *  *  be  therefore  expelled  from  this  House." 

The  Federalists  were. all  willing  to  expel  this  persecuted  foreigner;  but 
Mr.  Nicholas,  of  Virginia,  eloquently  defended  him,  and  they  could  not  get 
a  two-thirds'  vote.  Again  the  great  Federal  organ  of  that  day  aimed  its 
envenomed  darts  at  poor  Lyon's  head,  February,  1799 : 

"  Lyon  looks  remarkably  well  for  a  gentleman  just  out  of  jail.  This  man's 
re-election,  whilst  confined  as  a  criminal,  is  a  new  and  striking  proof  of 
the  excellence  of  universal  suffrage.  *  *  *  Happy  the  nation  where 
there  is  but  one  step  from  the  dungeon  to  the  Legislature.  Well  might  the 
pathetic  Mr.  Murray,  (speaking  of  the  old  alien  law,)  express  his  fears  that 
the  influx  of  foreigners  would  "  contaminate  the  purity  and  simplicity  of 
American  manners." 

This  is  a  very  fair  specimen  of  Know-Nothing  sentiment  fifty-six  years 
ago. 

The  persecuted  Lyon  lived,  however,  to  wrest  the  state  of  Vermont  tem- 
porarily from  Federal  misrule,  subsequently  removed  to  the  state  of  Ken- 
tucky, represented  that  state  in  the  House  of  Representatives  from  1803  to 
1811,  refused  the  office  of  commissary  for  the  Western  army,  which  was 
tendered  to  him  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  died  at  the  advanced  age  of 
seventy- eight.  He  survived  the  old  Know-Nothing  or  Federal  party  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  <Sn  the  4th  of  July,  1840,  Congress  refunded 
to  his  representatives,  with  interest,  the  iniquitous  fine  of  one  thousand  dol- 
lars, imposed  upon  him  in  1799. 

Next  in  the  list  of  foreign  born  citizens  who  braved  fine  and  imprison- 
ment in  defence  of  Democracy,  and  by  fierce  denunciations  of  Federalism, 
stands — 

II.— The  case  of  Anthony  HosweU. — Arner.  State  Trials,  pp.  584.  687. 

ANTHONY  HOSWELL  was  born  in  England  in  1763,  a  gentleman  by  birth 
and  education,  who  espoused  to  cause  of  freedom,  and  fought  on  the 
side  of  the  colonies  during  the  revolutionary  war,  and  perilled  his  life  at 
Monmouth. 

He  subsequently  became  distinguished  as  a  Democratic  editor,  and 
especially  by  his  boldness  and  talent  excited  the  hatred  of  the  Federal 
party. 

In  1800,  at  Windsor,  in  the  state  of  Vermont,  he  was,  under  the  "Sedition 
act,"  indicted  for  publishing,  as  the  Federalists  avered,  the  following  libellous 
matter: 

To  the  enemies  of  political  persecutioji  in  the  Western  district  of  Vermont : 
Your  representative  (Mathew  Lyon)  is   holden   by  the  oppressive  hand  of 
usurped  power  in  a  loathsome  prison,  deprived  almost  of  the  right  of  reason, 
and  suffering  all  the  indignities  which  can  be  heaped  upon  him  by  a  hard- 
hearted savage,  who  has,  to  the  disgrace  of  Federalism,  been  elevated  to  a 
station  where  he   can  satiate  his  barbarity  on   the  misery  of  his  victims. 
But  in  spite  of  Fitch,  (the  marshal)  and  to  their  sorrow,  time  will  pass  away, 
and  the  month  of  February  will  arrive  and  bring  with  it  the  defender  of  our 
right?     No.     Without  exertion  it  will  not.     Eleven  hundred  dollars  must  It 
f)aid  for  his  ransom,  £fc. 


65 

Although  the  prisoner  proved  the  truth  of  every  allegation  in  the  matter 
charged  as  libellous,  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  guilty,  and  the  court  sen- 
tenced the  prisoner  to  a  fine  of  two  hundred  dollars  and  imprisonment  for 
two  months. 

The  "indignities  with  which  this  noble  and  bold  Democrat  was  treated 
after  he  was  arrested  was  the  subject  of  bitter  party  feeling  for  a  long 
time. 

He  was  arrested  at  night,  and  notified  to  prepare  for  a  journey  to  Rutland 
early  in  the  morning.  Accordingly,  at  a  very  early  hour,  Mr.  Hoswell, 
although  in  very  poor  health  and  totally  unaccustomed  to  riding,  was  com- 
pelled to  mount  a  horse  and  ride  sixty  miles  through  the  rain  on  a  cold  day  in 
October,  to  the  jail  at  Rutland.  Here  he  wras  thrown  into  a  filthy  prison  at 
midnight,  notwithstanding,  his  entreaties  to  be  permitted  to  dry  his  clothes, 
which  were  saturated  with  the  rain.  Several  of  the  most  responsible  men 
in  Rutland  offered  any  security  the  marshal  might  demand,  to  induce  him  to 
grant  these  requests,  but  in  vain.  Thr  prisoner  was  thrown  into  the  prison, 
and  never  afterwards  recovered  entirely  from  the  shock  thus  given  his  health. 
His  sentence  was  rigidly  carried  out,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  of 
confinement,  an  immense  concourse  of  people  from  the  neighboring  country 
assembled  to  welcome  him  back  to  liberty,  and  to  signalize  their  disapproba- 
tion of  his  imprisonment.  He  marched  forth  from  his  quarters  at  the  jail  to 
the  tune  of  Yankee  Doodle,  played  by  a  band,  while  the  discharge  of  cannon 
signified  the  general  satisfaction  at  his  release.  [See  Wharton's  Criminal 
Trials,  page  687.] 

This  victim  of  early  Native  Americanism  was,  says  a  distinguished  author, 
"highly  respected,  not  only  by  his  friends,  but  by  his  political  opponents. 
He  was  distinguished  in  private  life  by  exemplary  conduct  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duties,  and  by  his  devotion  to  the  moral  and  religious  improvement  of 
society."  [Wharton,  page  688.] 

Mr.  Hoswell  was  a  gentleman,  a  brave  revolutionary  soldier,  wedded  to 
the  cause  of  liberty ;  but  as  he  was  a  Democrat,  and  a  foreign  born  citizen, 
he  was  treated  like  a  common  felon  by  the  Know-Nothings  of  1798.  But 
the  list  of  foreign  born  Democrats  who  stood  by  our  party  in  its  infancy,  and 
braved  persecution  and  the  torture  of  cruel  imprisonment  for  their  opinions, 
is  a  long  one. 

Til. —  The  Case  of  Thomas  Cooper. — [American  State  Trials,  page  677.] 
The  learned  and  celebrated  Thomas  Cooper  was  the  next  victim  sacrificed  to. 
gratify  John  Adams'  hatred  of  foreign  born  Democrats,  whose  blows  were 
aimed  principally  at  the  accomplished  Democratic  writers  whose  pens  were 
driving  him  to  desperation. 

Thomas  Cooper  was  an  Englishman  by  birth,  and  a  graduate  of  Oxford. 
He  was  the  intimate  friend  of  the  celebrated  Priestly,  and  a  barrister,  an  aufc 
thor  of  distinction,  and  a  chemist  of  great  reputation,  He  was,  at  different 
periods  in  his  life,  a  professor  in  Dickinson  Collea^,  and  also  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  for  several  years  a  presiding  judge  of  one  of 
the  districts  of  Pennsylvania,  and  filled  a  professorship  in  Columbia  College, 
South  Carolina,  for  many  years  previous  to  his  death.  His  translation  of 
the  "  Pandects  of  Justinian"  is  regarded  as  a  master  piece  of  admirable  and 
classical  scholarship  by  the  legal  profession  to  this  day. 

He  was  an  ardent  Democrat,  and  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  devoted 
friends  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  Hence  his  appearance  in  the  catalogue  of  for- 
eign born  Democratic  martyrs.  In  1800,  he  was  tried  for  w:hat  the  Know- 
Nothings  of  that  day  called  "  Seditious  Libel''  and  the  libellous  matter 
charged  in  the  indictment  was  as  follows.  As  in  the  cases  already  cited, 
our  readers  will  perceive  that  it  was  dangerous,  in  the  day  of  the  earlj 
5 


66 

Know-Nothings,  for  a  foreigner  to  say  a  word  against  the  Federal  party  and 
their  aristocratic  president.  But  to  the  libellous  matter: 

"  At  that  time  he  (John  Adams)  had  just  entered  office  ;  he  was  hardly  in 
the  infancy  of  political  mistake  :  even  those  who  doubted  his  capacity  thought 
well  of  his  intentions.  Nor  were  we  yet  saddled  with  the  expense  of  a  per- 
manent navy,  or  threatened  under  his  auspices  with  the  existence  of  a  stand- 
ins:  army.  Our  credit  was  not  yet  reduced  so  low  as  to  borrow  money  at 
eight  per  cent,  in  time  of  peace,  while  the  unnecessary  violence  of  official 
expressions  might  justly  have  provoked  a  war.  Mr.  Adams  had  not  yet 
projected  his  embassies  to  Prussia  and  Russia,  nor  had  he  yet  interfered  as 
president  of  the  United  States  to  influence  the  decisions  of  a  court  of  justice — 
a  stretch  of  authority  which  the  monarch  of  Great  Britain  would  have  shrunk 
from — an  interference  without  precedent  against  law  and  against  mercy. 
This  melancholy  case  of  Jonathan  Robbins,  a  native  American,  forcibly  im- 
pressed by  the  British,  and  delivered  up,  with  the  advice  of  Mr.  Adams,  to 
the  mock  trial  of  a  British  court-martial,  had  not  yet  astonished  the  republi- 
can citizens  of  this  free  country  ;  a  case  too  little  known,  but  of  which  the 
people  ought  to  be  fully  apprised  before  the  election,  and  they  shall  be. — 
[Amer.  State  Trials,  p.  658."] 

As  was  usual  in  1800,  when  Federal  marshals,  packed  Federal  juries,  and 
Federal  prosecutors  and  judges  agreed  in  their  interpretation  of  Federal  laws, 
Mr.  Cooper  was  found  guilty,  and  the  infamous  Judge  Chase,  of  Callender 
notoriety,  sentenced  the  defendant  "to  pay  a  fine  of  four  hundred  dollars,  to 
be  imprisoned  for  six  months,  and  at  the  end  of  that  period  to  find  surety  for 
himself  in  a  thousand,  and  two  securities  in  five  hundred  dollars  each." — 
[Wharton's  Criminal  Trials,  page  679.] 

But  the  length  of  this  article  admonishes  us  to  hasten  on  with  our  list  of 
foreign  born  Democrats  who  were  true  to  our  cause  when  courage  was  more 
essential  in  the  defence  of  our  sentiments  than  at  present. 

IV. —  Case  of  William  Duane. — [American  State  Trials,  page  344.] — Wm. 
Duane  was  born  in  this  country,  but  as  his  parents  were  Irish  emigrants,  he 
spent  the  early  part  of  his  life  in  Ireland,  his  mother  having  returned  to  that 
country  after  the  death  of  her  husband.  He  was  the  first  editor  of  the  cele- 
brated London  Times,  and  the  intimate  friend  of  Home  Tooke.  He  return- 
ed to  this  country  in  1795,  and  became  the  editor  of  the  leading  Democratic 
organ  of  that  day,  the  Aurora.  Mr.  Jefferson  always  declared  that  he  was 
indebted  to  "Duane  and  the  Aurora  newspaper  for  his  election  to  the  presi- 
dency." The  justice  and  severity  of  his  attacks  upon  the  Federal  party 
rendered  him  the  object  of  open  violence.  During  Mr.  Adams'  administra- 
tion some  troops  of  horse  were  sent  from  Philadelphia  to  Reading,  to  cut 
down  the  liberty  poles  of  the  Democratic  party  in  "Old  Berks,"  and  to  per- 
form other  heroic  achievements  worthy  of  Adams  and  his  primitive  Know- 
Nothing  friends.  These  body  guards  of  the  Federal  despot  lived  very  freely 
and  indulged  in  all  the  license  of  an  enemy's  force  in  a  hostile  land. 

A  letter  was  published  41  the  Aurora,  complaining  of  their  outrages.  On 
their  return  to  Philadelphia,  a  large  party  of  officers  proceeded  to  the  Aurora 
office,  and,  placing  sentinels  over  the  printers,  dragged  out  the  editor  of  the 
Aurora,  Mr.  Duane,  and  beat  him  until  he  was  insensible. 

Yet  this  Democratic  martyr  was  a  scholar  and  gentleman,  a  patriot  and  a 
soldier,  whose  works  on  education,  history,  military  science,  politics,  and 
political  economy,  are  well  known  to  the  present  generation.  His  influence 
and  instrumentality  in  building  up  the  Democratic  party,  Jefferson  and  Mad- 
ison both  regarded  as  great  as  their  own. 

To  these  cases  we  might  add  those  of  Callender,  Reynolds,  Moore,  Gum- 
ming, Frothingham,  and  others,  all  foreign  born  Democrats — men  of  educa- 
tion and  talents,  who  were  the  victims  of  Federal  lawlessness  and  cruelty, 


67 

when,  in  1798,  the  Native  American  party  was  sufficiently  strong  to  deprive 
our  foreign  born  citizens  of  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  and  of  the  liberty  of 
speech,  and  of  the  press.  The  cases  cited  at  length  in  this  article  illustrate 
the  atrocious  tendency  of  Native  Americanism,  when  clothed  with  power 
under  the  forms  of  law,  to  oppress  and  persecute  our  foreign  born  citizens. 

The  lessons  of  experience  are  always  the  best  that  can  be  read  to  an  in- 
telligent people, — nor  will  they  be  lost  upon  the  people  of  Virginia  at  this 
time,  when,  after  the  lapse  of  more  than  half  a  century,  we  have  a  party 
in  our  midst  plotting  in  secrecy  and  at  midnight  to  strip  our  foreign  born 
citizens  of  their  rights. 

No  true  Democrat,  bearing  in  mind  the  political  devotion  of  the  foreign 
born  citizens  of  this  country  to  our  principles  and  measures,  from  the  days 
of  their  early  persecution  by  the  Federalists  to  the  present,  can,  or  will  lend 
his  aid  to  a  band  of  conspirators,  seeking,  in  open  disregard  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, to  strip  these  innocent  and  faithful  citizens  of  their  rights. 


ORATORS  OF  THE  CANVASS. 

We  can  safely  assert  that  political  excitement  never  ran  higher  in  any  state, 
than  in  Virginia  in  1855.  And  we  can  moreover  aver  with  truth,  that  there 
Dever  was  so  general  an  interest  manifested  in  the  discussion  of  political  issues. 
This  was  attributable  principally  to  two  things :  in  the  first  place  to  the  facts 
and  sound  arguments  set  forth  by  the  talented  press  of  our  State ;  and  secondly, 
to  the  stirring  appeals  and  impassioned  eloquence  of  our  public  speakers.  They 
addressed  the  masses  in  every  section  of  the  State,  appealing  to  the  time-hon- 
ored principles  of  the  Democratic  party,  dissecting  the  monstrous  ritual  of 
Know  Nothingism,  and  inviting  its  devotees  to  meet  them  in  open  discussion. 

One  of  the  first  speeches  of  the  campaign  was  a  most  powerful  one,  from  the 
Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglass  of  Illinois,  delivered  in  Richmond  in  the  month  of 
March ;  but  owing  to  some  misunderstanding  with  the  stenographer  employed 
by  the  editor  of  the  Examiner  to  report  it,  it  was  never  written  out  for  publica- 
tion. The  speech  produced  a  most  profound  impression  in  Richmond,  and  evi- 
dently exerted  a  great  influence  in  the  State,  as  he  addressed  an  immense 
audience,  many  of  whom  were  residents  of  the  country. 

The  Examiner  contained  the  following  extended  notice  of  the  Senator's 
oration. 

JUDGE  DOUGLAS  IN  RICHMOND. — The  citizens  of  Richmond  had  the  plea- 
Fure  of  bearing  a  speech,  Tuesday  night,  27th  March,  from  the  author  of  the 
Nebraska-Kansas  act.  Nothing  but  a  verbatim  report  would  present  the  address 
in  its  real  strength  and  merit;  for  every  sentence  was  an  argument,  and  the 
speech  possessed  the  characteristic  of  a  sphere  in  compacting  the  greatest  quan- 
tity of  matter  within  the  smallest  extent  of  surface. 

His  illustration  of  that  great  principle — of  which  himself  may  be  pronounced 
the  living  embodiment — of  the  absolute  right  of  the  people  in  each  State,  and 
territory,  (about  to  become  a  State,)  to  decide  upon  its  own  institutions,  subject 
only  to  the  constitution,  a  principle  which  is  the  very  corner  stone  of  State 
Rights  politics — was  clear,  beautiful  and  conclusive. 

His  narration  of  the  incident's  of  the  last  year's  struggle  in  Illinois,  to  defeat 
himself  for  championing  and  the  Democratic  party  for  endorsing  this  principle, 


68 

was  interesting  in  the  extreme.  He  said  that  this  principle  was  opposed  in  Illi- 
nois by  the  Fusion,  and  he  explained  that  to  be  a  combination  of  Abolitionists, 
Whigs,  Know  Nothings  and  anti-Liquor  men,  against  the  great  Nebraska  prin- 
ciple, and  against  the  Democratic  party  sustaining  it.  He  declared  that  the 
Fusion  was  thus  constituted  in  every  State  at  the  North,  except  New  York, 
where  fortuitous  circumstances  had  operated  to  qualify  the  rule  in  some  degree. 
He  admitted  that  some  Democrats  had  left  their  own  organization  and  gone  into 
the  Know  Nothing  councils;  and  while  he  admitted  that  many  Know  Nothings 
were  not  Abolitionists,  yet  he  declared  that  the  Abolstionists  and  Free-soilers 
had  the  majority  in  their  councils,  and  controlled  the  action  of  the  Order,  the 
minority  being  sworn  to  co-operate  with  the  majority. 

He  also  admitted  the  fact,  that  the  Whigs  did  not  all  merge  with  the  Aboli- 
tionists and  the  Know  Nothings  in  the  Fusion ;  but  that  the  high-toned  and 
honorable  portion  of  that  once  glorious  party  co-operated  with  the  Democracy 
in  the  elections.  He  said  that  the  Democracy  of  Illinois  owed  their  triumph 
in  the  State  elections  by  a  majority  of  3,000  votes,  and  in  Col.  W.  A.  Rich- 
ardson's district  in  the  success  of  that  gallant  and  indomitable  State  Rights 
man — to  Whig  votes.  He  said  that  ten  per  cent,  of  the  Whigs  of  the  State 
had  segregated  themselves  from  the  mass  of  their  party,  and,  by  rallying  to  the 
side  of  the  Democracy,  had  saved  the  State  ticket  and  Colonel  Richardson.  We 
take  pleasure  in  making  prominent  this  declaration  of  Judge  Douglas,  for  God 
forbid  that  any  Southern  editor  should  refuse  to  acknowledge  a  fact  so  dear  to 
the  whole  South,  and  so  honorable  to  the  Silver  Grays  of  the  North.  In  the 
same  degree  that  we  iterate  and  reprobate  the  fact  that  the  Know  Nothings  of 
the  North,  as  a  party,  and  the  great  body  of  the  Whigs  of  the  North,  as  either 
Freesoilers  or  Know  Nothings,  oppose  the  great  Douglas-Nebraska-State-Rights 
principle  of  popular  sovereignty — do  we  rejoice  in,  exult  over  and  reiterate  the 
fact  that  an  honorable,  inflexible  fragment  of  the  old  Whig  party  of  the  North 
still  cling,  even  unto  political  martyrdom,  to  the  Constitution  of  their  country. 

Declaring  that  the  Know  Nothings  everywhere  at  the  North  co-operated  with 
the  FUSION  in  ostracising  and  proscribing  Nebraska  men  and  warriag  upon  the 
Nebraska  principle,  the  JUDGE  went  into  a  calm  and  most  overwhelming  argu- 
ment against  that  organization.  He  assailed  it  as  hostile  to  that  open,  free  dis* 
dussion,  which  was  essential  to  the  health  and  vitality  of  popular  government. 
His  argument  upon  this  topic  was  as  clear  and  convincing  as  it  was  striking  and 
original.  The  Know  Nothing  Order  not  only  shrank  from  full  and  open  diseus- 
gion  before  the  people,  but  it  struck  a  deadly  blow  at  the  principle  of  represen- 
tative accountability  to  the  people,  by  substituting  the  secret  club  which  nomi- 
nated the  legislator  or  the  executive  officer,  for  the  people  at  large,  in  whom 
only  is  lodged  the  sovereignty  of  the  State. 

He  assailed  their  oaths  in  a  powerful  but  calm  and  respectful  argument.  An 
oath  to  obey  the  dictation  of  the  club  was  an  oath  to  disregard  the  dictates  of 
conscience  in  all  cases  where  the  individual's  opinion  conflicted  with  the  decree 
of  the  Order.  It  substituted,  in  a  government  where  the  individual  and  the 
people  are  sovereign,  a  conflicting  sovereignty  and  a  different  and  dangerous 
authority,  that  of  a  secret  and  irresponsible  cabal. 

He  said  there  were  a  great  many  honest  men  who  saw  the  dilemma  in  which 
their  Know  Nothingism  placed  them  as  good  citizens,  and  yet  were  deterred  from 
leaving  the  Order  from  conscientious  scruples  in  regard  to  the  oath  they  had 
taken  in  their  initiation.  He  did  not  think  an  oath  to  violate  one's  conscience 
ought  to  be  obeyed,  and  he  cited  the  passage  from  ST.  MARK,  reciting  the  oc- 
currence between  Herod  and  the  daughter  of  Herodias,  as  illustrating  the  fatal 
consequences  of  a  vicious  vow. 

"For  Herod  himself  had  sent  forth  and  laid  hold  upon  John,  and  bound  him 
In  prison  for  Herodias'  sake,  his  brother  Philip's  wife ;  for  he  had  married  her* 


69 

For  John  had  said  unto  Herod,  It  is  not  lawful  for  thee  to  have  thy  brother's 
wife. 

Therefore,  Ilerodias  had  a  quarrel  against  him,  and  would  have  killed  him, 
but  she  could  not. 

For  Herod  feared  John,  knowing  that  he  was  a  just  man  and  an  holy,  and 
observed  him ;  and  when  he  heard  him,  he  did  many  things,  and  heard  him 
gladly. 

And  when  a  convenient  day  was  come,  that  Herod,  on  his  birth-day,  made  a 
supper  to  his  lords,  high  captains,  and  chief  estates  of  Galilee; 

And  when  the  daughter  of  tho  said  Ilerodias  came  in,  and  danced,  and  pleased 
Herod  and  them  that  sat  with  him,  the  King  said  unto  the  damsel,  ask  of  me 
whatsoever  thou  wilt,  and  I  will  give  it  thee. 

And  he  swore  unto  her,  whatever  thou  shalt  ask  of  me,  I  will  give  it  thee, 
even  unto  half  of  my  kingdom. 

And  she  went  forth,  and  said  unto  her  mother,  what  shall  I  ask  ?  and  she 
Baid  the  head  of  John  the  Baptist. 

And  she  came  in  straightway  with  haste  unto  the  King,  and  asked,  saying,  I 
wish  that  thou  give  me,  by  and  by  in  a  charger,  the  head  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist. 

And  the  King  was  exceedingly  sorry;  yet  for  his  oath's  sake,  and  for  their 
Bakes  which  sat  with  him,  he  would  not  reject  her." 

The  distinguished  speaker  advised  the  Democracy  against  an  unlawful  alliance 
with  the  Herodias  of  Federalism,  and  against  pledging  themselves  to  the  damsel 
Know  Nothingism,  her  daughter,  by  unlawful  oaths  and  rash  stipulations  of  the 
favors,  contrary  to  conscience,  to  old  friendship  and  to  duty. 

He  examined  the  tests }  prescribed  by  the  Order  for  office  and  suffrage,  and 
was  especially  able  and  powerful  in  his  exposition  of  their  unconstitutionality 
and  anti-republicanism. 

The  first  of  these  tests,  was  birth,  a  test  familiar  in  England,  and  in  monar- 
chies ;  but,  until  now,  unknown  in  these  free  States,  where  the  great  test  was 
merit.  Birth  was  a  thing  over  which  men  had  no  control  and  did  not  enter  at 
all  into  the  republican  qualification  of  merit.  It  did  not  follow  that  everybody 
born  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  was  fit  for  suffrage  and  office,  any  more  than 
that  all  born  on  the  other  side  were  unfit.  Everybody  knew  that  America 
eould  produce  rogues  as  well  as  honest  citizens ;  indeed  he  was  not  sure  but 
that  she  could  beat  the  world  in  rogues  as  well  as  in  every  other  article.  She 
certainly  produced  a  larger  proportion  of  honest  citizens  than  any  other  country  • 
for  here  merit  had  been  made  the  test  of  qualification  for  office,  and  furnished 
an  inducement  to  rectitude.  The  test  of  birth  was  arbitrary  and  aristocratic ; 
the  test  of  merit  was  philosophic,  just,  and  democratic.  It  was  a  great  demo- 
cratic test,  and  true  Democrats  could  not  abandon  it  for  the  monarchial,  acci- 
dental and  unjust  principle,  that  merit,  or  qualification,  or  superiority,  was  de- 
pendent on  birth.  His  allusion  to  his  gallant  colleague,  General  SHIELDS,  a 
soldier  who  had  not  shed  blood  enough  for  his  adopted  country  to  atone  for  the 
accident  of  his  birth  on  Irish  soil,  was  touching  and  eloquent. 

The  test  of  religious  belief  was  arbitrary,  unjust  and  oppressive.  It  was 
contrary  to  the  Constitution,  which  expressly  forbade  that  "  any  religious  test 
should  ever  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office  of  public  trust  under  this 
government."  Every  Know  Nothing  who  took  an  oath  binding  him  to  try  can- 
didates by  this  testy  took  an  oath  against  the  Constitution  of  the  Union.  He 
did  not  charge  them  with  intentional  culpability  in  this  act,  which  he  knew 
they  must  have  done  in  thoughtlessness  and  without  due  examination,  but  he 
warned  them  against  persisting  in  an  oath  in  direct  antagonism  to  the  Consti- 
tution of  their  country. 


70 

We  have  glanced  rapidly  over,  and  stated  loosely  some  of  the  leading  topics 
of  Judge  DOUGLAS'S  speech.  It  is  possible  that  we  may  succeed  in  obtaining 
from  the  distinguished  Senator,  a  full  report  of  it  ;  but  fearing  we  might  not 
be  able  to  do  so,  we  could  not  refrain  from  presenting  to  our  readers  the  fore- 
going abstract  of  an  address  which  will  long  be  remembered  in  Richmond,  and 
which  was  as  dignified,  national,  statesmanlike  and  able  as  was  ever  delivered  be- 
fore the  people  of  this  city. 

As  some  cynical  objections  are  rife  among  the  opposition  to  a  citizen  from  a 
Northern  State  having  thus  taken  part  in  our  domestic  contest,  it  is  due  to  Mr. 
DOUGLAS  to  say  that  it  was  with  great  difficulty  he  could  be  induced  to  speak 
here,  on  his  rapid  transit  through  the  State,  as  we  personally  know.  If  there 
is  a  man  in  the  Union  in  whom  such  a  "  crime"  would  be  no  crime,  it  is  in  the 
author  of  the  Repeal  of  the  Missouri  Proviso. 


MR.  HUNTER'S  SPEECH  IN  RICHMOND. 

The  speech  of  Senator  R.  M.  T.  Hunter  was  one  of  the  most  argumentative 
and  unanswerable  that  was  delivered  in  the  whole  campaign.  This  speech  was 
published  and  extensively  circulated,  and  that  with  telling  effect  during  the 
canvass.  It  is  a  document  which  will  ever  repay  an  attentive  perusal. 

Fellow  Citizens  :  I  appear  before  you  this  evening,  not  merely  to  show  my 
appreciation  of  the  courtesy  of  your  invitation  to  address  you,  but  also  because, 
in  the  present  critical  condition  of  public  affairs,  I  desire  to  commune  with  my 
friends  and  constituents.  I  also  wish  to  speak  to  the  people  of  this  good  city, 
who  have  proved,  by  their  past  history,  that  whenever  the  safety  of  the  govern- 
ment or  the  honor  of  the  State  demands  a  service  at  their  hands,  the  call  will 
not  be  made  upon  them  in  vain.  I  stand  here  this  evening  to  appeal  to  you,  in 
the  name  of  both  these  high  considerations,  and  if  I  fail  to  make  good  that 
appeal,  it  will  be  owing  to  my  fault,  and  not  because  the  occasion  does  not 
justify  it. 

Peace  has  its  trials  as  well  as  war;  and  the  same  spirit  which  gathered  your 
sons  around  the  flag  of  the  country  in  the  war  of  1812,  will  rally  them  to  the 
defence  of  the  political  banner  of  their  native  State,  if  they  see  it  about  to  be 
prostrated  and  trampled  ia  the  dust.  I  have  said  that  the  present  is  a  critical 
condition  of  public  affairs ;  and,  truly,  the  signs  of  the  times  are  such  as  to 
warrant  me  in  thus  characterizing  it.  In  the  world  without  we  have  war,  and 
should  it  continue  much  longer,  or  enlarge  the  field  of  its  operations,  it  is  im- 
possible but  that  some  of  its  agitations  must  reach  us  also.  Within,  the  ele- 
ments of  domestic  strife  are  already  maturing  in  angry  discontent,  as  if  in  pre- 
sage of  the  corning  storm.  The  cloud  which  for  so  long  has  hung  in  the 
northeastern  quarter  of  our  horizon,  grows  larger  and  darker,  and  is  visibly 
nearing  us  in  the  distance.  When  was  it  ever  before,  that  a  majority  of  the 
popular  branch  of  Congress  would  probably  be  in  favour  of  abolishing  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia;  of  abolishing  what  is  called  the  domestic  slave 
trade ;  of  abolishing  slavery  whereever  it  may  exist  in  the  Territories ;  and  to 
repeal  the  fugitive  slave  law,  to  say  nothing  of  the  restoration  of  the  odious 
Missouri  restriction,  now  so  happily  removed?  More  than  one  of  the  Southern 
States  have  declared  that  the  execution  of  some  of  these  measures  would  pre- 
sent, in  their  opinion,  the  "  casus  fcederis"  itself;  and  yet  to  such  extremities 
will  the  present  House  of  Representatives  be  probably  willing  to  drive  us  at  the 
next  session.  Such  are  the  trials  for  which  we  have  already  had  warning  to 
prepare.  For  the  present;  a  Democratic  President  and  a  Democratic  Senate 


71 

stand,  as  "the  lion  in  the  path,"  between  them  and  the  execution  of  their 
measures.  But  these  anti-slavery  men  hoast  that  they  have  already  secured 
"  the  Church,  the  School  and  the  State,"  the  great  natural  corporations  of  all 
human  society,  as  they  have  been  not  inaptly  denominated;  and  that  they  are 
thus  possessed  of  all  the  main  avenues  through  which  public  sentiment  in  the 
North  may  be  concentrated,  and  poured  upon  the  devoted  South.  And  what 
are  our  preparations  for  this  contest?  It  is  evident  that  we  must  depend  upon 
Truth,  the  Constitution,  the  sacred  compact  of  Federation,  and  such  defences  as 
we  may  make  in  their  behalf,  for  our  safety  and  peace.  Are  we  burnishing  our 
armor  for  the  fight?  Are  we  making  ready  for  the  contest  ?  These  are  some 
of  the  topics  upon  which  I  desire  to  commune  with  you  this  evening. 

Fellow  citizens,  it  seems  to  me  there  is  yet  another  circumstance  which  must 
make  us  more  anxious  with  regard  to  the  future.  It  is,  that  these  issues  have 
been  precipitated  upon  us  with  the  assistance  of  a  new  and  strange  party,  which 
has  arisen  in  our  midst,  which,  by  some  wild  freak  of  taste,  or  in  some  fit  of 
reckless  levity,  has  called  itself  t(  the  Know  Nothing  party,"  whose  opinions 
upon  many  important  subjects  are  unknown,  and  whose  principles  in  regard  to 
some  other  subjects,  so  far  as  known,  would  seem  to  be  highly  mischievous  and 
dangerous. 

I  have  said  that  these  isms  had  been  precipitated  upon  us  with  the  assistance 
of  this  party  in  the  North.  Can  there  be  a  doubt  of  it?  They  constituted  a 
portion  of  the  "fusionists"  who  sought  to  turn  out  young  Dodge  of  Iowa,  who 
had  been  so  true  to  the  Constitution  and  just  to  the  South,  and  to  substitute  a 
free-soiler  in  his  place.  In  Illinois,  too,  they  acted  in  like  manner  towards  the 
gallant  Shields.  In  Massachusetts,  the  Know  Nothings  constituted  a  majority 
of  those  who  sent  Wilson  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  where  his  decla- 
rations have  been  such  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  his  extreme  and  dangerous  opi- 
nions upon  the  subject  of  slavery.  Indeed,  I  heard  Judge  Douglass,  in  a 
debate  in  the  Senate^  declare  that,  in  the  non-slaveholding  States,  this  new 
party,  so  far  as  he  was  acquainted  with  its  history,  had.  invariably  cast  its  vote 
for  the  anti-slavery  and  anti-Nebrasbra  candidates,  and  he  challenged  an  instance 
to  be  produced,  in  which  they  had  voted  for  a  candidate  in  favor  of  the  Nebraska 
bill.  The  case  could  not  be  produced,  except  that  Governor  Seward  mentioned 
gome  one  man  in  New  York,  who  had  been  elected  to  some  office  by  the  vote  of 
the  Know  Nothings.  To  which  Judge  Douglass  well  replied,  that  in  New  York 
there  were  two  Know  Nothing  parties,  one  the  "  bogus,"  and  the  other  genuine, 
so  that  there  might  be  grave  mistakes  in  referring  to  their  action  in  New  York 
for  an  explanation  of  their  principles.  Now,  all  this  proves  one  of  two  things, 
cither  that  this  party,  in  the  North,  is  deeply  infected  with  the  abolition  feeling, 
or  eL<e,  that  it  is  so  indifferent  upon  the  subject,  that  it  is  willing  to  elect  men 
who  would  drive  the  South  to  any  extremity,  and  expose  us  to  the  most  severe 
and  dangerous  trials.  How,  then,  can  we  affiliate  with  men  who  seem  to  con- 
sider the  peace  and  safety  of  the  South,  as  the  cheap  material  upon  which  rash 
experiments  may  be  tried  with  impunity  ?  Ought  it  not  to  make  us  anxious  to 
find  that  the  overtures  for  affiliation,  made  by  such  a  party,  have  not  been  in- 
stantly rejected  by  Southern  men  with  scorn  ? 

It  seems  to  me,  that  the  very  apparition  of  such  a  party  in  our  midst,  is  cal- 
culated to  inspire  feelings  of  distrust  and  apprehension.  When  was  it  ever 
heard  of  before,  that  a  party  could  be  organized  for  political  purposes  in  this 
State,  which  deliberated  and  acted  in  secret,  and  veiled  the  very  names  of  their 
members  in  impenetrable  mystery  !  When  was  it  ever  before  that  a  party  could 
have  existed  here,  avowing  itself  to  be  strong  enough  to  seize  upon -the  administra- 
tion of  public  affairs  in  this  great  confederacy,  and  yet  refusing  to  declare  its 
opinions  upon  all  the  leading  questions  which  have  heretofore  characterised  our 
political  divisions  ?  When  it  ought  to  speak,  it  is  silent,  and  some  of  the  sen- 
timents it  does  speak,  in  my  opinion,  ought  neither  to  be  entertained  nor  ut- 


72 

tered.  But  what  can  be  the  purpose  of  a  secret  political  society  in  this  country, 
or  what  can  be  its  legitimate  object?  Under  the  despotic  governments  of  the 
old  world,  we  have  heard  of  such  organizations,  but  their  object  was  to  strike 
at  the  ruling  power  in  the  State ;  they  concealed  not  only  their  deliberations 
and  actions,  but  also  the  names  of  their  members,  because  if  either  had  been 
known,  their  rulers  would  not  only  have  frustrated  their  purposes,  but  punished 
the  individuals  who  entertained  them.  Under  such  circumstances,  we  can  see 
some  reason  for  their  secrecy,  but  what  excuse  can  be  offered  for  a  secret  polit- 
ical organization  in  this  country  ?  Here  the  ruling  power  is  that  of  the  people; 
it  is  popular  sovereignty  which  governs.  Is  that  the  power  which  this  new 
party  strikes  at?  is  it  popular  government  which  they  wish  to  subvert?  Why 
conceal  themselves  and  their  action  from  its  supervision,  unless  they  fear  it; 
and,  why  fear  it,  unless  they  are  opposed  to  it  ?  What  they  profess  upon  this 
subject  we  do  not  know  ;  this  may  be  amongst  the  secrets  of  the  prison  house. 

But  this  we  do  know  that  they  refuse  their  sympathies  to  the  people,  and  strike 
at  the  wholesome  and  legitimate  influences  of  public  opinion,  by  acting  secretly 
and  withdrawing  from  its  jurisdiction.  Now  I  say,  that  the  party  which  strikes 
at  the  just  influence  of  public  opinion,  and  refuses  to  submit  its  political  action 
to  that  wholesome  jurisdiction,  strikes  at  popular  government  itself,  for  it  is 
through  the  action  of  the  former  that  the  latter  becomes  practicable  or  even  pos- 
sible. Why  is  it  that  we  so  often  hear  it  said  of  such,  and  such  a  people,  that 
for  them  a  popular  and  free  form  of  government  is  impossible?  Because  there 
exists  not  amongst  them  a  sufficiently  free  and  enlightened  state  of  public  opin- 
ion to  enable  the  people  to  direct  properly  the  affairs  of  their  government.  But 
how  can  public  opinion  be  either  purified  or  enlightened,  unless  there  be  free 
thought,  free  speech,  and  a  free  press ;  and  how  can  the  people  think,  speak, 
and  print  freely,  if  the  proper  subjects  for  such  action  are  concealed  from  their 
view?  To  make  a  popular  government  possible,  that  government  must  be  di- 
rected by  popular  opinion,  intelligently  formed  upon  the  subjects  of  its  action, 
and  not  by  chance-sentiment  or  impromptu  emotions.  In  the  one  case,  law  is 
a  rule  prescribed  by  the  supreme  authority  in  a  State,  and  government  becomes 
systematic  and  regular;  in  tho  other,  law  is  a  mere  matter  of  impulse,  and 
government  a  succession  of  shifts  and  contrivances  to  avoid  anarchy.  But  how 
can  the  people  form  an  opinion  with  regard  to  the  subject  of  their  political  ac- 
tion, unless  the  deliberations  before  them  be  open  and  public  ? 

The  framers  of  our  Constitution  felt  the  necessity  for  publicity,  in  regard  to 
political  action,  so  deeply,  as  to  prescribe,  that  "each  House  shall  keep  a  jour- 
nal of  its  proceedings,  and,  from  time  to  time,  publish  the  same,  excepting  such 
parts  as  may  in  their  judgment  require  secrecy;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the 
members  of  either  House  on  any  question,  shall,  at  the  desire  of  one-fifth  of 
those  present,  be  entered  upon  the  journal/'  This  journal  was  to  be  kept,  and 
published,  in  order  that  the  people  might  understand,  and  criticise,  and  regulate 
the  proceedings  of  their  servants,  who  are  thus  made  to  act  under  a  constant 
sense  of  the  supervision  of  the  constituent  body.  Kven  so  small  a  minority  as 
one  fifth,  were  authorised  to  order  the  yeas  and  nays,  that  each  member  should 
be  held  to  his  individual  responsibility,  and  that  the  weaker  party,  when  it  felt 
itself  aggrieved  by  the  stronger,  might  appeal  to  the  great  bar  of  public  opin- 
ion, where  probably  under  the  influences  of  truth,  reason,  and  just  feeling, 
judgment  would  be  pronounced  by  the  supreme'authority  in  the  State,  a  judg- 
ment which  would  always  command  respect,  and,  in  most  instances,  carry  along 
with  it  conviction  also.  Without  the  practises  corresponding  with  these  pro- 
visions in  the  constitution,  representative  government  would  become  impossible, 
and  justice  a  thing  no  longer  to  be  expected.  To  satisfy  ourselves  of  the 
truth  of  these  conclusions,  let  us  suppose,  for  an  instant,  that  the  American 
Congress,  deliberated  and  acted  in  secrecy.  How  long  would  its  representative 
character  endure,  and  for  how  long  afterwards  could  it  probably  be  reckoned 


73 

amongst  the  free  governments  of  the  earth?  All  individual  responsibility 
would  be  gone.  No  man  could  tell  how  any  member  voted.  Accordingly  as 
the  act  was  popular  or  unpopular  in  his  district,  he  would  be  entitled  to  the 
presumption  of  having  voted  for,  or  against  it.  The  reasons  upon  which  a  mea- 
sure passed  could  never  be  given  ;  tho  propositions  made  and  rejected,  would  be 
unknown,  and  thus  a  power  far  more  irresponsible  than  any  ever  exercised  by 
either  Caesar  or  Czar,  would  be  wielded  by  this  many-headed  monster. 

But  the  old  fathers  of  our  state  left  us  still  more  conclusive  evidence  of  their 
estimate  of  the  importance  of  publicity  in  political  proceedings.  They  were  not 
content  with  exacting  it  from  the  representative,  but  enforced  the  principle  on 
the  constituent  body  also.  They  required  each  elector  to  vote,  not  by  the  dead 
letter  of  the  secret  ballot,  but  with  the  free  and  manly  utterance  of  the  "  living 
voice."  And  thus  it  is,  by  wise  and  ancient  prescription,  that  the  Virginian 
has  ever  given  his. vote  in  the  light  of  day,  and  before  the  world.  Preserving 
the  "  os  sublime"  and  presenting  a  brow  as  open'to  the  inspection  of  his  neigh- 
bor as  his  heart  is  clear  to  the  search  of  Him  who  made  it,  he  stands  at  the  polls, 
proudly  conscious  that  he  is  there  the  master,  not  as  the  man,  and  willing 
himself  to  meet  all  his  fair  responsibilities  to  public  opinion  ;  for  that  act  of 
power,  he  justly  expects  a  return  of  the  same  generous  confidence  from  his  fel- 
low citizens. 

But,  gentlemen,  I  have  shown  you  the  probable  effect  of  this  secrecy  upon 
the  representative.  Should  we  mend  matters  much  by  transferring  it  to  the 
constituent  body,  or  rather,  to  the  portion  which  seeks  to  rule  it?  Popular 
government,  to  be  good,  must  be  the  result  of  public  opinion,  formed  with  all 
the  aids  of  a  free  interchange  of  thought  and  sentiment,  but  this  interchange 
becomes  impossible,  when  a  portion  of  the  people  seclude  themselves  from  their 
fellows,  and  conceal  from  them  their  thoughts  and  purposes. 

Popular  government,  to  be  just,  must  command  the  assent  of  a  majority,  or, 
as  some  have  thought,  of  even  more  than  a  majority ;  but  here  is  a  scheme  of 
a  secret  political  organization,  by  which  a  minority  may  rule  a  majority,  with- 
out the  least  responsibility  to  public  opinion.  In  the  first  place,  their  very  mys- 
tery gives  them  power,  and  conveys  an  exaggerated  idea  of  strength  to  the  pub- 
lic mind  j  for  it  is  the  way  of  the  world,  to  take  "  Omni  -iynotum  pro  maynifico." 
Next,  their  organization  and  discipline  may  make  a  minority  an  over  match  for 
the  undisciplined  majority  who  act  from  individual  impulse.  Lastly,  their  rules 
of  proceeding  seem  designed  to  secure  this  predominance  of  the  minority. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  individual  differences  of  opinion  within  the  lodge, 
outside  of  it  they  act  as  one  man ;  so  far  as  the  order  itself  is  concerned,  there 
are  before  the  public  eye  neither  majorities  nor  minorities.  The  minority  must 
give  up  their  opinion  j  and  thus  the  order  acts  by  the  force  of  its  whole  num- 
bers. A  measure  may  have  been  adopted  within  the  order  by  a  small  majority, 
but  before  the  public  it  carries  with  it  the  weight  of  the  whole  mass.  The  or- 
der itself,  as  compared  with  the  great  body  of  the  people,  may  be  in  the  minor- 
ity, but  by  its  superior  organization  it  may  divide  and  rule  them;  and  thus  a 
measure  may  be  passed,  although  a  large  majority  of  the  people  are  really  op- 
posed to  it,  if  its  enemies  within  and  without  the  order  are  estimated  together. 
It  is  no  matter  then  where  you  establish  this  secrecy  with  regard  to  political  ac- 
tion, the  effect  is  the  same :  you  destroy  the  just  influences  of  public  opinion, 
nay,  you  make  the  existence  of  a  public  opinion  impossible,  and  thus  popular 
government  itself,  becomes  impracticable. 

Fellow-citizens,  we  have  heretofore  felicitated  ourselves  upon  the  idea,  that 
the  power  of  public  opinion  in  this  country  was  becoming  so  much  greater  and 
more  enlighted  as  to  relieve  our  form  of  government  of  some  of  the  subjects  of 
its  hitherto  necessary  jurisdiction,  and  to  increase  its  capacity  for  extending 
over  greater  areas  of  territory  and  larger  masses  of  people.  But  it  seems  that 
we  are  to  renounce  these  long  cherished  ideas,  and  a  retrograde  march  is  fast 


74 

becoming  the  order  of  the  day.  In  the  name  of  Heaven  from  when?e  do  these 
new  lights  spring,  which  are  so  to  uproot  the  fixed  opinions  of  centuries?  He 
who  seeks  to  destroy  the  influence  of  public  opinion,  or  to  deprive  it  of  judis- 
diction,  strikes  at  the  moving  principle  of  human  progress  itself],  and  raises  a 
fratricidal  hand  against  the  best  hopes  of  his  race.  It  is  this  influence,  which 
has  given  the  greatest  impulse  to  the  march  of  human  improvement ;  and  as 
the  mighty  sphere  of  its  jurisdiction  enlarges  with  the  growth  of  time,  the  gov- 
ernments and  institutions  of  man  are  called  up,  one  by  one,  to  answer  at  that 
great  bar  where  reason  is  free  to  plead,  and  truth,  when  once  revealed,  pronoun- 
ces its  irreversible  decrees. 

The  Church,  the  State,  and  the  School  all  contribute  to  the  stream  of  thought, 
which  swells  the  mighty  tide  of  public  opinion,  and  each  profits  by  the  modify- 
ing influences -of  the  judgments  which  are  pronounced  on  their  ideas  at  that  bar, 
by  way  of  return.  Here,  indeed,  is  the  great  and  conservative  tribunal,  before 
which  all  must  in  turn  appear.  It  can  elevate  the  weak  to  the  level  of  the 
strong,  and  the  most  powerful  is  strengthened  by  its  aid.  Through  doors  of 
oak,  and  bolts  of  iron,  it  penetrates  into  the  closed  council  chamber  of  princes, 
where  its  voice,  if  not  obeyed,  is  at  least  respected  and  feared.  It  whispers  the 
word  of  warning  into  the  secret  ear  of  the  ruler,  and  through  the  long  watches  of 
the  night  he  tosses  in  sleepless  anxiety  to  ponder  upon  its  meaning.  None  are  so 
high  as  to  be  above  its  influence,  and  he  must  be  poor  indeed,  who  is  beneath  it. 
The  weakest  and  humblest  of  human  beings,  if  he  be  strong  enough  to  make  his 
moan  audible,  may  summon  his  oppressor  to  appear  at  the  bar  from  whose  sen- 
tence he  can  neither  appeal,  nor  escape,  no  matter  what  may  be  his  power  or  his 
place.  It  was  to  public  opinion  that  Martin  Luther  appealed,  when  he  took  is- 
sue with  the  See  of  Home,  whose  power  at  that  day  was  nearly  co-extensive  with 
Christendom,  and,  before  that  bar,  the  poor  monk  became  the  peer  of  pontiffs 
and  CcCsars,  and  a  judgment  was  pronounced  in  that  cause,  which  toppled  down 
many  a  place  of  strength,  in  which  human  authority  had  dreamed  itself  to  be 
secure  for  centuries  yet  to  come.  It  was  to  public  opinion  that  John  Locko 
appealed,  when,  stripped  of  his  living  and  fellowship  for  opinion's  sake,  by  the 
cruel  edict  of  an  arbitrary  prince,  he  was  sent  forth,  a  wanderer  upon  the  world, 
a  houseless  and  homeless  man,  and,  as  was  vainly  supposed,  crushed  alike  in 
fortune  and  aspiration.  But  his  proud  spirit  refused  to  be  down,  and  he  spoke 
the  great  work  in  his  essay  in  favor  of  religious  toleration,  which  could  no  more 
be  hushed,  or  silenced,  until  the  test  acts,  and  persecuting  ordinances  of  his  na- 
tive land  had  fallen  before  it,  and  the  great  doctrine  of  liberty  of  conscience  had 
been  established,  wherever  his  own  English  was  the  vernacular  tongue. 

A  poor  Scotch  philosopher,  whose  views  when  first  published,  would  have 
been  scouted  upon  ''change/'  now  exercises,  through  the  force  of  public  opin- 
ion, a  larger  influence  over  the  laws  which  regulate  the  trade  of  the  world,  than 
all  the  merchant  princes  and  statesmen  of  his  day.  Dynasties  which  have 
•withstood  the  destroying  efforts  of  a  Charles  the  Great,  a  Turenne,  or  a  Marl- 
borough,  and  defied  the  arts  of  their  political,  or  strategic  skill  have  fallen  be- 
fore the  breath  of  public  opinion,  when  put  into  motion  by  some  poor  scholar  or 
unheeded  philosopher,  who  spoke  from  the  narrow  precincts  of  his  neglected 
cell,  or  dreary  garret.  The  ideas  of  Luther  and  Locke,  and  perhaps  of  llous- 
seau,  have,  through  the  force  of  public  opinion,  written  more  changes  upon  the 
face  of  human  institutions  and  governments,  than  the  arts  or  the  arms  of  the 
statesmen  and  the  generals  of  whom  I  have  just  spoken.  This  jurisdiction  of 
the  only  earthly  tribunal,  where  the  strong  and  the  weak  must  meet  upon  equal 
terms,  where  reason  is  free  to  speak,  and  truth  alone  is  powerful,  is  that  of  all 
others,  which  this  new  party,  by  some  strange  perversity  of  opinion,  would  seek 
to  destroy.  What  a  sin  against  human  progress,  what  an  outrage  upon  the 
best  hopes  of  man  for  social  and  political  improvement !  But  why  should  this 
party  so  fear  public  opinion,  unless  they  believed  that  it  would  pronounce  against 


75 

them  ?  If  they  supposed  the  contrary,  would  they  not  seek  its  mighty  aid  by 
proclaiming  their  purposes  to  the  world  ?  There  can  be  but  two  motives  for 
concealing  their  action  upon  political  affairs,  which  concern  the  welfare  of  all, 
and  these  are  either  the  fear  of  public  opinion,  or  a  distrust  of  tho  people. 
Is  this  a  country  where  we  can  afford  to  encourage  a  party  which  acts  upon, 
such  ideas  ?  But,  fellow-citizens,  there  is  another  reason  special  to  ourselves 
for  regarding  secret  political  associations  as  mischievous  and  dangerous. 

Mr.  Calhoun  used  to  say,  that  after  all,  the  political  issues  in  every  country 
grew  out  of  the  contests  of  two  parties,  which  belong  to  all  organized  human 
societies — the  one,  he  called  the  "  tax  consuming  party/'  and  the  other,  the 
tl  tax  paying  party/'  The  tax  consumers  are  those  who  receive  more  money 
from  the  Treasury,  in  the  shape  of  patronage,  than  they  contribute  to  it  in  the 
payment  of  public  dues.  They  look,  therefore,  to  the  government  for  the 
means  of  support,  and  vote,  not  as  citizens  seeking  moral  benefits,  but  as  indi- 
viduals in  pursuit  of  personal  interests  and  pecuniary  gain.  The  tax  paying 
party  are  those  who  look  to  government  for  political  good  only,  and  contribute 
more  in  money  to  the  Treasury  than  they  receive  in  return.  If  the  former 
obtains  the  chief  power  in  the  State,  then,  sooner  or  later,  there  must  be  an  end 
to  free  and  popular  government.  The  very  ends  of  their  organization  require 
them  first  to  increase  the  taxes  as  much  as  possible,  in  order  to  swell  the  fund 
which  is  to  be  converted  to  their  own  uses ;  and  next,  to  appropriate  this  mo- 
ney unequally,  that  they  may  secure  themselves  the  lion's  share.  In  such 
hands,  government  is  administered  for  the  personal  benefit  alone,  of  those  who 
manage  it,  and  not  for  those  for  whom  it  was  made,  if  its  original  form  was 
popular — a  species  of  tyranny  which  no  people  have  ever  long  tolerated,  when 
there  were  so  many  to  be  served.  In  the  downward  progress  of  free  institu- 
tions, when  their  doctrine  takes  this  direction,  the  first  symptom  is  the  appear- 
ance of  factions  which  look  not  to  the  general  good  of  society,  but  to  the  par- 
ticular interests  of  themselves.  Headed  by  such  men  as  Sylla  and  Marius, 
cruel  oppression  and  bloody  proscription  become  the  order  of  the  day,  until  the 
people,  weary  of  their  sufferings,  seek  protection  from  them  all  under  a  Caesar, 
preferring  the  "  dead  level  of  an  Oriental  despotism,"  to  the  unequal  exactions 
and  diversified  tyranny  of  this  many-headed  monster.  Now,  in  this  country, 
the  temptations  and  facilities  for  the  formation  of  such  a  party,  are  so  great  as 
to  make  its  appearance  a  thing  to  be  feared  and  guarded  against.  The  fund 
which  constitutes  the  object  of  plunder  is  already  great  and  daily  growing  to  be 
enormous.  Forty  or  fifty  millions  of  annual  expenditure,  soon  to  bo  increased, 
probably,  as  our  country  grows  and  enlarges,  to  sixty  or  seventy  millions,  con- 
stitutes a  fund  which  holds  out  a  great  temptation  to  those  who  may  be  dis- 
posed to  struggle  for  it  as  prize  money.  The  facilities  too,  for  forming  such  a 
party  are  by  no  means  small.  It  may  be  a  combination  of  two  particular  inte- 
rests, to  live  upon  exactions  from  a  third.  Such  was  believed,  by  some,  to  bo 
the  effect  of  the  old  American  system,  which  united  the  manufacturing  and  in- 
ternal improvement  interests  against  the  agricultural.  Or  the  combination  may 
consist  of  two  sections  against  a  third.  If  the  taxes  are  raised  and  expended 
unequally,  the  majority,  who  control  the  government,  may  be  interested  in 
swelling  the  public  resources,  whose  burden  falls  on  a  part  and  whose  benefits 
an;  mainly  appropriated  to  themselves.  Last  and  worst,  the  day  may  arrive 
when  a  mere  combination  of  office-holders,  by  means  of  their  numbers  and  su- 
perior organization,  may  be  strong  enough  to  administer  the  government  for 
their  own  particular  benefit.  Any,  or  all  of  these  events,  which  are  possible, 
would  destroy  our  popular  institutions.  What  has  been  our  protection  against 
this  danger  heretofore  ?  It  has  consisted  in  the  publicity  of  political  proceed- 
ings. Parties  were  forced  to  divide  upon  principles — principles  which  looked, 
or  professed  to  look,  to  the  good  of  the  whole,  and  not  of  the  part.  Political 
issues  were  thus  forced  to  be  broadly  taken,  and  argued  upon  general  and  gene- 


76 

rous  views.  The  one  or  the  other  party  was  wrong,  of  course,  but  still  the 
country  could  not  be  much  injured  by  either  ;  because,  if  the  good  of  tlie  whole 
was  really  the  object  of  pursuit,  their  measures,  when  adopted  by  the  govern- 
ment, would  be  abandoned,  if  proved  to  be  injurious.  The  people,  too,  are 
thus  saved,  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  save  them,  from  the  selfish  combinations  of 
which  I  have  been  speaking.  So  long  as  political  action  is  public,  they  observe 
the  fact,  if  men  of  opposite  political  opinion  are  suddenly  found  voting  togeth- 
er, and  suspecting  selfish  views,  by  a  sort  of  instinct  of  self-preservation,  they 
are  sure  to  strike  at  the  combination.  But,  destroy  all  this,  convert  the  public 
meeting  into  the  secret  association  for  political  purposes,  and  what  is  to  save  us 
from  the  domination  of  such  a  party  as  that  which  I  have  been  describing  ? 
There  is  the  strongest  temptation  for  such  action,  and  you  remove  the  most  effi- 
cient restraint.  The  "  fear  of  Hell,"  says  the  poet, 

"Is  the  hangman's  whip, 

To  hold  the  wretch  in,  order." 

The  same  conservative  influence  is  exercised  by  the  fear  of  the  retributive  jus- 
tice administered  by  public  opinion.  Within  the  secret  conclave  of  this  associ- 
ation, there  can  be  no  such  fear  to  restrain.  The  action  of  an  individual  and 
the  very  fact  of  his  membership,  are  concealed.  Individually,  he  is  responsible 
to  the  world  for  nothing.  Before  the  puble,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  individ- 
ual responsibility,  or  opinion,  within  the  whole  hosts  of  the  Order.  All  must  obey 
the  edict,  all  must  vindicate  the  opinion,  when  once  it  is  determined  upon. 
Here  the  disappointed  office  seeker  may  hide  his  blushes  under  the  shades  of 
secrecy  and  of  night,  as  he  drives  the  perfect  bargain,  by  which  his  principles 
are  to  be  bartered  away  for  renewed  hopes  of  the  prize,  which  he  failed  to  seize 
before.  Here,  too,  combinations  for  the  most  sefish  and  dangerous  purposes 
may  be  formed,  without  the  fear  of  punishment  or  detection.  If  they  do  not 
exist  now,  will  any  man  say  that  they  may  not  be  soon  expected,  with  such 
temptations  and  facilities  for  their  formation  ?  Permit  me,  fellow  citizens,  to 
expose  the  dangers  of  such  an  association,  by  an  illustration,  which  I  think 
ought  to  strike  every  one.  We  have  seen  that  the  action  of  the  last  Congress 
upon  the  Nebraska  bill,  severed  the  Whig  party  North  and  South.  For  the  re- 
peal of  the  Missouri  restriction,  not  one  vote  was  given  by  a  Northern  Whig. 
The  Southern  Whigs  very  properly,  refused  to  act  as  a  party  with  such  confed- 
erates. If  there  are  men  amongst  them,  or  elsewhere  in  the  South,  who  pre- 
fer office  to  the  peace  and  safety  of  their  States,  and  who,  feeling  that  the  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  is  predominant  in  the  free  States,  which  constitute  the  majo- 
rity in  the  government,  would  be  willing  to  unite  with  them  in  order  to  secure 
their  own  personal  interests,  still,  they  would  not  dare  to  seek  such  an  alliance, 
whilst  political  action  is  open  and  public. 

Such  a  man  would  bs  afraid  to  do  so  ;  he  would  fear  the  public  opinion  of 
the  South,  the  censures  of  nearly  all,  Whig  anji  Democrat,  and  the  scorn  of 
his  fellow-citizens,  who  would  regard  him  as  a  renegade  and  traitor.  But  adopt 
this  contrivance  of  a  secret  political  association,  and  how  easy  may  it  be  for 
such  persons  to  effect  their  purposes.  The  union  may  be  formed,  and  yet  none 
can  know  it,  except  those  who  are  bound  to  vindicate  it.  If  this  association 
fails  in  its  objects,  the  world  is  none  the  worse  for  it;  if  it  succeeds,  they  win 
the  golden  prizes  of  office  and  power,  for  which  they  are  willing  to  risk  much, 
more  perhaps  than  they  have  put  in  peril.  Then,  upon  this  dangerous  question 
of  slavery,  the  South  would  lose  one  of  its  great  defences,  and  lose  the  power 
to  enforce  the  united  action  of  her  sons.  What,  after  all,  has  been  our  chief 
security  in  the  fierce  agitation  of  this  question  ?  Has  it  not  been  in  the  timely 
warning  which  was  given  us,  by  the  publicity  of  political  proceedings  ?  If  a 
dangerous  anti-slavery  agitation,  sprang  up  at  the  TJorth,  it  was  open  and  pu" 


77 


lie.  The  conservative  press  of  the  country  took  the  matter  in  haqd,  and  an 
opportunity  was  given  for  exchanging  sentiment  between  the  different  sections  ; 
the  consequences  of  such  measures  could  be  pointed  out,  and  thus,  even  in  the 
most  excited  states  of  the  public  mind,  an  opportunity  was  afforded  for  the  so- 
ber second  thought  of  the  people  to  come  to  the  rescue.  But  now,  large  mas- 
ses may  be  secretly  committed  to  the  most  dangerous  opinions,  and  the  men 
may  be  selected  to  carry  them  out,  without  time  for  previous  warning,  or  expos- 
tulation, so  that  opposing  sections  may  be  suddenly  brought  into  the  presence 
of  each  other,  and  precipitated  upon  the  most  dangerous  issues,  when  retreat  is 
difficult,  and  compromise  becomes  impossible. 

But,  fellow-citizens,  the  dangers  of  these  secret  associations  do  not  end  here. 
If  this  one  succeeds,  others  must  follow.  In  self-defence,  those  who  do  not  be- 
long to  this  order,  will  use  the  same  means  by  which  it  has  acquired  power; 
and  the  open  political  action  for  which  this  country  has  been  distinguished,  will 
be  converted  in  a  warfare  of  secret  associations.  Instead  of  the  open,  manly, 
itand-up  mode  of  fighting,  so  characteristic  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Anglo- 
American  race,  we  shall  substitute  the  dark  intrigue  and  stiletto  warfare  of  the 
Italian.  That  such  a  change  in  our  political  habits  would  have  the  effect  of 
transforming  the  moral  character  of  our  people,  is  not  to  be  doubted.  Is  there 
ft  man  present,  who  would  desire  to  see  such  transformation  ?  Fellow  citizens, 
let  me  beg  you  to  beware  of  these  secret  political  associations.  Beware  of  the 
mysterious  blandishments  of  this  new  seducer.  It  ist  said  to  be  but  the  first  step 
that  costs.  You  may  be  tampering  with  a  danger  of  whose  whole  character  you 
are  little  aware. 

Far  up  on  the  Missouri,  near  to  Fort  Benton,  upon  a  high  cliff,  which  com- 
mands an  extensive  view  of  the  surrounding  country,  it  is  said,  that  a  Biackfoot 
Indian  Chief  directed  himself  to  be  buried  on  horseback,  with  his  face  turned 
down  the  stream,  to  look  out,  as  he  said,  for  the  white  man,  the  destroyer  of 
bis  race,  when  he  should  come  up  the  river.  If  you  would  look  out  for  the 
destroyer  of  your  free  institutions,  and  popular  form  of  government,  fix  your 
eye  upon  the  door  of  the  secret  political  association;  —  from  that  door,  the  worst 
enemy  of  all,  will  come. 

But  I  have  not  told  the  whole  story  against  this  new  Order.  As  I  said  be- 
fore, they  have  avowed  opinions  upon  certain  subjects,  which,  in  my  judgment, 
ire  highly  dangerous  and  mischievous.  They  propose  to  destroy  the  liberty  of 
conscience  itself,  by  proscribing  the  members  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion 
from  all  offices,  whether  high  or  low.  Thus  not  only  persecuting  these  men 
for  opinion  sake,  but  introducing  a  religious  test,  as  a  qualification  for  office, 
I  know  it  is  said,  that  this  proscription  from  office  is  no  persecution,  because  it 
is  not  accompanied  by  corporal  sutference  ;  but  is  there  not  moral  degradation, 
and  does  not  that  often  carry  with  it  a  far  keener  pungto  the  sensitive  spirit  than 
the  most  severe  physical  punishment  ?  You  say  that  the  lloman  Catholic  is 
unworthy  to  enjoy  the  full  privileges  of  a  citizen,  or  to  fill  the  meanest  office; 
that  men  of  all  other  religions  and  sects,  Mahomedans,  Buddhists,  even  Infidels 
and  Atheists,  may  be  capable  of  holding  office,  but  he  is  incapable,  because  he 
Cannot  be  trusted  as  being  loyal  and  patriotic  ;  you  fix  upon  his  brow  the  brand 
of  political  inferiority,  and,  after  wounding  him  thus  in  the  point  of  honor,  you 
lay  he  has  suffered  no  punishment.  la  not  such  moral  isolation  to  a  noble  and 
lensitiye  mind,  more  than  bodily  incarceration  sometimes  ? 

••  Stone  walls  do  not  a  prison  make, 
Nor  iron  bars  a  cage." 

You  may  confine  a  man's  body,  and  if  he  enjoys  the  respect  and  kindly  feel- 
ings of  his  race,  who  look  to  him  as  a  martyr  in  a  noble  cause,  he  bears  up 
cheerfully  under  it  all  ;  but  not  so,  if  you  exclude  him  from  tho  palo  of  humaji 


78 

sympathy,  and  expose  him  to  public  insult  and  moral  isolation  in  the  midst  of 
his  kind.  It  is  vain  to  say,  that  this  is  no  punishment  for  opinion  sake.  la 
a  country  like  this,  where  office  has  heretofore  been  open  to  all,  the  exclusion 
would  be  more  keenly  felt,  than  in  others,  where  the  privilege  was  not  so  ex- 
tensive. But  our  glorious  old  Bill  of  llights  provided  "  that  religion,  or  the 
duty  we  owe  to  our  Creator,  and  the  manner  of  discharging  it,  can  be  directed 
only  by  reason  and  conscience,  not  by  force  or  violence ;  and,  therefore  all  men 
are  entitled  to  a  free  exercise  of  religion,  according  to  the  dictates  of  con- 
science, and  that  it  is  the  mutual  duty  of  all  to  practise  Christian  forbearance, 
love,  and  charity,  towards  each  other."  The  act  for  the  establishment  of  reli- 
gious freedom,  passed  by  Virginia  in  1786,  and  upon  which  Mr.  Jefferson  pri- 
ded himself  so  much  as  to  reckon  it,  along  with  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, amongst  the  things  for  which  he  ought  to  be  remembered  by  posterity, 
declared,  "  that  no  man  shall  be  compelled  to  frequent,  or  support,  any  reli- 
gious worship,  place  or  ministry  whatever,  nor  shall  he  be  enforce  J,  restrained, 
molested,  or  burdened  in  his  body,  or  goods,  nor  shall  he  otherwise  suffer  on  ac- 
count of  his  religious  opinion  or  belief;  but  that  all  men  shall  be  free  to 
profess,  and  by  argument  to  maintain  their  opinions  in  matters  of  religion  ;  and 
that  the  same  shall  in  no  wise  dimmish,  enlarge,  or  affect  their  civil  capacities." 
Such  were  the  ideas  of  the  old  fathers  of  our  State,  and  may  the  day  never 
come  when  they  shall  be  treated  *as  obsolete  ! 

Bat  the  Federal  Constitution  has  also  something  to  say  upon  this  subject. 
It  expressly  declares,  "  that  no  religious  test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  quali- 
fication to  any  office,  or  public  trust,  under  the  United  States."  Now,  this  was 
manifestly  a  provision  in  favor  of  religious  freedom,  and  it  was  intended  to  se- 
cure the  reality,  and  not  the  idea,  the  .thing,  and  not  the  name,  the  substance, 
and  not  the  shadow. 

The  thing  designed  to  be  secured,  was  that  the  offices  should  be  thrown  open 
to  persons  of  all  religious  persuasions,  and  that  no  man's  opinion  on  that  sub- 
ject should  incapacitate  him  for  that  privilege.  Now,  we  obey  this  injunction 
of  the  Constitution  in  the  letter,  when  we  forbear  to  pass  a  law  establishing 
such  tests ;  but  do  we  not  violate  its  spirit  if  we  transfer  the  deed  from  the 
representative  to  the  constituent  body,  and  bind  this  last  by  vows  and  pledges, 
to  vote  for  no  man  for  office  who  is  himself  a  Catholic,  or  who  would  appoint 
members  of  that  religion  to  office  ?  We  may  preserve  the  shadow  of  the  consti- 
tutional provision,  but  do  we  not  sacrifice  the  substance,  by  such  an  evasion  ?  or, 
will  it  be  maintained,  that  the  Constitution  binds  us  only  as  members  of  the 
government,  and  not  as  individual  citizens  ?  Surely  this  is  a  poor  view  of  such 
a  question.  We  obey  the  Constitution  not  as  a  matter  of  compulsion,  but  of 
choice ;  not  as  a  thing  forced  upon  us,  but  because  we  love  it ;  because  we 
concur  in  its  principles,  and  sympathise  in  its  spirit.  It  is  the  compact  of  go- 
vernment to  which  we  have  agreed,  and  we  are  bound  not  only  in  our  public, 
but  also  our  private  capacities,  to  execute  it  in  its  spirit  and  truth.  The  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  in  reference  to  its  objects,  may  be  said  to  con- 
sist of  three  portions;  first,  it  establishes  the  machinery  of  government;  next, 
it  distributes  the  moving  power  amongst  the  parts  of  the  machinery ;  and, 
thirdly,  it  provides  certain  securities  for  the  rights  of  States,  and  of  individuals. 
Now,  these  last  are  of  the  very  essence  of  the  compact,  and  constitute  the  con- 
ditions upon  which  it  was  formed.  All  the  parties,  therefore,  who  enjoy  the 
benefits  of  the  compact,  are  bound  to  carry  out  the  stipulations,  whose  execu- 
tion may  depend  upon  their  agency.  How  often  have  we  complained  of  those 
Northern  States,  which  evade  the  obligation  in  regard  to  foreign  slaves,  and, 
without  violating  the  letter  of  the  Constitution,  defeat  the  spirit  of  its  provis- 
ions by  interposing  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  recovery  of  such  fugitives  ?  We 
have  said,  justly,  as  it  seems  to  me,  that  when  they  take  the  benefit  of  all  the 
provisions  of  the  Constitution  which  interest  them,  they  are  bound  to  carry  oufc 


79 

in  good  faith  those  which  concern  the  other  parties  to  the  compact ;  their  ob- 
ligation is  to  carry  out  the  object  of  that  provision  in  its  spirit,  not  merely  to 
ni>-tam  from  violating  its  letter.  Now,  may  not  the  same  be  said  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Constitution  in  regard  to  religious  freedom  ?  Were  they  not,  also 
of  the  essence  of  the  compact?  Could  the  Federal  Constitution  have  been  rat- 
ified in  Virginia,  if  it  had  been  supposed  to  sanction  the  idea  of  the  establish- 
ment of  religious  tests,  as  a  qualification  for  office.  As  it  is,  it  was  received 
with  fierce  opposition  by  many  of  our  most  distinguished  statesmen ;  but  what 
would  have  been  said  if  it  had  contained  an  authority  for  sucli  religious  tests  as 
are  now  proposed  as  qualifications  for  office?  James  Madison  was  its  great  ad- 
vocate and  defender,  as  it  now  stands;  but,  in  the  contingency  of  which  I 
speak,  what  would  he  have  said  of  it,  distinguished  as  he  was  for  large  and 
generous  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  human  liberty  ?  And  what  would  old 
George  Mason  have  said,  the  author  of  the  declaration  in  favor  of  religious 
freedom,  in  our  Bill  of  Rights?  And,  above  all,  what  would  he  have  said, 
who  once  exclaimed,  "  Give  me  liberty,  or  give  me  death,"  when  it  was  sup- 
posed that  life  and  property  were  imperilled  by  such  a  declaration  ! 

Fellow-citizens,  I  care  not  in  what  capacity  it  be,  whether  as  representatives 
or  constituents,  that  we  violate  the  spirit  and  defeat  the  objects  of  the  Consti- 
tution; in  either  case,  we  sap  and  mine  the  foundations  of  our  government,  and 
disregard  our  plainest  obligations  as  citizens. 

But  I  object  to  this  proscription  of  Catholics,  on  account  of  their  religious 
opinions,  for  other  reasons,  which  are  yet  to  be  given.  It  is  undoing  the  work 
of  Martin  Luther ;  it  is  unprotestantizing  Protestantism  itself,  and  returning 
to  the  practices  of  the  darkest  ages  of  religious  bigotry  and  persecution. 

What  was  the  great  object  of  Luther's  mission  ? — Was  it  not  to  establish  the 
right  of  private  judgment  in  matters  of  conscience?  And  what  was  the  great 
work  of  Protestantism  ?  Was  it  not  to  make  good  that  right  and  that  duty  of 
individuals,  and  to  enter  a  solemn  protest  against  any  human  authority,  whether 
of  bishops,  churches,  or  governments,  to  overrule  or  destroy  it?  And  yet  there 
are  men,  claiming  to  be  good  Protestants,  who  propose  to  punish,  by  proscription 
from  office,  all  persons  whose  private  judgments  lead  them  to  the  adoption  of 
the  Catholic  faith.  I  have  shown  how  such  a  proscription  may  be  a  punishment 
of  the  worst  sort ;  but  I  go  farther,  and  say  that  the  idea  upon  which  this  is 
justified,  if  carried  out  to  its  logica  consequences,  must  lead  us  to  far  greater 
lengths.  In  short,  there  is  no  middle  ground  between  absolute  and  perfect  tol- 
eration on  the  one  hand,  or  positive  persecution  on  the  other.  If  the  Catholics 
are  unfit  to  hold  any  office,  however  small,  on  account  of  their  faith,  they  are 
unfit  to  vote ;  for  it  requires  as  much  patriotic  feeling  and  sound  Jjudgment  to 
do  the  one  as  the  other.  If,  then,  they  are  incompetent  to  the  discharge  of  the 
first  duties  of  citizenship,  and  are  to  be  treated  as  aliens,  they  become  dangerous 
members  of  the  society  which  thus  distrusts  them  :  and  the  plainest  dictates  of 
prudence  would  seem  to  require  their  removal.  Louis  XIV.  therefore,  who  re- 
voked the  edict  of  Nantes,  and  drove  so  many  of  his  Huguenot  subjects  to  bear 
their  industry  and  their  arts  to  Germany,  Holland,  England,  and  even  to  this 
country,  did  but  carry  out  the  principles  upon  which  it  is  now  proposed  to  act, 
to  its  inevitable  and  logical  consequences.  As  I  said  before,  there  can  be  no 
middle  ground,  no  debatable  land,  between  positive  prohibition  and  perfect  tol- 
eration. If  the  right  of  private  judgment  in  matters  of  conscience,  exists  afc 
all,  it  is  absolute  and  independent  of  all  human  authority.  Such  is  the  result 
of  the  great  principle  established  by  Luther,  and  such  the  mighty  work  of  Pro- 
testant reform.  It  is  now  a  little  more  than  three  centuries,  since  the  city  of 
Worms  presented  one  of  the  most  remarkable  scenes  which  has  ever  appeared 
in  the  course  of  human  affairs.  The  Emperor  Charles,  the  German  Crcsar,  had 
convened  there  a  diet  of  princely  dignitaries.  The  Archduke,  Electors,  Land- 
graves, Margraves,  civil  and  ecclesiastical  Princes,  Counts  of  the  Empire  and 


80 

belted  Knights  were  there,  numbering,  in  all,  more  than  two  hundred  persons 
of  regal,  or  semi-regal  estate.  That  Diet  was  assembled  to  consider  the  case  of 
a  poor  monk  of  "VVittemburg,  who  had  made  an  issue  with  the  See  of  Rome, 
upon  nothing  less  than  the  ri^ht  of  private  judgment  in  matters  of  conscience, 
and  dared  to  take  an  appeal  to  public  opinion  for  its  judgment,  upon  that  great 
controversy.  So  poor  was  that  monk,  that  he  depended  upon  the  charity  of  one 
Prince  for  the  money  which  was  to  bear  his  expenses  to  Worms,  and  upon  that 
of  another,  for  the  very  clothing  which  he  wore ;  he  had  neither  official  place, 
nor  dignity,  nor  was  there  one  man  whose  services  he  could,  as  a  matter  of  right, 
command;  but  he  had  spoken  the  word  at  which  whole  nations  must  pause  to 
listen.  It  was  in  vain  that  his  friends,  and  even  the  more  generous  of  his  ene- 
mies, dissuaded  him  from  appearing  before  that  Diet.  They  said,  that  the  Ger- 
man Caesar,  at  that  day  in  point  of  temporal  power  the  foremost  man  in  all  the 
world,  was  his  fritter  and  implacable  foe;  that  his  Spanish  cavaliers,  at  that  day 
the  truest  representatives  of  Christian  chivalry,  were  riding  about  the  streets 
upon  their  mules,  and  swearing  vengeance  against  the  monk  and  his  friends  ; 
that  the  Church*  of  Rome,  whose  ecclesiastical  censures  then  fulminated  over 
nearly  the  whole  of  Christendom,  would  be  there  with  its  hostile  array  of  learn- 
ing and  power,  and  that  potentates,  ecclesiastical  and  civil,  would  also  be  there, 
thirsting  and  crying  aloud  for  his  blood.  But  he  said  he  would  go,  if  there 
were  as  many  devils  to  meet  him  in  Worms,  as  there  were  tiles  upon  the  houses. 
And  he  did  go,  he  did  appear  before  that  Cfesar,  whose  frown  indeed  was  terri- 
ble, before  that  Church  exulting  in  its  pride  of  strength,  and  before  those 
princes  who  had  fixed  an  evil  eye  upon  him ;  his  face  was  pale,  but  with  study 
and  not  with  fear;  his  body  so  emaciated  with  vigils  and  labor  that  its  every 
bone  could  be  detected  by  the  least  observant  eye;  in  human  form,  he  was  nofc 
above  the  average  stature,  but  as  a  representative  man,  the  representative  of  th» 
mightiest  issue  which  it  had  ever  fallen  to  mortal  lot  to  make,  he  towered  in 
moral  majesty  to  the  height  of  that  great  argument,  by  which  he  was  to  sustain 
it.  The  fire  of  his  eye  quenched  not  in  the  presence  of  imperial  majesty  itself, 
the  tones  of  his  voice  rung  clear  and  true  as  the  tempered  steel,  and  he  faltered 
not  as  he  responded  to  the  ensnaring  questions  of  the  adversary;  his  heart 
quailed  not  before  that  great  array  of  hostile  power.  He  spoke,  and  princes, 
catching  the  infection  of  his  noble  zeal,  crowded  about  him  in  the  council-cham- 
ber, and  said  to  him,  "  Speak,  speak  out  like  a  man/'  fear  not  them  who  can 
kill  the  body,  but  cannot  harm  the  soul ;  wild,  warlike  soldiers  too,  were  won 
by  the  gallant  bearing  of  the  lion-hearted  priest.  "  Monk,"  said  a  celebrated 
captain  of  the  times,  "  take  heed  to  your  steps,  you  are  treading  a  path  far  more 
dangerous  than  any  that  the  rest  of  us  have  ever  pursued;  but  if  you  are  in  the 
right  road,  God  will  not  abandon  you."  He  did  speak  out,  with  a  fearlessness 
which  not  the  bravest  of  those  princes  could  themselves  have  exhibited,  and  he 
did  pursue  his  path  with  faith  far  greater  than  the  trust  of  the  old  captain,  that 
being  in  the  right  road,  God  would  not  abandon  him.  Threats  could  not  appal 
nor  blandishments  seduce  him,  until  at  last,  run  out  by  his  perseverance,  the 
Catholic  Bishop  of  Treves  said  unto  him,  "  Then,  tell  us,  yourself,  what  wo 
ought  to  do  to  settle  this  controversy." — "  I  must  reply  to  you,"  said  Luther, 
"in  the  words  of  Gamalial,  '  let  the  thing  alone;  for  if  this  work  be  of  men  it 
will  come  to  nought,  but  if  it  be  of  God,  you  cannot  overthrow  it/  ;;  Brave- 
words  these  of  the  old  Jewish  Doctor  of  Laws,  fit  to  be  spoken  by  him,  and  fil 
to  be  repeated  by  Luther.  Well  might  St.  Paul  be  proud  to  have  been  bred  at 
the  feet  of  such  a  man  ;  well  did  this  judgment  deserve  to  be  recorded  on  the 
imperishable  page  of  Holy  Writ,  to  endure  when  the  reports  and  decrees  of  all 
Other  lawyers  shall  have  passed  away  and  been  forgotten  !  They  were  the  first 
great  words  ever  spoken  in  favor  of  religious  freedom,  spoken  by  Gamalial,  to 
eave  thy  apostles  from  Jewish  persecution,  repeated  by  Luther  to  defend  him- 
•elf  against  Catholic  persecution,  and  now  let  the  Catholics,  in  their  turn,  use 
to  protect  themselves  against  Protestant  persecution. 


81 

But,  fellow  citizens,  I  have  spoken  of  this  issue  in  regard  to  the  right  of  pri- 
vate judgment  in  matters  of  conscience,  as  being  the  most  important  which  it 
has  over  fallen  to  mortal  lot  to  make.  Human  history  and  experience  bear  nie 
out  in  that  assertion.  For  this  principle  has  proved  to  be  the  foundation  stone 
of  the  fabric,  not  merely  of  religious,  but  of  civil  liberty  also.  It  was  a  declar- 
ation in  favor  of  individual  freedom.  The  individual  mind  burst  loose  from  the 
bonds  of  human  authority,  and  aroused  itself  from  the  slumber  of  ages.  A 
new  moving  principle  within  the  mind  itself,  was  thus  allowed  full  room  for 
play,  and  each  individual  intellect  becoming  instinct  with  motion,  and  quicken- 
ing into  a  higher  life,  human  energy  seemed  to  receive  a  new  impulse,  and  de- 
veloped itself  in  greater  activity,  and  under  more  varied  forms,  than  had  ever 
characterized  it  before.  Our  race  sprung  forward  as  with  a  bound,  in  its  march 
of  improvement,  and  may  be  said  to  have  achieved  more  of  progress  in  the  last 
three  centuries,  under  the  influence  of  this  mighty  reformation,  than  it  had  ac- 
complished through  the  whole  period  of  its  authentic  history;  which  preceded 
the  Christian  era.  And  yet,  it  is  this  great  work  of  Luther,  which  we  are  now 
called  upon  to  undo.  We  are  to  destroy  the  right  of  private  judgment  in  mat- 
ters of  conscience,  and  persecute  Catholics  for  their  religious  opinion's  sake. 
As  I  have  said,  more  than  once,  upon  this  subject,  there  is  no  half-way  house, 
no  middle  ground. 

It  may  be  said,  I  know,  that  the  early  Protestants  did  not  extend  their  own 
principles  so  far;  that  they  themselves  kindled  the  fire  of  religious  persecution. 
But  even  the  discoverers  of  great  principles  do  not  always  carry  themt)ut  to 
their  logical  consequences.  The  progress  of  Truth  may  be  certain,  but  its  pace 
is  slow,  and  -yet  great  principles  will  work  out  their  ultiuiate  results.  John 
Milton  had  a  glimpse  of  the  truth,  that  absolute  toleration  must  be  the  irresis- 
tible result  of  the  great  principle  of  Protestant  reform,  when  he  said:  "  Give 
me  the  liberty  to  know,  to  utter,  and  argue  freely,  according  to  conscience-, 
above  all  liberties."  John  Locke  took  in  the  whole  truth,  and  proclaimed  it  in 
his  celebrated  essay,  and  the  old  fathers  of  our  State,  were  the  disciples  of  his 
political  school.  By  their  bill  of  rights,  and  their  celebrated  act  upon  that 
subject,  they  did  establish,  as  they  supposed,  a  perfect  religious  freedom.  Has 
riot  this  experiment  worked  well  so  far,  both  for  Church  and  State?  Have  they 
not  happily  grown  side  by  side  in  harmony,  and  not  in  opposition  to  each  other  ? 
Have  we  experienced  any  mischief  from  this  absolute  toleration  of  religious, 
opinion?  Have  we  been  injured  by  the  fact,  that  Catholics  could  vote,  and 
hold  oiaees  amongst  us?  Have  not  these  Catholics  divided  amongst  the  gieat 
parties  of  the  country,  and  voted  upon  political,  rather  than  religious  tests  ? 
Do  Whigs  complain  that  too  many  of  them  vote  with  the  Democrats  ?  This  is 
not  more  a  Catholic  than  a  Protestant  sin,  because  more  Protestants  than  Cath- 
olics vote  with  that  party  ?  Do  the  Democrats  complain  that  too  many  of  them 
vote  with  the  Whigs?  Again,  it  may  be  replied,  that  there  are  more  Protes- 
tants than  Catholics  who  vote  with  that  party.  But  can  there  be  any  political 
danger  from  allowing  men  of  all  religious  persuasions  to  vote?  By  doing  so, 
-you  certainly  widen  the  basis  upon  which  your  government  stands,  and  iir 
the  number  of  those  who  bound  to  it  by  the  ties  of  sympathy  and  interest. 
Where  can  be  the  danger,  so  long  as  political  proceedings  are  open  and  public,, 
and  representative  and  constituent  can  question  each  other  face  to  face?  If  a 
representative  is  with  you  on  political  tests,  does  it  matter,  so  far  as  the  politi- 
cian is  concerned,  what  are  his  opinions  upon  other  subjects?  If  ho  is  with 
you  on  the  subjects  of  trade,  currency,  and  the  principles  of  constitutional  con- 
struction, when  they  are  in  issue,  does  it  matter  that  he  differs  from  you  on  the 
doctrine  of  trausubstantiation 7  Will  not  a  Catholic  who  agrees  with  you  on 
all  the  political  issues,  and  differs  from  you  in  religion,  make  you  a  better  leg- 
islative representative  than  a  Protestant  who  agrees  with  you  in  religion,  but 
differs  from  you  on  all  matters  of  political  principle  ?  Is  it  not  entirelv  in  our 
G 


82 

power  to  ascertain  how  they  stand,  when  tried  hy  their  political  tests,  so  long 
as  political  action  is  open  and  public  ?  If  there  be  danger  from  such  a  tolera- 
tion, it  can  only  exist  when  political  deliberations  and  actions  are  veiled  in 
secrecy.  I  know  that  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  except  the  Catholic  from 
the  operation  of  the  great  principle  of  religious  toleration,  by  maintaining  that 
he  is  proscribed  for  civil,  rather  than  religious  reasons,  because  he  is  said  to 
acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  the  Church  over  the  State,  in  temporal  matters. 

Fellow  citizens,  such  a  distinction  does  not  in  truth  exist.  The  Catholic  of 
the  present  day,  no  more  admits  the  supremacy  of  the  Church  in  temporal 
matters  than  the  Protestant ;  their  difference  is  in  regard  to  spiritual  concerns. 
The  Protestant  maintains  the  right  of  private  judgment  in  matters  of  con- 
science ;  the  Catholic  believes,  that  in  spiritual  affairs  the  decisions  of  the 
Church  ought  to  overrule  the  individual  judgment.  But  Protestants  and  Cath- 
olics, all  Christian  churches  and  individuals,  believe  that  the  allegiance  which 
they  owe  to  Q-od  is  higher  than  any  obligation  to  man ;  and  that  in  a  conflict 
"between  human  and  divine  laws,  you  must  serve  God  rather  than  man. 

But  how  can  such  an  opinion  interfere  with  the  capacity  of  a  citizen  to  dis- 
charge his  political  duties,  unless  the  civil  government  undertakes  to  legislate 
upon  religious  subjects,  and  to  draw  spiritual  matters  under  a  temporal  jurisdic- 
tion, instead  of  keeping  them  apart,  as  was  ordered  by  Christ,  when  he  said, 
"  Render  unto  Csesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that 
are  God's/'  and  as  has  been  our  practice  heretofore  in  the  administration  of 
civil  affairs  ? 

But  suppose  we  once  commence  with  this  work  of  proscribing  Catholics  for 
their  religious  opinions — where  is  it  to  end?  With  the  Catholics  ?  Trust  not 
go  vain  a  delusion.  The  jealousy  of  religious  bigotry  is  a  thing  which  grows 
with  what  it  feeds  upon.  Next  we  shall  hear  that  the  Quaker  is  to  be  proscribed 
for  civil  rather  than  religious  reasons  :  he  will  not  defend  his  country  in  time 
of  war.  Then  there  is  much  to  criticise  in  the  government  of  this  Church,  and 
grave  objections  to  that  of  another.  One  is  arbitrary,  and  of  a  temper  unsuited 
to  free  institutions  j  another  is  aristocratic,  and  unfitted  to  the  genius  of  a  dem- 
ocratic people.  Some,  too,  may  be  suspected  of  an  effort  to  engross  the  political 
offices  and  power  of  the  country,  and  appropriate  them  to  their  own  members. 
If  they  proscribe  others,  they  must  themselves  be  proscribed;  and  in  this  new 
era  of  secret  political  association,  there  is  room  given  for  every  suspicion,  and 
opportunities  are  afforded  for  the  most  dangerous  combinations.  Who  does  not 
know  the  peculiar  susceptibilities  of  sectarian  jealousy  ?  Who  can  fail  to  see 
the  dangers  of  the  warfare  which  would  thus  spring  up  amongst  the  different 
Christian  sects?  And  when  men  become  weary  of  the  agitation  of  such  con- 
tests, in  which  each  set  of  religious  opinions  is  in  turn  proscribed,  will  they  not 
say  at  last  to  the  government,  "  Tell  us  what  to  believe ;  establish  your  church  ; 
relieve  us  from  this  state  of  uncertainty,  and  let  each  man  enjoy  once  more  in 
peace  the  shade  of  his  own  vine  and  fig  tree." 

It  seems  to  me,  far  better  to  pursue  the  present  practice  ]  tolerate  all  religions, 
and  have  each  church  free  to  pursue  its  mission  in  its  own  way,  and  to  select 
the  most  appropriate  field  for  its  labors.  If  you  then  have  more  churches,  you 
have  more  Christians  also,  and  if  there  nmst  be  a  human  tribunal  to  set  upon 
their  differences,  let  it  be  that  of  public  opinion.  Here  is  a  jurisdiction,  which, 
can  take  charge  of  matters  far  too  delicate  for  the  positive  regulation  of  govern- 
ment. Questions  of  morals,  of  honor,  of  social  and  personal  propriety,  which 
involve  distinctions  far  too  nice,  and  shades  of  coloring  far  too  delicate  to  bo 
defined  by  positive  law,  may  be  satisfactorily  adjusted  here.  Here,  too,  is  a 
field  of  battle  where  none  can  be  injured,  where  Reason  furnishes  the  only 
weapons,  and  Truth  must  be  tiie  gainer,  no  matter  who  comes  out  victor  in  the 
.contest.  On  this  side  we  know  there  will  be  peace  and  safety,  on  the  other 
there  roust  be  danger  and  discord.  And  we  are  to  run  all  this  risk,  for  what  ? 


83 

Because,  you  say,  there  is  a  probability  that  the  interests  of  the  church  mny 
clash  with  those  of  the  State,  and  that,  in  such  a  case,  the  American  Catholic, 
might  vote  not  according  to  his  duties  as  a  citizen,  but  to  his  feelings  as  a 
•hurchman.  Take  your  own  supposition,  this  is  but  a  remote  possibility,  a  case 
of  mere  chance ;  but  if  you  proscribe  the  Catholic  for  his  religion,  you  make 
that  danger  certain,  of  which  there  was  but  a  chance  before.  You  put  him 
under  the  ban;  you  refuse  him  the  equal  privileges  of  a  citizen,  and  stamp 
upon  him  the  brand  of  inferiority.  His  first  object  then  is  to  remove  that 
stigma.  He  no  longer  acts  with  the  great  parties  of  the  country,  according  to 
his  opinions  upon  political  issues  which  concern  all,  but  his  first  object  is  to 
remove  the  oppression  under  which  he  labors,  and  he  feels  justified  in  voting  in 
any  manner  to  secure  that  end.  The  very  thing*which  you  dread  will  assuredly 
come  to  pass,  and,  through  your  own  agency,  he  will  vote  not  as  an  American 
citizen,  but  as  a  Catholic  ,•  he  will  no  longer  come  forward,  as  now,  to  give  your 
government  a  ready  and  cheerful  support ;  that  government  is  no  longer  bound 
to  him  by  the  ties  of  interest  and  sympathy,  if  it  proscribes  and  oppresses  him. 
He  will  become  indifferent,  and  perhaps  hostile  to  the  government,  which  has 
treated  him  as  an  alien  and  as  a  member  of  an  inferior  cast  of  society.  Why 
estrange  one  who  is  so  valuable  as  a  friend,  and  convert  him,  perhaps,  into  an 
enemy  ? 

But,  fellow-citizens,  I  went  a  little  too  far,  when  I  said,  it  was  proposed  to 
proscribe  Catholics  from  all  offices  in  this  country.  There  are  some  offices, 
which  the  sons  and  daughters  of  that  Church  are  still  considered  competent  to 
discharge.  I  mean  the  offices  of  Christian  charity,  of  ministration  to  the  sick. 
The  sister  of  charity  may  enter  yonder  pest-house,  from  whose  dread  portals 
the  bravest  and  strongest  man  quails  and  shrinks ;  she  may  breathe  there  the 
breath  of  the  pestilence  which  walks  abroad,  in  that  mansion  of  misery,  in  or- 
der to  minister  to  disease  where  it  is  most  loathsome,  and  to  relieve  suffering 
where  it  is  most  helpless.  There,  too,  the  tones  of  her  voice  may  be  heard 
mingling  with  the  last  accents  of  human  despair,  to  soothe  the  fainting  soul, 
as  she  points  through  the  gloom  of  the  dark  vsilley  of  the  shadow  of  death  to 
the  Cross  of  Christ,  which  stands  transfigured  in  celestial  light,  to  bridge  the 
way  from  Earth  to  Heaven  ;  and  when  cholera  or  yellow  fever  invades  your 
cities,  the  Catholic  Priest  may  refuse  to  take  refuge  in  flight,  holding  the  place 
of  the  true  Soldier  of  the  Cross,  to  be  by  the  sick  man's  bed,  even  though  death 
pervades  the  air,  because  he  may  there  tender  the  ministrations  of  his  holy  of- 
fice to  those  who  need  them  most.  But,  if  some  of  the  objects  of  their  care 
should  arise  from  the  bed,  which,  but  for  them,  would  have  been  the  bed  of 
death,  and  should  any  such  say  to  them,  if  he  be  a  Protestant,  "  I  am  going 
forth  to  proscribe  your  Church,  to  put  you  under  the-  ban,  to  declare  you  un- 
worthy of  the  common  privilege  of  citizens,- and  to  degrade  you  as  a  caste,  be- 
cause I  am  afraid  that  you,  poor  priest,  and  you,  gentle  sister,  will  rob  me  of 
my  rights  and  deprive  me  of  my  liberties?"  what  would  they  say  to  such  an 
address  as  this?  They  might  not  utter  the  thought,  but  would  it  not  be  the 
feeling  of  the  least  rebellious  nature,  if  it  were  still  human  to  say,  "  let  him  go, 
like  the  Pharisee  of  old,  enjoying  his  greetings  in  the  market  place,  and  his 
chief  place  at  the  feasts,  and  thank  his  God  that  he  is  not  a  sinner  as  this  pub- 
lican/' But,  what  would  you  say,  fellow-citizens,  to  such  a  sentiment,  if  it 
were  uttered  in  your  presence?  You  would  say  that  it  was  a  sentiment  unfit  to 
be  either  entertained  or  expressed. 

But  for  what  is  it  that  I  am  pleading,  here  in  Virginia,  before  an  intelligent 
audience  of  her  sons,  and  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1855  ?  For  Keligious  Free- 
dom, for  Liberty  of  conscience.  I  cnn  scarcely  realize  the  idea,  I  am  almost 
ashamed  to  confess  if,  and  yet  it  is  even  so.  Tf  r*ny  min  hnd  fofetold  to  me, 
two  years  ago,  that  such  an  heresy  could  be  exhumed  from  tho  dead,  ami  that 
the  breath  of  life  could  be  so  breathed  into  it  as  to  give  it  vitality  enough  to 


84 

become  a  living  issue  upon  the  soil  of  the  Old  Dominion,  I  should  have  laughed 
to  scorn  the  prophet  and  his  prophecy.  And  here  is  a  thing,  they  tell  me,  to 
be  feared;  and  certainly  a  thing  formidable  enough  to  be  met.  ilNulla  vestigia 
retrorsum." — "  Let  here  be  no  no  steps  backwards,"  said  John  Bampden  j  a 
noble  maxim  certainly  as  applied  to  the  march  of  human  liberty.  Here, 
though,  is  not  a  step  backwards,  but  a  retrograde  march  of  centuries,  and  from 
light  into  that  darkness  again  out  of  which  we  had  once  emerged  with  so  much 
pain  and  difficulty.  If  a  people  so  enlightened,  as  I  had  fondly  believed  ours 
to  be,  can  be  induced  to  make  such  a  retrograde  march  as  this,  I  shall  begin  to 
lose  my  faith  in  human  progress,  and  fear  that  the  political  reformer  rolls  the 
stone  of  Sisyphus,  which  can  never  reach  the  expected  goal.  But  why 
does  this  new  party  select  the  Catholic  Church  as  the  particular  object  of  its 
proscriptions  ?  They  certainly  seem  to  have  begged,  borrowed,  or  in  some  other 
way  obtained  some  leading  ideas  from  that  Church,  and  which,  in  my  opinion, 
constitute  its  most  objectionable  features.  Old  John  Milton  somewhere  re- 
proaches his  Protestant  brethren  for  certain  persecuting  practices,  and  says  they 
have  fallen  into  the  "  most  Popish  of  Papist  errors."  I  think  the  same  may 
be  said  of  this  Know-Nothing  party.  Do  they  object  to  the  secret  Inquisition 
of  that  Church,  which  inquires  into  spiritual  offences? — have  they  not  a  secret 
inquisition,  which  inquires  into  political  offences  ?  Does  it  not  sit  upon  your 
character  and  mine,  try  us  when  we  cannot  be  heard,  condemn  us  when  we  had 
not  been  arraigned,  and  execute  its  sentence  without  serving  upon  the  victim  a 
notice  of  its  existence? 

The  old  Vehmic  tribunal  so  terrible  for  its  secret  inquisition  and  visitations, 
used  to  take  care,  at  least,  that  the  bowl  and  the  cord  ghould  be  laid  by  somo 
invisible  hand  at  tBe  bedside  of  the  victim,  to  give  him  warning  when  he  awoke 
of  the  fate  that  awaited  him.  But  here  is  an  inquisition  whose  sentences  are 
executed  without  even  that  premonition.  Do  the  Know  Nothings  object  that 
the  Catholics  deny  the  right  of  private  judgment  in  matters  of  conscience  ? 
Surely,  they  do  the  same  thing  with  regard  to  the  Catholic,  when  they  proscribe 
and  persecute  him  on  account  of  his  religious  opinions.  They  refu.se  to  allow 
him  to  worship  God  according  to  his  own  conscience,  except  under  such  pains 
and  penalties  as  they  choose  to  prescribe.  Do  they  object  to  the  Catholics  as 
members  of  a  political  community  because  they  believe  in  the  supremacy  of  the 
ohurch  in  spiritual  matters?  Why,  then,  do  they  declare  a  far  more  dangerous 
doctrine,  and  assert  the  supremacy  of  their  council  in  matters  temporal  and  po- 
litical ?  A  man  may  believe  in  the  spiritual  supremacy  of  a. church,  and  yet 
discharge  his  political  duties,  according  to  his  individual  conscience  and  convic- 
tion ;  but  he  who  admits  the  political  supremacy  of  a  council,  cannot  perform 
his  duties  as  a  citizen,  according  to  his  own  judgment  and  conscience.  When 
the  edict  is  once  pronounced  by  the  council,  it  can  neither  be  disputed  nor  dis- 
obeyed by  the  members.  After  this,  there  must  be  neither  majorities  nor  mi- 
norities in  the  Order ;  but  all  must  move,  act  and  speak  together,  as  if  with 
©ne  will.  That  greatest  of  all  liberties — as  Milton  called  it — the  liberty  to 
know,  to  argue,  and  to  utter  freely  according  to  conscience,  is  not  one  of  their 
privileges.  With  what  face,  then,  can  a  party,  holding  such  doctrines  as  these, 
proscribe  men  for  entertaining  far  less  dangerous  opinions  ?  What  the  practi- 
ces of  these  Kuow-Nothings  may  be  with  regard  to  confession  and  absolution, 
I  know  not,  but  it  is  very  clear,  that  if  the  power  to  command  the  moral  action 
of  individuals  exist,  the  power  to  absolve  them  from  the  consequences  of  sin 
ought  to  go  along  with  it. 

But  this  party  is  not  content  with  proscribing  Catholics,  and  treating  them  as 
aliens  in  the  bosom  of  American  society.  There  are  about  2,200,000  foreigners 
amongst  us,  and  these,  too,  are  to  be  considered  as  incapable  of  holding  office 
under  the  government.  Not  only  are  they  to  be  forever  disqualified  for  office, 
but  hereafter  the  term  of  probation  for  naturalization  is  to  be  so  lengthened 


85 

as  to  make  the  law  itself  illusory.  It  is  to  be  observed,  that  what  is  proposed 
to  be  doue.  will  not  diminish  much  the  number  of  emigrants  who  hereafter  will 
come  to  our  shores,  nor  was  it  probably  intended,  when  this  Order  originated, 
that  such  an  effect  should  be  produced,  for  reasons  which  I  will  presently  give. 
The  proposed  party  will  deteriorate  the  quality  of  the  emigration ;  it  will  shut 
out  men  of  fortune  and  education,  because  they  prefer  our  institutions  and  de- 
sire to  incorporate  themselves  into  the  great  body  of  American  society,  to  share 
its  privileges  and  partake  of  its  destiny ;  it  will  cut  off  those,  too,  who  come 
here  from  choice,  not  from  any  desire  or  expectation  of  office,  but  who  would 
be  unwilling  to  live  where  they  could  never  be  capable  of  holding  it.  But  all 
those  who  move  from  necessity,  for  the  means  of  subsistence,  must  still  come, 
for  even  the  Know  Nothings  will  give  them  leave  to  toil.  Then  these  consti- 
tute the  great  mass  of  foreign  emigrants  that  come  to  our  shores.  The  ques- 
tion, then,  is,  as  to  their  treatment  after  they  reach  here.  Shall  they  be  denied 
all  political  franchises  ?  Shall  they  be  treated  as  aliens  in  our  midst,  and  thus 
made  indifferent,  or,  perhaps,  hostile  to  our  government  and  institutions?  Or, 
shall  they  be  treated  as  heretofore,  by  our  fathers  and  ourselves,  who  have 
sought  to  bind  them  to  our  country  by  the  ties  of  sympathy  and  interest,  and 
for  that  purpose  have  held  out  a  reasonable  hope,  that  a  place  should  be  made 
for  them  in  our  political  society,  as  soon  as  they  can  show  by  certain  evidences, 
that  they  are  fit  for  it  ? 

Here  is  an  immense  power  in  our  midst.  The  question  is,  how  shall  it  be 
treated  ?  Shall  we  bind  it  to  us  by  the  kindly  ties  of  affection,  and  the  still 
stronger  bonds  of  interest,  or  shall  we  alienate  and  estrange  it  ?  That,  then,  is 
the  true  issue  of  principle  to  which  I  shall  speak.  There  are  minor  questions 
of  detail,  which  I  have  not  time  now  to  discuss.  In  all  the  great  operations  of 
society,  certain  evils  are  incidental,  which  must  be  provided  for  as  they  arise, 
not  by  destroying,  but  by  regulating  the  system.  So,  too,  the  process  of  assi- 
milating the  foreign  element  into  American  society,  has  its  incidental  evils, 
which  may  be  met  as  the  special  cases  arise ;  for  some  the  police  powers  of  the 
States  are  ample,  and  others  may  be  guarded  against  by  the  Federal  Government, 
without  disturbing  the  general  features  of  the  process  itself.  What  I  maintain 
is,  that  this  new  element  ought  to  be  assimilated  with  the  great  body  of  Ame- 
rican society,  as  far  as  it  can  be  done,  and  that  a  place  ought  to  be  made  for  the 
foreigner  in  our  political  society,  as  soon  as  a  reasonable  evidence  is  given  of  his 
being  fit  for  it. 

In  discussing  this  issue,  I  may  be  permitted,  I  trust,  to  enter  a  little  into  the 
history  of  the  question  itself.  At  all  times  the  tide  of  human  emigration  seems 
to  have  been  directed  by  some  law  of  nature,  which  thus  provides  for  that  fusion 
and  inter-communication  of  races,  which  has  been  proved  to  be  necessary  to  the 
general  progress  of  the  whole.  There  is  not  a  great  people  upon  record  who 
did  not  spring  from  a  mixture  of  races.  The  Greek,  the  Roman,  the  English 
and  the  French,  all  sprang  from  a  mixture  of  stocks.  The  Jewish  were  more 
exclusive,  but  it  is  also  to  be  remembered  that  they  lost  power  and  empire. 
The  emigrations  from  which  all  this  resulted  in  ancient  times,  were  forced  or 
armed  emigrations.  The  stronger  and  weaker  races,  when  living  side  by  side, 
owed  their  proximity  to  the  fact,  that  the  former  had  brought  the  latter  to  their 
own  homes  as  slaves,  or  else,  seizing  the  country  of  the  subjugated  had  settled 
in  it  as  being  more  desirable  than  their  own.  Thus  it  was,  in  ancient  times, 
that  the  necessity  for  an  interchange  of  the  habits,  thoughts  and  characteristic 
ideas  of  the  different  races  was  satisfied.  Routes  through  which  the  forced  emi- 
gration of  the  African  slave  was  conducted  before  the  Egyptian  pyramids  were 
built,  are,  some  of  them,  still  used  for  the  same  purpose.  The  irruptions  of 
the  Goths,  the  Vandals  and  Huns,  were  so  many  armed  immigrations,  and  the 
same  may  be  said  of  the  Crusaders.  All  these  seem  to  have  been  designed  to 
serve  some  great  purpose  in  the  economy  of  nature,  by  mingling  different  races, 


86 

and  interchanging  amongst  all,  the  ideas  and  thoughts  peculiar  to  each.  The 
discovery  of  America,  which  made  so  many  changes  in  the  course  of  human  af- 
fairs, seems  also  to  have  presented  a  new  law  for  the  direction  of  the  stream  of 
emigration.  The  great  law  of  trade,  the  law  of  demand  and  supply,  now  inter- 
vened to  impel  and  regulate  it.  A  wilderness  was  to  be  opened,  and  the  field 
was  large  enough  for  all  who  might  choose  to  come.  Our  forefathers  held  out 
every  inducement  to  encourage  emigration  from  abroad.  Upon  this  subject  the 
policy  of  Virginia  was  peculiarly  liberal,  and  lands  were  given  to  those  who 
would  settle  amongst  us.  At  the  time  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
it  was  made  a  cause  of  complaint  against  the  Crown,  th#t  obstacles  had  been 
interposed  in  the  way  of  foreign  emigration.  After  the  adoption  of  the  present 
Constitution,  and  during  the  administration  of  Washington,  a  law  was  passed 
allowing  a  foreigner  to  be  naturalized,  after  a  residence  of  five  years.  Under 
the  Federal  Administration  of  John  Adams,  the  period  was  extended  to  fourteen 
years  ;  but  the  five  years  term  was  restored  again,  when  the  Republican  party 
came  in  under  Mr.  Jefierson.  Thus  it  has  stood,  with  no  expression  of.  dissat- 
isfaction, until  within  a  few  years  past,  with  the  single  exception,  as  I  believe, 
of  the  Hartford  Convention,  which  sought  to  revive  the  fourteen  years  term. 

Under  this  legislation,  the  course  of  emigration  has  been  rapid,  and,  as  was 
generally  supposed,  until  lately,  beneficial  to  the  country.  The  foreigner  set- 
tled beside  u?,  to  participate  in  our  hopes  and  cares,  to  share  with  us  the  chan- 
ces of  life,  and  contribute  the  resources  of  his  mind  and  body  to  the  growth 
and  prosperity  of  'American  society,  in  which,  for  the  most  part,  he  felt  a  com- 
mon interest  with  ourselves.  It  was  the  boast  of  the  Old  Hun,  that  grass  nev- 
er grew  after  the  tread  of  his  horse's  hoof;  it  was  not  so  with  the  emigrant 
who  came  here ;  he  made  two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  one  grew  before,  and 
helped  to  gladden  the  waste  places  of  nature  with  all  the  arts  of  cultivation  and 
civilization.  To  trace  the  agency  of  this  foreign  element  in  the  various  devel- 
opments of  American^ society,  I  believe,  would  be,  startling  enough  to  those 
•who  have  not  much  considered  the  subject.  Certain  it  is,  that  our  growth 
would  have  been  much  less  rapid  without  it.  I  think,  too,  that  an  examination 
of  the  history  of  this  emigration  will  show,  that  if  nature  be  left  free  to  pur- 
sue her  course,  there  can  be  no  danger  that  the  foreign  will  overpower  the  native 
element  in  their  influences  upon  our  state  of  society.  In  looking  over  a  well 
reasoned  analysis  of  tfee  statistics  of  emigration,  as  given  by  our  recent  census, 
which  appeared  in  one  of  the  foreign  periodicals,  I  met  with  some  results  for 
which,  I  confess,  I  was  not  prepared.  Its  general  geographical  distribution  was 
not,  in  some  important  respects,  such  as  I  had  expected  to  find  it;  of  the 
2,200,000  foreigners  in  this  country,  only  about  305,000  are  in  the  slave  States, 
in  the  northwestern  free  States,  less  than  one  third  of  these  emigrants  is  to 
be  found,  and  of  1,900,000  inhabitants  of  these  States  not  born  within  them, 
1,330,000  are  native  American.  As  a  consequence  of  all  this,  it  follows  that 
most  of  these  foreigners  are  in  the  Atlantic  non-slaveholding  States,  amongst 
which  New  York  and  Massachusetts  share  most  largely,  and  nearly  six-sevenths 
of  their  number  are  to  be  found  north  of  the  37th  parallel  of  latitude. 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  mass  of  these  foreigners  settled  in  the  old  States, 
where  the  home  influence  was  strongest,  and  replacing  as  many  native  born  citi- 
zens, these  last  took  up  their  line  of  march  to  the  wilderness  to  add  to  the 
domain  of  cultivation,  to  build  up  another  addition  to  the  American  Empire,  to 
found  new  States,  and  mould  and  form  their  institutions.  Instead,  then,  of 
Europeanising  Americans,  Europeans  were  thus  Americanized.  The  American 
influence  predominates  everywhere ;  and  notwithstanding  the  number  of  these 
foreigners,  they  are  so  distributed  as  to  make  the  process  of  their  assimilation 
with  American  society  more  rapid  and  easy.  This  country,  then,  has  been 
indeed  the  true  "  officena  gentium "  and  not  only  the  workshop  in  which  many 
nations  have  toiled,  but  a  grand  national  manufactory,  in  which  men  of  various 


87 

races  have  received  the  true  American  mould.  It  is  estimated,  in  the  article  of 
which  I  speak,  that  400,000  able-bodied  laborers  of  both  sexes,  are  now  annu- 
ally coming  to  this  country  from  abroad,  and  if  this  statement  should  startle 
those  who  have  seen  that  the  Custom  House  returns  give  only  367,000  as  the 
total  number  of  foreign  emigrants,  let  him  remember,  that  both  Chickering  and 
De  Bow  estimate  their  returns  as  being  50  per  cent,  under  the  true  count.  Of 
these,  a  very  large  proportion  has  been  ascertained  to  be  over  10,  and  under 
40  years  of  age.  When  the  statistics  upon  this  subject  are  collated  and  com- 
pared, it  will  be  found,  I  think,  that  the  estimate  of  400,000  is,  at  least,  a  pro- 
bable approximation  to  the  true  number.  Now,  whilst  most  of  these  laborers 
settle  in  the  free  Atlantic  States,  to  drive  the  looms  of  New  England,  and  keep 
the  workshops  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  busy,  a  larger  number  of  native 
born  citizens  march  annually  into  the  Wilderness  to  add  a  new  belt  to  the  do- 
main of  cultivation  and  civilization.  Who  can  estimate  in  figures  the  effects  of 
this  double  process  upon  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  Confederacy,  and 
particularly  of  the  free  States  ?  If  you  estimate  the  annual  production  of  each 
emigrant  laborer  at  only  $  150,  you  have  60,000,000  for  this  item  alone,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  money  which  many  of  them  bring  to  pay  their  passage  and  es- 
tablish themselves  in  the  country.  Now,  does  any  man  suppose  that  the  freo 
States,  and  Massachusetts  especially,  where  this  Know  Nothing  Order  seems  to 
have  established  its  head  quarters,  can  intend  to  stop  the  influx  of  such  a 
stream  of  wealth  as  this?  Shut  off  this  flood  of  emigration  entirely  from  our 
shores,  and  such  a  blight  would  fall  upon  Massachusetts  as.  she  has  not  seen 
heretofore  in  the  course  of  her  history.  She  not  only  does  not  intend  to  pro- 
duce such  a  result,  but  she  does  not  profess  even  to  desire  it.  On  the  contrary, 
it  has  been  her  policy  to  attract  the  foreign  laborer  to  this  country  by  a  double 
process.  Through  the  restrictive  system,  she  sought  to  shut  out  the  product  of 
his  labor  from  the  American  market,  if  he  worked  abroad,  whilst  she  proposed 
to  give  him  the  exclusive  possession  of  it,  if  he  would  transfer  his  labor  to  this 
country.  To  attract  cheap  labor  to  her  soil,  has  been  a  great  object  of  her  pol- 
icy ;  and  now  that  she  has  substituted  the  native  for  the  foreign  laborer,  she 
proposes  to  disfranchise  the  latter — to  deny  him  the  privileges  of  citizenship. 
Anu  thus,  whilst  she  is  so  anxious  to  free  the  African  slave  in  the  South,  she  is 
engaged  in  a  scheme  to  proscribe  and  degrade  ;  yes,  sirs,  and  to  enslave — for 
there  are  degrees  of  slavery — all  that  portion  of  her  own  white  laborers  who 
are  foreign  born.  To  make  such  an  experiment  upon  the  native-born  laborer, 
would  be  too  dangerous  to  attempt;  but  to  substitute  him  with  the  foreigner, 
and  after  filling  her  workshops  with  the  latter,  to  disfranchise  and  proscribe 
him,  would  produce  the  same  effect  in  the  end.  The  laborer  would  be  prostra- 
ted at  the  foot  of  the  capitalist,  whose  reign  would  be  supreme.  The  interests 
of  labor  are  one  North  and.  South,  foreign  and  native  born,  and  he  who  seeks  to 
set  one  portion  against  another,  is  destroying  the  house  by  dividing  it.  Mr. 
Jefferson  said  that  there  was  a  natural  alliance  between  the  Northern  laborer 
and  the  South.  Both  are  concerned  for  the  interests  of  labor  ;  and  most  of  the 
sympathy  which  the  South  has  found  in  the  North,  has  grown  out  of  that  natu- 
ral blind.  It  is  this  power,  then,  that  has  been  friendly  to  us  that  we  are  in- 
voked to  strike.  The  power  which  drives  the  loom,  and  makes  busy  the  work- 
shops at  the  North,  is  friendly  to  that  which  raises  the  cotton  and  the  corn  for 
their  use;  and  now  we  are  gravely  asked  to  rob  it  of  its  fair  political  weight, 
and  to  transfer  it  to  the  capitalist,  who  so  far  has  been  against  us  ! 

It  is  to  be  remembered,  that  every  white  inhabitant,  whether  foreign  or  alien, 
is  counted  in  estimating  the  political  power  of  the  States.  In  the  actual  and 
probable  state  of  Massachusetts  society,  such  a  policy  would  throw  its  whole 
power  into  the  hands  of  her  capitalists,  to  be  wielded  it  is  likely,  as  it  has  been 
heretofore  used,  against  ourselves.  But,  it  may  be  said,  she  can  disfranchise 
the  foreigner  at  home  without  our  assistance ;  and  so  she  may ;  but  if  other 


88 

States  refuse  to  follow  her  example,  she  cannot  persevere  in  it.  If  she  treats 
the  foreigner  much  worst  than  her  neighbor,  he  will  go  to  States  that  are  more 
liberal  •  and  thus  she  will  lose  his  labor  which  is  essential  to  her.  At  any  rate, 
she  is  not  entitled  to  any  assistance  or  countenance  which  the  Federal  govern- 
ment might  give.  By  way  of  atonement  for  the  sin  which  she  meditates  against 
her  own  labor,  she  would  be  moral  at  the  expense  of  others,  and  turn  loose  the 
African  slave  in  the  South,  our  safety,  being  the  cheap  material  upon  which  all 
Borts  of  experiments  may  be  tried.  Now,  so  far  as  Virginia  is  concerned,  shall 
we  not  say  that  we  adopt  neither  branch  of  her  policy.  The  African  slave  we 
shall  not  turn  loose,  because  his  present  condition  is  better  both  for  him  and 
for  us;  and  the  white  laborer  we  intend  to  be  free — free  to  enter  into  an  equal 
competition  for  all  the  prizes  of  life — free  to  pursue  all  the  avenues  to  honor  or 
profit,  and  free  to  hope  and  aspire  for  all  that  can  give  dignity  to  man  and  hap- 
piness to  life.  If  he  fails  it  will  be  owing  to  himself,  and  not  because  the  op- 
portunities of  success  are  denied  him  by  the  policy  of  the  government  to  which 
he  is  attached.  If  he  be  a  native,  then,  like  St.  Paul,  he  was  born  a  Roman 
citizen ;  if  he  be  of  foreign  birth,  then,  like  the  Centurian,  he  shall  not  be 
forced  to  pay  a  great  price  for  the  privilege,  but  a  place  shall  be  opened  for  him 
in  our  political  society,  as  soon  as  he  gives  evidence  of  his  fitness  for  it.  Such 
is  the  policy  which  we  have  heretofore  pursued,  and,  in  the  main,  it  has  worked 
well.  x  The  serpent  is  yet  to  be  warmed  into  life  in  this  country,  which  would 
sting  the  bosom  that  protected  it. 

We  have  thus,  not  only  been  able  to  receive  this  large  foreign  element  and 
assimilate  it  into  our  system,  but  also  to  convert  it  into  the  means  of  a  new 
growth.  Instead  of  being  an  alien  power  in  the  bosom  of  our  society,  we  have 
attached  it  to  us  by  the  strong  ties  of  sympathy  and  interest.  If  we  should 
offer  extraordinary  and  unnatural  inducements  to  this  emigration,  it  might  be- 
come mischievous,  by  pouring  in  so  rapidly  as  to  destroy  the  homogeneous  char- 
acter of  our  people.  But  if  we  leave  nature  free  to  pursue  her  own  course, 
there  can  be  no  danger  either  of  this  or  of  an  unwholesome  competition  between 
the  foreign  and  native  born  laborer.  So  long  as  a  field  is  open  large  enough  to 
employ  profitably  those  at  home,  and  those  who  will  come  from  abroad,  the  sup- 
ply will  follow  the  demand.  The  whole  mass  of  our  productions  will  thus  be 
increased,  and  it  is  the  interest  of  every  one  within  the  bosom  of  our  society, 
that  this  should  be  as  great  as  possible,  for  it  is  the  common  store  from  which 
all  must  draw.  When  this  labor  becomes  less  profitable,  the  demand  will  fall 
off,  and  with  it  the  supply;  so  that  the  competition  of  the  foreigner  will  cease 
just  at  that  point  of  time  when  its  inconveniences  become  serious.  I  have 
shown  how  this,  which  is  one  of  the  greatest  operations  of  society,  has  been 
heretofore  conducted  by  the  laws  of  trade,  so  as  to  secure  us  as  many  of  its  ben- 
efits, and  as  few  of  its  inconveniences,  as  was,  perhaps,  possible.  That  some 
evils  and  inconveniences  will  attend  so  large  an  operation,  I  do  not  deny,  but 
they  are  evils,  which,  for  the  most  part,  may  be  cured  by  legislation,  adapted  to 
the  special  cases,  without  making  the  vain  effort  to  strike  down  the  system.  The 
results  of  the  old  feeling  we  have  seen ;  what  would  be  those  of  the  new  I  can- 
not pretend  to  measure  in  extent,  but  something  may  be  said  of  their  nature. 

The  proscriptive  means  which  are  proposed,  if  the  right  of  suffrage  be  left  to 
the  foreigner,  will  certainly  produce  the  evil  which  it  is  proposed  to  remedy. 
The  foreigner  will  vote  not  as  an  American  citizen,  upon  the  general  merits  of 
political  issues,  but  as  a  foreigner,  to  remove  the  ban  under  which  he  lies.  But 
if  you  disfranchise  him  entirely,  then  you  alienate  this  immense  power  in  the 
bosom  of  your  system  of  society.  For  it  is  an  immense  force  now,  and  will 
continue  to  be  so,  notwithstanding  political  disabilities,  whilst  there  is  so  great 
a  demand  for  the  means  of  subsistence.  This  is  quite  a  new  experiment  in  the 
conduct  of  society,  and  has  not  been  tried  except  in  those  cases  where  one  por- 
tion has  actually  subjugated  another.  The  naturalization  laws  of  old  States, 


' 


89 

already  filled  with  people,  and  to  which  the  emigration  is  next  to  nothing,  can 
afford  no  precedents  to  us.  Here  they  still  come  in  great  numbers,  and  it  is  not 
even  proposed  to  exclude  them.  The  sole  question  is  as  to  their  treatment  after 
they  reach  our  shores.  Shall  we  make  them  friends  or  enemies  ?  It  has  been 
our  ancient  policy  to  cultivate  their  friendship.*  Why  not  continue  to  pursue  it  ? 

Having  thus  traced  the  principles  which  this  new  party  proposes  to  some  of 
their  most  obvious  consequences,  let  me  call  your  attention  now  to  the  number 
of  important  questions  which  they  refuse  to  speak  of  at  all.  They  have  noth- 
ing to  say  upon  the  subjects  of  the  Tariff,  the  Currency,  the  Internal  Improve- 
ment system,  upon  the  questions  as  to  the  absolute  or  limited  power  of  the 
General  Government  over  the  public  lands,  or  as  to  the  great  canons  of  consti- 
tutional construction.  Shall  we  be  told  that  these  questions  are  all  obsolete  ? 
In  the  endless  varieties  of  human  commerce  are  not  cases  constantly  presenting 
themselves  with  new  relations,  and  requiring  different  applications  of  the  laws 
of  trade  ?  Does  not  the  course  of  our  Federal  legislation  constantly  present  us 
with  cases  for  the  application  of  all  the  principles  involved  in  the  old  issues  ? 
And  yet  the  very  issues  and  principles  which  are  involved  in  the  daily  business 
of  the  Government  arc  "  ignored,"  a?  I  believe  they  call  it,  by  this  new  party. 
Why,  they  "  ignore"  the  subject  of  slavery  itself.  Can  the  South  afford  to  have 
such  a  subject  as  this  ignored  ?  Thus,  it  would  seem,  that  this  new  party  have 
not  only  said  things  that  they  ought  not  to  have  said,  but  they  have  left  unsaid 
things  which  they  ought  to  have  said. 

But  fellow-citizens,  is  it  not  worthy  of  a  moment's  thought,  to  see  what  are 
to  be  the  moral  effects  of  these  new  practices  upon  the  character  of  our  people  ? 
Who  would  transform  the  old  Virginian — such  as  we  used  to  know  him  —  such, 
as  I  trust,  he  still  is — into  what  he  must  become,  if  he  make  this  radical  change 
in  his  habits  and  feelings? — The  old  Virginia  was  frank,  manly  and  generous, 
and  made  so  by  his  early  training  and  the  character  of  his  political  institutions. 
He  had  his  faults,  it  is  truo,  but  they  were,  for  the  most  part,  the  excesses  of  a 
brave  and  manly  spirit.  Reckless  he  might  be — a  little  too  ready  to  conceive 
an  insult,  or  too  prone  to  follow  the  word  with  a  blow ;  but  he  had  no  secret 
malice  nor  mean  revenge  in  his  nature.  His  friendships  and  his  enmities  were 
known,  and  he  scorned  to  strike  a  foe  without  giving  him  notice  beforehand. 
If  he  had  opinions,  the  world  might  know  thorn ;  and  when  he  acted  as  a  citi- 
zen, he  was  ready  to  meet  all  the  responsibilities  of  that  action,  either  at  the 
bar  of  public  opinion  or  elsewhere.  Who  would  be  willing  to  transform  such  a 
man  into  the  secret  agitator,  muffling  his  face,  and  treading  the  dark  alley  to 
the  back  door  of  his  midnight  conventicle,  there  to  determine  upon  measures 
involving  the  welfare  of  his  fellow-citizens,  and  yet  giving  them  no  notice  of 
things  that  were  to  affect  them  so  deeply;  or  sitting,  perhaps,  in  secret  judg- 
ment upon  some  unsuspecting  neighbor,  trying  him  and  condemning  him  un- 
Becn,  or  unheard,  in  matters  touching  his  political  character  and  standing,  and 
involving,  it  may  be,  the  little  office  which  gives  bread  to  his  family;  and  yet, 
when  that  man  meets  him  in  the  morning,  and  offers  him  the  hand  of  unsuspec- 
ting friendship,  he  is  unable  to  relieve  his  heart  by  saying  to  him,  "You  wrong 
yourself  and  me  by  such  undeserved  friendship  and  confidence;  you  are  gras- 
ping the  hand  which  will  strike  you  a  blow  where  you  will  feel  it  most  keenly  ?" 
It  would  be  some  relief  to  a  generous  mind  to  be  able  to  say  this  much ;  but, 
spell-bound  by  some  terrible  vow  or  oath  of  secrecy,  he  must  walk  on  in  si 
and  bear  the  galling  load  of  unmerited  confidence.  The  edict  having  gone  forth, 
he  must  obey  it;  he  can  express  no  opinion  in  opposition  to  it;  he  must  whis- 
per no  dissent;  he  must  breathe  no  murmur  against  it.  He  belongs  not  to 
himself,  but  to  his  Order. 

And  this  is  the  Order  for  which  the  old  parties,  are  exhorted  to  disband  their 
organization,  and  lay  down  their  arms.  I  regret  to  say,  that  there  are  some 
symptoms  of  a  determination  on  the  part  of  the  Whigs  to  take  service  under 


90 

this  new  party.  It  has  been  said  by  some  wit,  "  That  next  to  an  old  friend,  we 
love  an  old  enemy."  I  will  not  pronounce  upon  that  sentiment,  but  certain  it 
is,  that  I  prefer  the  old  to  the  new  enemy.  The  old  Whigs  were  a  manly  party; 
their  issues  were  open;  they  might  be  wrong,  but  they  fought  upon  principles, 
and  principles  which  professed  to,  look  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole,  and  not  of 
R  part;  they  used  no  secret  contrivances  to  circumvent  their  adversary,  but  met 
him  in  the  open  field.  If  they  obtained  power  you  knew  what  to  expect  from, 
them.  But  what  a  change  is  here,  my  countrymen,  where  this  new  party  ap- 
pears to  take  their  place  in  the  political  arena  ?  It  is  not,  however,  for  me  to 
give  judgment  in  this  case,  or  to  proffer  advice  to  the  Whig  party,  lt  non  nos- 
trum tantas  companere  lites"  But  I  do  protest  against  disbanding  the  Demo- 
cratic party  for  any  such  organization.  \Ye  are  told  that  the  principles  of  this 
party,  and  upon  which  the  people  have  given  a  favorable  verdict,  are  obsolete. 
If  so,  it  must  be  for  the  reason  that  they  are  so  firmly  fixed  in  the  affection  of 
the  people,  as  not  to  be  shaken  hereafter;  but  if  they  are  thus  fixed,  it  was  tho 
Democratic  party  that  achieved  the  work.  Is  that  just  ground  for  disbanding 
them  ?  Do  we  change  our  physician  because  he  has  heretofore  cured  us,  or  our 
preacher  because  he  has  convinced  us,  or  our  house-joiner  because  his  work  has 
pleased  us  ?  But  how  can  it  be  said,  that  the  great  principles  of  our  public 
policy  in  regard  to  commerce  and  currency,  or  the  great  doctrines  of  constitu- 
tional construction,  can  ever  become  obsolete?  Whilst  our  government  lasts, 
they  must  constantly  recur,  and  be  applied  in  its  daily  legislation.  But  why 
disband  the  Democratic  party  ?  For  the  greater  part  of  a  period  of  more  than 
fifty  years,  it  has  administered  the  affairs  of  the  federal  government  in  such  a 
a  manner  as  to  enforce  respect  abroad,  to  secure  to  us  at  home  such  peace  and 
harmony  as  have  never  been  found  to  exist  elsewhere,  in  connection  with  the 
enjoyment  of  so  much  liberty,  and  to  develop  the  moral  and  material  resources 
of  the  country  to  an  extent  heretofore  unparalled  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
It  has  shown  itself,  too,  to  have  been  the  only  party  with  a  spirit  broad  and 
comprehensive  enough  to  steer  the  ship  of  State  safely  through  the  storms  of 
sectional  contests.  When  section  was  arrayed  against  section  upon  the  protec- 
tive policy,  it  was  this  party  which  intervened  to  adjust  matters  satisfactorily 
enough,  for  peace,  at  least,  by  the  application  of  the  great  principles  of  free 
trade.  Under  the  still  more  fearful  agitations  of  the  slavery  question,  the 
South  has  found  chiefly  within  the  ranks  of  this  party,  the  Northern  friends  who 
could  d,ire  to  be  just  to  her  and  true  to  the  Constitution,  without  fear  of  the 
personal  consequences  which  such  a  course  was  sure  to  involve.  During  tho 
last  Congress,  so  far  as  the  free  States  are  concerned,  that  party  entitled  itself 
to  the  lasting  respect  and  gratitude  of  the  South,  for  removing  the  odious  baa 
of  the  Missouri  restriction.  Throughout  the  representation  of  the  whole  of  the 
non-slaveholding  States,  no  man  was  to  be  found,  outside  of  the  Democratic 
party,  who  sustained  the  Nebraska  bill.  And  now  that  they  are  in  difficulties, 
for  so  noble  a  discharge  of  their  duties  to  the  Constitution,  is  this  a  time  to  de- 
sert or  distrust  them  ? 

Fellow  citizens,  I  have  spoken  of  the  issues  which  we  are  to  meet,  and  of 
the  trials  which  await  us.  In  view  of  these,  I  would  ask  every  man,  who  has 
a  Southern  heart  in  his  bosom,  if  he  would  not,  instead  of  the  present  state  of 
things,  restore,  if  he  could,  the  Democratic  party  as  it  was  in  the  last  Congress, 
to  its  former  power  in  that  body  ?  If  this  could  be  done,  every  friend  of  peace 
arid  the  Union  would  breathe  freer  and  easier ;  there  would  be  no  fear  of  a 
successful  attempt  in  any  branch  of  the  Government  to  abolish  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  or  in  the  Territories,  or  the  slave  trade  between  the 
States,  or  to  repeal  the  fugitive  slave  law,  or  to  restore  the  Missouri  restriction. 
If  then  such  a  change  would  be  desirable,  the  next  best  thing,  assuredly,  would 
be  to  unite  the  South,  as  a  body,  to  the  conservative  men  of  the  North,  who 
are  doing  battle  for  the  Constitution,  and  dare  to  be  just  to  our  rights.  Let  us, 


91 

in  this  way,  keep  together  a  party  strong  enough  to  defend  the  constitution  and 
the  peace  of  the  country,  until  the  sober  second  thought  of  the  people  comes 
in  to  the  rescue,  if,  indeed,  we  are  to  be  rescued  at  all.  What  other  road  is 
there  so  probably  safe  as  this?  'And  vrhere  are  those  conservative  men  to  be 
found,  ill  any  strength,  in  the  free  States,  except  in  the  Democratic  party? 
But  why,  of  all  the  States  in  the  confederacy,  should  Virginia  be  exhorted  to 
de»Tt  the  Democratic  party,  and  at  such  an  hour  as  this  ?  Has  she  lost  faith 


of  the  world  have  issued  from  the  tents  of  Shem ;  it  may  be  said,  I  think, 
with  as  much  truth,  that  many  of  the  great  principles  of  the  Democratic  party, 
emulated  from  the  log  cabin  of  the  Virginia  pioneer.  The  foundations  of 
much  of  its  public  policy  are  to  be  found  in  our  colonial  history ;  and  in  the 
outlet  of  that  party,  under  the  Federal  Constitution,  it  was  led  by  Virginians. 
The  very  banner  which  is  now  waiving  over  its  'hosts  in  the  field,  is,  to  a  great 
exknr,  the  work  of  Virginia  hands.  How  much  of  its  web  and  its  wood  were 
contributed  by  Jefferson  and  Madison — how  many  of  its  mottoes  were  inscribed 
by  Virginia  intellect — how  much  of  its  embellishment  is  due  to  Virginia  genius  ? 
Why,  then,  should  Virginia  desert  the  Democratic  party,  and  at  this  time  ? 
That  party  has  met  with  a  succession  of  reverses  in  the  free  States ;  the  tide  of 
the  battle  has  now  rolled  to  our  feet,  and  the  eyes  of  the  whole  country  are 
fixed  upon  us.  Are  we  invited  to  leave  our  posts  now,  because  of  so  many  de- 
feats elsewhere  ?  Is  it  the  cry  of  "  sauve  qui  pent1'  which  runs  along  the  line? 
Are  we  to  desert  our  friends  in  extremity  to  seek  for  personal  safety  ?  or,  worse 
still,  to  wheel  out  of  line  and  fire  upon  them,  that  we  may  make  our  separate 
peace  with  the  foe  ?  Perish  the  base  thought.  Why  is  it  that  our  friends  are 
in  difficulty?  Because  they  did  justice  to  us  in  the  Nebraska  bill,  and  refused 
to  wrong  the  South.  Is  this,  then,  a  time  to  desert  and  abandon  them  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  the  cruel  odds  which  are  against  them  ?  In  such  an  event, 
well  might  the  old  Commonwealth  hang  her  head  in  shame,  and  bow  her  neck 
to  the  yoke  of  the  oppressor ;  for  how  could  she  hope  for  the  trust  of  friends 
or  the  respect  of  foes,  after  such  conduct  ? 

Sirs,  it  seems  to  me,  that  no  true  son  of  Virginia,  no  matter  what  his  politics, 
ought  to  wish  her  to  change  now,  to  leave  the  field  when  such  desertion  would 
attach  so  cruel  an  attaint  to  her  shield.  "  If  she  is  to  change/'  we  ought  to 
gay,  "  let  it  be  at  some  other  time  ;"  not  now,  when  the  eyes  of  the  whole 
country  are  so  intently  fixed  upon  her,  and  when  the  hopes  of  her  Democratic 
brethren  everywhere  are  concentrated  upon  her,  to  redeem  the  fortunes  of  the 
fight.  Should  we  fail  them  now,  they  might  well  say,  as  Bruce  said  to  his 
friend  at  Rannockburn  :  "  Ah,  Randolph,  there  is  a  rose  fallen  from  your  chap- 
ter," because  his  enemy  had  passed  when  he  kept  ward. 

But,  fellow  citizens,  may  I  not  say  in  your  name,  and  in  that  of  the  great 
body  of  the  Virginia  Democracy,  the  enemy  shall  not  pass  when  we  keep  ward  ; 
we  will  roll  back  the  tide  of  battle  which  has  reached  our  feet,  and  redeem,  as 
more  than  once  before,  the  fortunes  of  this  fight.  And  why  not  both  say  and 
do  it?  They  are  the  principles  of  Virginia  which  are  at  issue;  the  principles 
to  which  for  more  than  fifty  years  she  has  adhered  through  good  and  evil  report, 
and  which  she  has  ever  regarded  as  constituting  the  bulwarks  of  her  safety ; 
they  are  the  principles,  too,  which  are  associated  with  the  recollection  of  so  ma- 
ny struggles  in  which  she  bore  a  conspicuous  part,  as  to  be  identified  with  her 
name  and  her  glory.  The  traditions  of  the  past  must  speak  for  them ;  the 
teachings  of  our  fathers,  the  maxims  of  the  homestead,  will  plead  for  them. 
"  Oh  earth,  earth,  earth  !"  said  the  Hebrew  prophet,  when,  wearied  out  with 
the  perversity  of  his  countrymen,  he  turned  to  his  native  soil,  and  adjured  that, 
to  see  if  he  could  not  arouse  within  it  some  answering  spirit. 


92 

If  such  an  appeal  was  made  in  such  a  cause  to  the  soil  of  the  Old  Dominion, 
it  seems  to  me  that  the  "  genius  loci"  would  spring  forth,  and  trumpet-tongued, 
sound  the  call,  which,  from  the  topmost  height  of  her  mountains  to  the  lowest 
depth  of  her  vallies,  would  summon  her  sons  to  the  rescue. 

Fellow  citizens,  it  has  been  said,  "  Let  Americans  rule  America."  I  say,  let 
American  principles  rule  America,  and  the  more  that  can  be  rallied  to  their 
support  the  better.  In  the  same  sense,  I  say  let  Virginians  rule  Virginia:  let 
Virginia  principles  rule  Virginia.  Above  all,  let  us  not  go  to  Massachusetts 
just  at  this  time,  to  borrow  counsel  or  beg  for  guidance.  Let  us  not  borrow 
from  her  any  of  those  u  isms"  which  have  made  her  so  fruitful  a  cause  of 
trouble  to  her  neighbors  and  unhappiness  to  herself.  Let  us  not  take  from  her 
this  last  of  her  "  isms,"  or  carry  her  sealed  letters  and  secret  cipher.  For  aughfc 
we  know,  they  may  prove  to  be  the  letters  of  Bellerophon,  and  we  may  become 
the  unconscious  bearers  of  the  warrant  for  our  own  destruction. 

The  time  has  been  when  Virginia  and  Massachusetts  exchanged  presents  of 
sentiment  and  opinion,  but  they  were  sentiments  in  favour  of  human  freedom, 
and  not  declarations  against  that  greatest  of  all  liberties,  the  liberty  of  con- 
science. For  myself,  I  have  closed  the  pages  of  Massachusetts  history,  since  it 
became  evident  that  this  new  party  had  complete  possession  of  her  State  gov- 
ernment. I  have  not  followed  to  the  conclusions  any  of  their  propositions;  to 
translate  their  old  Latin  motto  into  English,  because  the  language  is  foreign  ; 
or  to  introduce  the  songs  of  the  Hutchinson  family  into  legislative  session,  or 
to  exclude  from  their  public  schools  the  study  of  all  languages  but  the  vernacu- 
lar. Nor  have  I  enquired  very  curiously  into  the  precise  amount  of  Know 
Nothing  literature  which  existed,  to  fill  the  immense  void  which  would  be  made 
by  excluding  all  that  was  not  English.  But,  I  beg  pardon,  there  have  been 
some  events  in  her  recent  history  so  startling  as  to  enforce  the  most  unwilling 
attention.  I  have  seen,  with  pain  and  mortification,  that  a  committee  of  her 
Legislature,  armed  with  the  majesty  and  power  of  the  State,  did,  but  the  other 
day,  make  a  descent  upon  some  unprotected  Catholic  ladies,  who  were  conducting 
a  private  school,  and  used,  or  rather  abused,  their  authority  to  insult  these  defence- 
less females.  I  have  watched,  too,  with  the  deepest  interest,  the  case  of  Loring, 
to  see  if  the  power  of  that  great  State  is  to  be  used  to  crush  a  man,  merely  be- 
cause he  obeyed  the  obligations  of  his  oath,  of  the  constitution,  and  of  the  law 
which  he  was  appointed  to  administer.  If  that  deed  be  consummated,  then  I 
say  let  her  face  be  turned  to  the  wall ;  let  us  endeavor  to  forget  it  for  awhile, 
at  least  until  these  terrible  delusions  shall  have  passed  away,  which  vex  the 
brain,  and  disturb  the  brow. 

Fellow  citizens,  if  the  long  cherished  principles  of  Virginia  are  to  fall,  let  it 
be  at  another  time,  and  not  now.  Let  us  perish  in  some  open  field,  in  fair  and 
manly  fight;  but  let  us  not  die  by  the  bowstring  of  the  mute.  If  the  good  old 
flag  ship  of  Democracy  is  to  go  down,  let  it  be  with  colors  flying,  and  to  the 
sound  of  martial  music,  and  firing  the  last  shot  in  the  locker,  in  token  that  the 
Old  Guard  may  die,  but  cannot  surrender.  But  who  talks  of  failure  ?  These 
principles  will  live,  and  I  trust  endure  for  centuries  yet  to  come;  that  old  ship 
will  not  go  down;  but 

"  Its  flag  shall  brave  a  thousand  years, 
The  battle  and  the  breeze." 

Virginia  is  now  aroused  to  a  true  sense  of  the  importance  of  the  contest. 
She  understands  what  principles  are  in  issue,  and  she  will  soon  be  in  the  field 
with  all  her  banners  waiving,  and  ready  to  charge  with  all  her  chivalry.  In 
the  darkest  hour  of  the  revolution,  Gen.  Washington  said,  that  when  all  else 
failed,  he  would  plant  his  flag  in  west  Augusta,  and  there  defend  it  to  the  last. 
If  the  Democratic  party  should  be  defeated  in  all  other  places,  let  it  come  to  its 


93 

favorite  stronghold  in  the  Old  Dominion,  and  plant  its  banner  there.  And  let 
us  defend  and  protect  it,  until  the  people  come  up  to  its  rescue,  as  come  they 
will,  if  we  preserve  the  liberty  to  know,  to  argue,  and  to  utter  freely,  accord- 
ing to  conscience,  and  thus  afford  them  the  opportunity  to  understand  their  in- 
ti-ivsts  :  Whilst  that  continues,  I  will  neither  bate  in  heart,  nor  hope,  nor  con- 
sider all  is  lost  until  that  too  is  taken  from  us. 

But,  fejlow-citizens,  I  tax  your  patience  much  too  far.  I  have  been  carried 
on  by  earnest  wish  to  impress  you  as  deeply  with  a  sense  of  the  importance  of  the 
present  crisis,  as  I  feel  it  myself.  I  have  not  had  the  power  to  do  it,  as  I  ought 
to  have  known  before-hand ;  yet  I  struggled  on  under  the  hope  that  some 
chance  arrow  might  reach  its  mark.  I  felt,  too,  it  was  my  duty  to  warn  you  of 
the  danger,  which,  in  my  opinion,  lies  before  you.  I  have  shown  you  the  issues 
which  we  are  to  meet;  the  trials  that  are  not  to  be  avoided.  If  there  be  any 
peaceful  solution  of  these  difficulties,  I  have  pointed  you  to  the  only  direction 
in  which  I  think  it  can  be  found.  In  this  case,  I  believe  it  to  be  not  only  the 
path  of  safety,  but  that  of  honor  also.  You  will  see,  therefore,  why  I  have 
pressed  you  so  earnestly  to  take  it.  I  do  not  say  that  there  is  no  other  peaceful 
solution  of  our  difficulties,  but  merely  that  I  do  not  see  it  if  it  exists.  Provi- 
dence sometimes  opens  up  unexpected  avenues  of  escape  from  peril.  My  own 
knowledge,  too,  even  of  the  past,  is  very  limited  :  my  foreknowledge  still  more 
go.  '  There  are  chances  which  I  do  not  pretend  to  estimate.  I  shall  be  glad  to 
avail  myself  of  any  which  may  turn  up ;  for,  next  to  the  safety  and  honor  of 
my  country,  I  desire  its  peace.  Yes,  sirs,  its  peace ;  for  sometimes  the  whole 
story  of  national  happiness  may  be  written  in  that  one  word.  I  must  aver, 
therefore,  that  I  regard  th^se  interests  as  too  vast  to  be  staked  upon  chance. 
But  let  me  say  now,  and  once  for  all,  that  whatever  may  betide  her,  I  stand  by 
my  State.  If  troubles  should  corne,  I  will  take  my  full  share,  without  pausing 
to  inquire  what  party,  or  who  of  her  sons,  brought  them  upon  her.  We  are 
the  children  of  a  common  mother,  and  it  is  our  first  duty  to  defend  her. 

But  if  these  responsibilities  are  to  be  met,  and  I  admit  my  obligation  to  do 
so,  let  me  at  least  have  the  satisfaction  of  feeling,  that  if  Virginia  goes  into  the 
contest  with  no  taint  upon  her  brow,  or  reproach  upon  her  fidelity  to  the  sacred 
obligations  of  friendship,  may  it  never  be  said  of  her,  that  she  brought  her 
trouble  upon  herself  by  deserting  her  friends  when  in  peril  and  difficulty,  and 
may  the  cry  of  craven  never  pursue  her  as  "  the  pilot  that  blenched  at  the 
helm,  when  the  storm  blew  the  loudest."  If  all  else  is  lost,  let  us  at  least  save 
her  honor.  To  do  this,  nothing  more  is  necessary  than  that  she  should  be  true 
to  herself;  for  that  much  we  surely  ought  to  be  able  to  answer. 


MR.  WISE  AT  ALEXANDRIA. 

Mr.  Wise  addressed  the  citizens  of  Alexandria  in  one  of  the  ablest 
•peeches  he  made  during  the  campaign.  And  fortunately  a  talented  corps 
of  reporters  were  present,  who  took  down  the  speech  as  it  was  spoken.  If 
mistakes  occurred  in  this  report  we  have  never  heard  of  them,  either  from 
Mr.  Wise  or  his  friends.  And  as  we  take  for  granted  tha^t  it  was  the  only 
true  and  correct  report  that  was  ever  given  of  him  during  the  canvays,  we 
ghall  give  it  an  insertion  in  this  compilation.  The  speech  was  delivered  on 
the  night  of  Saturday,  the  3d  of  February,  at  Liberty  Hall,  before  an  im- 
mense concourse  of  citizens  and  strangers,  a  very  large  majority  of  the 


94 

members  of  Congress,  and  many  citizens  of  Washington,  having  been  at- 
tracted by  the  fame  of  his  oratory. 

[Reported  for  the  N.  Y.  Herald.] 

MR.  WISE'S  SPEECH  AT  ALEXANDRIA. — I  appear  before  you  to-night, 
citizens  of  Alexandria,  not  upon  my  own  account,  but  as  the  standard  bearer 
of  the  Democratic  party  of  this  State,  regularly  nominated  in  accordance 
with  the  time-honored  usage  of  the  party.  I  come  as  endorsed  and  twice 
endorsed  by  the  Democratic  party,  named  as  I  was  to  be  its  elector  in  1848, 
and  in  1852;  elector  for  the  people,  and  now  nominated  for  the  governor- 
ship of  the  state  of  Virginia.  If  any  Democrat  in  this  assembly  recollects 
that,  in  times  past,  I  did  not  always  regard  regularly  organized  nominations, 
and  chooses  to  vote  against  me  on  that  account,  let  him  so  do,  provided  he 
will  stand  where  I  have  ever  stood — upon  principle,  acting  bona  jide, 
an  earnest  honest  man  ;  let  him  then,  I  say,  vote  against  me.  When  he 
does  it  let  him  remember  that  he  then  does  the  very  act  for  which  he  is 
condemning  me — vote  against  the  regular  nominee.  If  there  be  any  Whig 
in  this  assembly  who  will  vote  against  me  because  I  am  not  what  he  calls 
consistent,  and  because  I  have  chosen  to  use  party  as  a  servant  and  not  as 
a  master,  I  would  not  ask  him  for  his  vote.  But  I  would  ask  him  not  to  be 
like  rne,  whom  he  chooses  to  deem  inconsistent.  (Applause.)  I  ask  him, 
when  he  comes  to  the  polls,  to  be  true  and  clear  in  act  and  conscience  ;  not 
carrying  before  him  the  dark  lantern  of  a  secret  association  and  gripping  a 
Democrat  with  one  hand  and  a  Whig  with  the  other.  If  he  is  the  jewel  of 
consistency,  which  he  would  have  me  be,  let  him  be  himself  guiltless. 
But,  gentlemen,  though  I  have  come  before  you  a  man  nominated  by  a  party, 
the  standard  bearer  of  a  party,  doing  battle  for  its  principles,  still  I  come 
not  here  to-night  to  address  party.  I  appear  before  the  people,  without 
distinction  of  party,  to  address  myself  to  a  republican  people  charged  with 
the  sacred  and*  holy  trust  of  self-government.  I  come  to  address  my- 
self to  a  people  whose  only  means  of  self-government  is  by  elec- 
tion. I  come  to  address  myself  to  the  reason,  and  the  conscience,  and  the 
judgment,  and  the  will  of  the  people,  whose  reason,  and  conscience,  and 
judgment,  and  will,  must  be  exercised  in  the  election,  and  let  me  ask  you — 
every  considerate,  every  conscientious  man,  every  man  with  a  stake  in 
hand,  either  of  capital  or  of  labor — let  me  ask  you  what  are  the  considera- 
tions which  ought  to  govern  a  republican  people  charged  with  the  trust  as- 
signed to  you  of  worthily  bestowing  on  a  man  the  highest  office  in  the  gift 
of  the  people  ?  Gentlemen,  you  have  great,  momentous,  deeply  interesting 
topics  of  domestic  policy  for  your  consideration.  There  is  your  public 
credit,  your  public  works,  your  commerce,  your  agriculture,  your  mining 
and  manufacturing,  and  the  great  subject  of  popular  instruction.  At  this 
moment  causes  are  operating,  not  only  affecting  your  national  credit,  your 
state  credit,  but  touching  the  nerves,  the  tender  nerves  of  your  private 
purses.  All  Europe  is  in  arms,  and  the  labor  of  Europe  is  abstracted  from 
the  world  of  commerce.  The  most  powerful  sovereigns  of  the  earth  are  in 
battle  array.  Each  crowned  head  of  Europe  is  calling  for  gold — incessantl}"- 
demanding  gold,  in  quantities  which  Australia  and  California,  and  Siberia 
cannot  supply.  And  this  demand  for  gold  affects  your  national  credit,  your 
state  credit,  and  your  private  credit.  I  mean  not  to  create  any  alarm  ;  I 
mean  not  to  caus|!  any  excitement  or  distrust  in  your  minds  in  relation  to 
the  condition  of  your  credit;  but  I  mean  to  say  that,  at  no  moment  of  my 
life  have  I  seen  the  time  when  there  was  more  necessity  than  there  is  at 
present  for  prudence  in  government,  and  prudence  in  private  affairs.  But 
there  is  a  salvo,  thank  God  !  We  live  on  a  continent  long  enough  and 
broad  enough  to  feed  the  world.  We  have  wheat,  we  have  corn,  we  have 


95 

•  . 

pork  and  beef.     One  little  port,  which    has  grown   up  like  Jonah's  gourd 
in  a  single  night,  on  the  lakes,  can  send   more  wheat  to   market  than  any 
four  ports  of  Russia! ;  and  that  city  which  is  called   the  Queen  City  of  the 
West,   is   haunted  by  the   ghosts   of  slaughtered  swine.     (Laughter.)     One 
single  power  of  Europe  now  at  war,  has  held  up  in  London  the  thermome- 
ter of  exchange  for  all  the  world ;  still,  we   have  the  producing  power  of 
provisions  and  munitions  of  war.     (Cheers.)    While  they  are  fighting,  thank 
God,  we  can  be  feeding.    (Laughter.)    This,  this  is  the  salvo.    Where  the  al- 
mighty dollar  is  made  so  much  of,  human  food  has,  by  the  adventitious  aid 
of  causes  now  existing,  advanced  in  value;  wheat   has   doubled  its   price. 
I  make  these  remarks  in  order  to  bring  your  attention  to  the  subject  of  the 
public  credit  of  the   state   of  Virginia,  whose  bonds  have  already  touched 
eighty-five  cents  in  the  dollar.     How  long  that  war  may  last,  what  accidents 
may   happen  from  it,  what  collisions  may   be  produced  b}*  it,    no  human 
foresight  can  now  see.     But  let  us  be  prepared,  and  then  come  what  may, 
I  pledge   myself-— if  elected  Governor  of  Virginia — that,  though  direst  ne- 
cessity may  come,  come  what  -will,  at  all   hazards,  the  public  credit  of  the 
state    of    Virginia   shall  be   preserved.     (Enthusiastic    applause.)     Private 
honor  is  precious ;  but,  as  infinitely  higher  than  an  individual  is  the  state, 
so  infinitely  higher  than  private   honor  is  the  honor  of  the  state.     Reproach 
Virginia  who  will,  reproach  her  whoever  is  so  inclined,  no  man  can  say  that 
her   honor  has  yet  been  stained.     (Vociferous  applause.)     ff  I  be  elected 
governor  of  Virginia,  then,  I  tell  you  bluntly  and  briefly,  if  it  be  necessary 
to   tax   you  to   defend  her   honor,    I    shall    commend  taxation,    though   it 
make    us  groan.     (Sensation.)     Next  to   public   credit,  next  to  the   honor 
of    the    state,    are    her  great  public    works,    in    the   high  march   of    pros- 
perity.    You  have  never  yet  had — it  is  unfortunate  you  never  have  had — 
a  s}rstem  of  public  works.     Your  works  have  been   begun  without  regard  to 
their  relative  importance.   You  have  not  completed  one  before  you  have  begun 
another  and  another.     Your  public  works  are  without  termini.     Your  canals 
and  your  railroads  are  like  ditches  dug  in  the  middle  of  a  plantation,  without 
outlet  at  either  end.     You   appropriate    for  them   to-day,  neglect  them  to- 
morrow, and  leave  the  appropriation  of  the  day  after  to-morrow  to  repair 
decay.     It  is  time  that  some   one  or  two,  or   as    many  as  you  can,  of  the 
public  works  of  the  state  of  Virginia  should  be  completed,  in  order  to  ease 
the  taxation  of  the  public.     It  is  time  they  should  be  completed,  in  order  to 
render  some  profit  to  the   state.     All  that  the  state   of  Virginia  has  been 
wanting  has  been  to  reach  out  her  arms  to  the   great  West — to  tap  the  Ohio 
river — to  join  the  Big  Bend  of  the  Ohio  river  with  your  rivers  in  the  East. 
|You  have  reversed,  in  times  past,  the  order  of  true  policy.     You  have  said, 
"  Let  us  have  capital — let  us  have  population,  and  then  we  will  have  a  city." 
But  you  never  will  have  capital — you  never  will  have  population,  until  you 
have  the  internal  improvements  to  build   up  a  city.     You  want  commerce. 
You    have   bays,  quays,  roadsteads,   which    would    float  the   navies   of  the 
world:   but   you    have  no  seat  of  commerce — no   centre    of  trade   has  yet 
pointed  its  spires  to  the  heavens  on  the   soil   of  Virginia.     That  is  because 
you  have  completed  none  of  your  public  works.     Whatever  difference  of 
opinion,  then,  may  have   been   as  to  the  commencement  of  your  works  of 
state  improvement,  now  that  they  are  begun — now  thnt  millions   have  been 
spout  and  wasted  upon  them — now  that  you  are  obliged  to  be  taxed  in  order 
to  complete  them,  the   sooner  you  submit  to  the  taxation  to  complete  your 
primary  works  the  better.     And  the  most  expeditious  and  certainly  the  most 
profitable    way    of  completing    vour    works    of  secondary  importance   i>.  to 
complete  those   of  primary  iir.porfn.nce.     If,  then,  elected  governor  of  the 
*tat«;  of  Virginia,  I  shall  use  all  the  influence  which  I  can  wield  consistently 
with  the  public  credit,  and  with  the  condition  of  the  people,  to  expedite  the 


96 

completion  of  all  the  works  of  primary  importance  in  the  state.  Next  to  your 
public  works  and  your  commerce,  your  agriculture  is  the  most  important. 
The  four  great  cardinal  sources  of  production — the  four  great  powers  of 
production  of  national  wealth  are  commerce,  agriculture,  manufacturing  and 
mining.  We  have  64,000  square  miles  as  rich  in  every  element  of  com- 
merce— in  every  element  of  agriculture,  of  manufacturing  and  mining,  as 
any  other  64,000  square  miles  on  the  face  of  the  globe ;  and  yet  with  all 
four  powers  in  her  hand,  Virginia  has,  thus  far  in  her  history,  relied  upon 
one  source  alone. 

[At  this  period  of  the  oration  the  noise  and  confusion  became  so  great 
from  the  press  of  people  in  the  hall,  that  Mr.  Wise  halted  in  his  speech, 
and  invited  persons  immediately  in  front  of  the  speaker  to  take  places  on  the 
platform,  so  as  to  make  room  for  the  crowd  behind — a  movement  which  pro- 
cured your  reporters  seats  in  a  more  eligible  location.  Mr.  Wise,  resuming 
said : — ] 

I  was  saying  when  interrupted,  that  the  state  of  Virginia  has  every  ele- 
ment of  commerce,  of  agriculture,  of  mining  and  of  manufacturing.  On 
Chesapeake  bay,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Happahannock  to  the  capes  of  the 
Chesapeake,  you  have  roadsteads  and  harbors  sufficient  to  float  the  navies 
of  the  world.  From  the  river  of  Swans,  on  whose  margin  we  are,  down  to 
the  line  of  North  Carolina,  you  have  the  Potomac,  the  Rappahannock,  the 
Penankatank,  from  Mob  jack  bay  to  James  river  and  the  Elizabeth  river — 
all  meeting  in  the  most  beautiful  sheet  of  water  of  all  the  seas  of  the  earth. 
You  have  the  bowels  of  your  Western  mountains  rich  in  iron,  in  copper,  in 
coal,  in  salt,  in  gypsum,  and  the  very  earth  is  rich  in  oil  which  makes  the 
very  rivers  inflame.  You  have  the  line  of  the  Alleghany,  that  beautiful 
blue  ridge  which  stands  placed  there  by  the  Almighty,  not  to  obstruct  the 
way  of  the  people  to  market,  but  placed  there  in  the  very  bounty  of  Provi- 
dence to  milk  the  clouds,  to  make  the  sweet  springs  which  are  the  sources 
of  your  rivers.  (Great  applause.)  And  at  the  head  of  every  stream  is  the 
waterfall  murmuring  the  very  music  of  your  power.  (Applause.)  And  yet 
commerce  has  long  ago  spread  her  sails  and  sailed  away  from  you ;  you 
have  not  as  yet  dug  more  than  coal  enough  to  warm  yourselves  at  your  own 
hearths  ;  you  have  set  no  tilt  hammer  of  Vulcan  to  strike  blows  worthy  of 
gods  in  the  iron  foundries.  You  have  not  yet  spun  more  than  coarse  cotton 
enough,  in  the  way  of  manufacture,  to  clothe  your  own  slaves.  You  have 
had  no  commerce,  no  mining,  no  manufactures.  You  have  relied  alone  on 
the  single  power  of  agriculture  :  and  such  agricurture  !  (Great  laughter.) 
Your  ledge-patches  outshine  the  sun.  Your  inattention  to  your  only  source 
of  wealth  has  scared  the  very  bosom  of  mother  earth.  (Laughter.)  Instead 
of  having  to  feed  cattle  on  a  thousand  hills,  you  have  had  to  chase  the  stump 
tailed  steer  through  the  ledge-patches  to  procure  a  tough  beef-steak. 
(Laughter.)  And  yet,  while  your  trust  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the  old 
negroes  of  the  plantation  ;  while  the  master  knows  as  little  as  his  slave 
about  the  science,  applied  science  of  agriculture,  while  commerce  and 
manufactures,  and  mining,  have  been  hardly  known,  and  agriculture  has 
been  neglected — notwithstanding  all  that,  and  notwithstanding  the  effect  of 
this  has  been  that  you  have  parted  with  as  much  population  as  you  have 
retained ;  notwithstanding  all  this,  I  say,  old  Virginia  still  has  a  million  and 
a  half  of  population  left  within  her  limits.  She  still  has  her  iron,  her  coal, 
her  gypsum,  her  salt,  her  copper.  She  still  has  her  harbors  and  rivers, 
and  her  water  power,  and  every  source  of  wealth  which  thinking  men, 
active  men,  enterprising  men,  need  apply  to. 

What  boast  like  that  can  be  made  for  any  other  state  on  the  earth? 
What,  then,  is  our  duty  as  Virginians,  as  patriots,  as  men  worthy  of  our 
fathers — worthy  to  be  the  husbands  of  our  wives  ?  What  is  our  duty  ? 


97 

Come  to  the  polls  and  vote  against  me  and  welcome.  I  am  nothing.  Record 
your  votes  under  the  influence  of  any  blind  prejudice  that  you  please. 
Record  your  votes  against. me.  You  strike  down  but  an  humble  man  when, 
you  strike  me  down,  and  though  you  strike  down  a  man  who  is  too  proud  to 
beg  you  to  vote  for  him,  yet  he  would  kneel  as  a  little  child  and  implore  you 
to  come  to  the  polls,  to  do  something  to  put  forth  your  strength  to  raise  up 
this  blessed  old  commonwealth.  (Great  cheering.)  Her  head  is  in  the  dust. 
With  all  this  plentitude  of  power,  she  has  been  dwarfed  in  the  Union;  but 
by  her  gods !  I  say  that  she  has  the  power,  now,  the  energy,  the  resources — 
may  I  say  the  men?  to  be  put  upon  the  line  of  progress  to  the  eminence  of 
prosperity,  to  pass  New  York  yet  faster  in  the  Union  than  ever  New  York 
has  passed  her.  (Cheers.)  You  have  been  called  the  "  Old  Dominion." 
Let  us  as  Virginians,  I  implore  you,  this  night  resolve  that  a  new  era  shall 
dawn,  and  that  henceforth  she  shall  be  called  the  New  Dominion,. 
(Cheering.) 

Give  her  commerce,  and  she  will  have  capital  and  population ;  she  will 
have  agriculture,  mining  and  manufacturing;  and  then  she  will  want  but  one 
thing  more — the  enlightenment  of  her  people.  (Cheers.)  She  wants  her 
popular  instruction.  I  do  not  mean  to  recommend  to  you,  or  to  any  people 
within  the  limits  of  Virginia,  any  little  day  school,  night  school,  common 
school,  a  b  c,  single  rule  of  three,  or  Peter  Parley  yankee  system  of  instruc- 
tion. (Laughter.)  I  want  Mr.  Jefferson's  policy,  that  he  originally  recom- 
mended to  the  state,  to  be  consummated — an  enlarged  system  of  science, 
of  literature,  of  learning,  to  be  given  to  all  classes  of  our  people,  to  leaven 
the  whole  lump.  (Applause.)  *I  care  not  how  blue  a  Federalist  that  man 
may  be  who  curses  his  red  waistcoat,  but  Thomas  Jefferson  has  three  thing* 
recorded  upon  his  tomb — that  he  was  the  writer  of  the  Declaration  of  the 
Independence  of  our  country,  the  founder  of  the  Unirer.-ity  of  Virginia,  and 
the  author  of  the  act  of  religious  freedom.  (Cheers.)  For  these  three  good 
work*  alone,  every  man — Democrat  or  Federalist — mty  kneel,  patriotically 
.  at  his  grave.  (Cheers.)  The  great  apostle  of  Democracy  never 
intended  that  the  University  of  Virginia  should  be  like  Michael  Angclo's 
dome  in  the  heavens,  without  scaffolding  or  support — never.  He  intended 
that  it  should  be  a  dome  over  roof  and  cornice,  and  walls  of  colleges  and 
academies,  and  of  common  schools  ;  that  it  should  be  a  dome  indeed,  but  the 
dome  of  a  grand  structure  for  the  whole  people.  He  intended  that  the  Uni- 
versity should  superintend  the  colleges,  and  that  there  should  be  a  college  for 
every  centre ;  that  the  colleges  should  superintend  the  academies,  and  that 
there  should  be  an  academy  for  every  centre  ;  that  the  academies  should 
superintend  the  common  schools,  and  that  there  shoufd  be  a  common  school 
for  every  centre.  He  knew  what  equality  was.  He  knew  what  Democracy 
was;.  He  knew  that  the  republican  institutions  of  this  land  were  based  upon 
no  other,  no  surer  foundation  than  intelligence  and  virtue.  His  Democracy 
did  not  drag  men  down  from  their  elevation  into  the  mire  ;  but  his  Demo- 
crafy  levelled  upwards.  He  knew  that  if  this  man's  son  had  all  the  means 
of  education,  of  common  school,  of  academy,  of  college  and  of  university, 
and  then  might  travel  abroad  for  his  learning,  he  could  not  be  the  equal  of 
the  son  of  the  father  who  had  to  work  for  his  daily  food.  He  knew  that  if 
it  was  inhuman  for  the  parent  to  starve  the  body  of  a  child,  it  wai  much 
more  inhuman  to  starve  the  mind  of  a  child.  (Cheers.)  He  knew  that  if 
you  could  afford  to  raise  taxes  for  alms-houses  and  pauper-houses,  to  feed 
the  bodies  of  the  poor,  it  was  much  more  the  duty  of  the  state  mother  to 
furnish  mental  food  to  her  children.  His  Democracy  was  like  the  principle  of 
Christian  charity — like  the  great  virtue  of  Christian  charity — it  elevated  men 
to  the  highest  platform  of  elevation — high  as  king's  heads ;  made  them  sov* 
ereigns  indeed,  to  stand  equal  foot,  equal  head,  uncontradicted,  except  by  tho 
7 


98 

laws  of  God — with  equal  opportunities  for  all.  It  reached  down,  to  raise 
men  up  to  the  common  level  of  the  highest.  He  knew  that  property — pro- 
perty which  must  be  taxed  for  instruction — had  no  other  muniment,  no  other 
defence,  no  other  safe  reliance  for  its  protection,  but  intelligence  among  the 
people.  (Applause.)  Is  there  a  rich  man,  then,  in  this  assembly  that  loves 
a  dollar  better  than  the  intelligence  of  the  people  ?  Is  there  any  old  bache- 
lor among  you,  who  has  no  child  of  his  own,  who  is  too  mean  to  support 
some  poor  man's  daughter  as  his  wife,  or  to  be  rich  in  having  some  rich 
man's  daughter  to  support  him  ?  (Laughter.)  Is  there  a  man  in  the  state 
\vho  has  already  educated  his  sons,  who  is  now  unwilling  to  be  taxed  in  order 
that  his  poor  neighbor's  children  may  be  educated — educated  not  only  in  the 
common  school,  but  in  the  academy,  the  college,  the  university?  If  there 
be,  let  him  remember  that  before  he  dies  his  title  to  his  property  may  have 
to  be  tried  by  a  jury  to  say  whether  that  property  be  his  own  or  not, 
and  if  God  shall  let  him  live  till  he  dies  (laughter,)  and  he  can  keep  what 
property  he  has,  let  him  remember  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  what  law- 
yers call  devisabit  vel  non,  that  a  jury  may  have  to  decide  whether  or  not  he 
had  sense  enough  to  make  his  will  when  he  died.  An  ad  valorem  tax  upon 
property  is  the  appropriate  tax  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  peo- 
ple. Property  owes  its  defence  to  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  the  people, 
and  property  ought,  therefore,  to  be  taxed  for  the  education  of  the  people. 
(Cheers.)  We  want  one  school  for  this  state  that  will  revive  our  agriculture. 
We  want  a  school  like  the  Mechlin  Institute  of  Prussia — an  institute  of  ap- 
plied sentence — an  institute  not  to  teach  political  economy  and  send  young 
gentlemen  to  the  legislature  before  they  have  hardly  picked  in  their  tuition ; 
but  an  institute  that  will  teach  them  domestic  ecomomy,  the  proper  relation 
between  floating  and  fixed  capital  at  home — how  much  money  a  man  must 
have  to  buy — how  much  land,  how  much  stock,  and  how  many  impliments 
he  must  have ;  an  institute  that  will  teach  the  physiology  of  animals  and 
plants;  an  institute  that  will  teach  natural  philosophy  and  the  diseases  of  an- 
imals and  plants.  Then,  gentlemen,  the  father  who  has  spent  his  life  in 
acquiring  real  estate,  in  spreading  out  his  broad  acres,  in  adding  family  to 
family  of  slaves,  may  die  with  a  son  instructed  how  to  manage  the  estate. 
You  will  then  have,  or  it  will  be  your  opportunity  to  have,  the  same  privilege 
that  the  German  baron  has,  of  sending  your-  son  for  his  two,  or  three,  or 
four,  or  five  years'  apprenticeship  to  an  institute  of  that  kind  that  will  teach 
him  agricultural  chemistry  and  every  other  science  necessary  to  enable  him 
to  manage  an  estate  of  lands  and  negroes.  The  present  condition  of  things 
has  existed  too  long  ifi  Virginia.  The  landlord  has  skinned  the  tenant,  arid 
the  tenant  has  skinned  the  land,  until  all  have  grown  poor  together.  (Laugh- 
ter.) I  have  heard  a  story — I  will  not  locate  it  here  or  there — about  the 
condition  of  the  prosperity  of  our  agriculture.  I  was  told  by  a  gentleman  in 
Washington,  not  long  ago,  that  he  was  travelling  in  a  county  not  a  hundred 
miles  from  this  place,  and  overtook  one  of  our  citizens  on  horseback,  with 
perhaps  a  bag  of  hay  for  a  saddle,  without  stirrups,  and  the  leading  line  for 
a  bridle  ;  and  he  said,  "  Stranger,  whose  house  is  that  ?"  "  It  is  mine,"  was 
the  reply.  They  came  to  another.  "Whose  house  is  that  ?"  "  Mine,  too, 
stranger."  To  a  third:  "  And  whose  house  is  that?"  "That's  mine,  too, 
stranger;  but  don't  suppose  that  I  am  so  darned  poor  as  to  own  all  the  land 
about  here."  (Laughter.)  We  may  own. land,  we  may  own  slaves,  we  may 
own  roadsteads  and  mines,  we  may  have  all  the  elements  of  wealth,  but  un- 
\*less  we  apply  .intelligence,  unless  we  adopt  a  thorough  system  of  instruction, 
it  is  utterly  impossible  that  we  can  develop  as  wre  ought  to  develop,  and  as 
Virginia  is  prepared  now  to  do,  and  to  take  the  line  of  march  towards  the 
very  eminence  of  prosperity.  She  is  in  the  anomalous  condition  of  an  old 
state  that  has  all  the  capacities  of  a  new  one — of  a  new  state  that  has 


99 

all  the  capacities  of  an  old  one.  Unite  with  me,  then,  I  implore  you; 
unite  with  each  other;  let  us  as  Virginians  resolve  that  there  shall  be  a 
long  pull,  a  strong  pull,  and  a  pull  altogether,  without  distinction  of  party, 
without  prejudice  of  party — that  there  shall  be  a  united  brotherhood  of 
Virginians  to  rear  the  head  of  the  old  mother  commonwealth  out  of  the  dust. 
(Cheers.)  If  I  am  elected  governor  of  the  state  of  Virginia,  it  shall  be  my 
devotion,  my  earnest  endeavor,  in  season  and  out  of  season  to  promote  her 
public  credit,  her  internal  improvements,  her  commerce,  her  agriculture,  her 
mining  and  manufacturing,  and  her  popular  instruction. 

Well,  now,  gentlemen,  is  not  that  enough  !  Are  these  topics  not  sufficient 
for  an  election  for  chief  magistrate  for  the  state  of  Virginia?  Is  there  any- 
thing else  worth  considering?  With  conscientious,  with  considerate  men — 
with  men  determined  to  cast  aside  minor  things,  mere  prejudices,  whether 
personal  or  political — is  there  not  enough  in  these  six  cardinal  points  to  guide 
your  votes  and  to  govern  this  election  ?  What  more  do  you  want  ?  Why, 
you  are  in  the  habit  of  discussing  federal  politics ;  and  permit  me  to  say  to 
you,  very  honestly  and  very  openly,  that  next  to  brandy,  next  to  card-play- 
ing, next  to  horse-racing,  the  thing  that  has  done  Virginia  more  harm  than 
any  other  in  the  course  of  her  past  history,  has  been  her  insatiable  appetite 
for  federal  politics.  (Cheers  and  laughter.)  Sh3  has  given  all  her  great 
men  to  the  Union.  Her  Washington,  her  Jefferson,  her  Madison,  her  Mar- 
shall, her  galaxy  of  great  men,  she  has  given  to  the  Union.  When  and 
where  have  her  best  sons  been  at  work,  devoting  their  best  energies  to  her 
service  at  home  ?  Richmond,  instead  of  attending  to  Richmond's  business, 
has  been  too  much  in  the  habit  of  attending  to  the  affairs  of  Washington, 
city,  when  there  are  plenty  there,  God  knows,  to  attend  to  them  themselves. 
(Laughter.)  If  you  want  my  opinions  upon  federal  politics,  though,  I  shall 
not  skulk  them.  The  most  prominent  subject  is  that  of  the  foreign  war.  It 
is  said  that  this  administration  is  a.  "do  nothing  administration."  To  its 
honor  I  can  claim  of  every  fair-minded  man  of  you — to  its  honor  I  can  claim 
that  it  is  at  least  preserving  our  neutrality  in  the  foreign  war.  (Loud  and 
prolonged  cheers.)  I  concur  with  them  in  that  policy,  and  here  let  me  say, 
that,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  my  sentiments  are  utterly  opposed  to  any 
filibustering  in  any  part  of  the  world.  (Cheers.) 

Then  you  have  the  question  of  the  public  lands.  We  are  told,  now-a-day?, 
that  all  the  old  issues  are  dead.  It  is  not  so.  If  theile  has  been  one  thing 
next  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  more  than  another  among  our 
institutions  which  has  been  grand,  and  great,  and  good,  it  has  been  the  ope- 
ration of  the  great  land  ordinance  of  1787.  It  came,  like  most  of  the  insti- 
tutions of  North  America,  by  inspiration  from  Heaveh.  There  is  no  proto- 
type of  the  land  system  of  the  United  States  in  anciont  or  modern  times. 
There  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  feudal  system.  There  is  nothing  like  it  in  any 
of  the  examples  of  modern  Europe.  Its  very  beauty  is  its  simplicity.  An 
eminent  domain  ;  a  virgin  soil,  richer  than  any  that  God's  sun  ever  shone 
upon,  or  heaven's  dews  ever  watered;  the  simple  system  of  sectioning  the 
public  lands  by  north  and  south,  east  and  west  lines,  making  them  the  homes 
of  the  brave  and  of  the  free,  clear  of  all  litigation — selling  them  at  the  lowest 
price,  at  a  minimum  that  is  within  the  reach  of  the  poorest  man,  and  gradu- 
ating.the  price  before  exposed  to  sale  at  the  minimum  by  an  infinitesimal 
graduation — those  who  have  been  denouncing  the  graduation  of  the  public 
lands  ought  to  remember  that  there  never  has  been  a  time  when  the  price  of 
the  public  lands  was  not  graduated;  that  they  have  ever  been  exposed  first 
to  public  sale  before  they  have  been  exposed  for  sale  for  the  minimum  price 
of  a  dollar  and  a  quarter.  You  had  an  eminent  domain,  which  was  a  sacred 
trust,  for  the  common  use  and  benefit  of  all  the  states  of  the  Union.  You 
had  that  eminent  domain  under  your  own  care,  to  which  the  poorest  man, 


100 

the  forlornest  man  of  the  east,  might  go  for  a  home  in  the  west.  You  had 
room  there  for  the  frontierman,  for  the  actual  settler,  armed  with  the  simple 
implement  of  the  logwood  axe  to  hew  out  unto  himself  a  home  for  settle- 
ment, to  strike  the  light  of  the  log  cabin,  and  to  invite  the  oppressed  of 
ever}7  land  to  our  land  for  an  asylum,  with  a  soil  rich  enough  to  grow  a  vine 
luxuriant  enough  to  shade  him  and  his  dwelling  all  over,  where  there  were 
none  to  make  him  afraid.  (Cheers.)  If  you  ask  me  for  my  opinion  in  rela- 
tion to  the  public  lands,  I  will  tell  you  that  first  and  foremost,  next,  at  least 
to  preserving  the  sacred  trust  as  a  source  of  revenue  to  ease  taxation  by 
customs,  I  would  protect,  by  all  the  protective  policy  in  my  power,  the  actual 
settlers  upon  our  public  lands.  (Cries  of  "good,  good.") 

I  have  been  in  the  west;  I  have  seen  the  frontiersman;  1  have  broken  his 
bread;  I  have  drank  of  his  cup ;  I  know  his  enterprise;  I  know  his  man* 
hood;  I  know  his  privations  ;  I  know  his  courage;  I  know  his  endurance; 
and  I  know  that  he  is  the  best  of  the  right  arm  of  the  power  of  his 
country.  (Cheers.)  I  know  that  with  his  logwood  axe  alone,  he  has  laid 
the  empires  of  no  less  than  seventeen  sovereignties  in  our  confede- 
racy. I  would  protect  him,  wrhile  at  the  same  time  I  would  conserve 
the  eminent  domain  of  this  country,  as  a  source  of  revenue  to  be  held  as 
legislation  of  Congress.  I  would  prevent  the  public  lands  from  being 
sacred  as  the  revenue  by  customs.  I  would  protect  it  from  the  partial 
the  prey  and  the  plunder  of  politicians.  I  would  protect  them  from  land- 
jobbers  and  politicians.  I  would  prevent  them  from  becoming  a  source  of 
corruption  to  Congress,  thereby  destroying  our  state  rights  and  our  state 
sovereignty.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  would  protect  them  from  the  electioneering  of 
parties ;  and  any  bill  that  has  these  ends  in  view  has  my  concurrence.  The 
President  of  the  United  States  tells  us  that  23,000,000  of  acres  of  the  pub- 
lic lands  have  been  disposed  of  during  the  past  year,  and  that  only  7,000,000 
have  been  sold.  Thus,  without  law,  while  7,000,000  have  been  sold,  16,- 
000,000  have  been  given  away ;  and  the  price  of  the  public  lands,  without 
changing  the  minimum,  has  been  reduced  and  graduated  with  a  vengeance. 

As  to  the  subject  of  internal  improvements  that,  too,  is  alive  and  kicking. 
That  part  of  "  the  American  system  "  is  not  a  dead  issue.  Congress  has  been 
passing  harbor  and  river  bills.  It  is  a  part  of  the  system  of  the  light-houses 
of  the  skies  of  1828.  It  is  a  part  of  "the  American  system,"  and  I  thank 
God  that  not  only  has  there  been  a  Hickory  and  a  Tyler,  but  that  now  there 
is  found  a  Pierce  to  thunder  his  veto  against  such  measures.  (Great  cheer- 
ing.) 

You  are  told  that  the  tariff  is  a  dead  issue.  That,  too,  is  alive.  Such  are 
the  energies  and  resources  of  this  country,  that  we  have  paid  the  debt  of 
th«  war  of  the  Revolution,  we  have  paid  the  debt  of  the  second  war  of  In- 
dependence, and  we  have  paid  the  debt  of  the  war  with  Mexico;  and  now 
there  is  a  proposition  for  a  reduction  of  the  revenue.  A  question  arises, 
shall  that  reduction  be  made  upon  the  protected  or  the  unprotected  class  of  ar- 
ticles? On  that  subject,  I  stand  where  I  have  ever  stood — a  free  trade  man. 
(Loud  cheers.) 

But,  gentlemen,  I  am  hurrying  over  all  these  topics  to  get  at  one  which  is 
the  subject  of  the  day — the  fatal  subject  of  discussion.  I  mean  the  inter- 
state relations  of  this  Union  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  I  have  had  a  very 
severe  training  in  collision  with  the  acutest.  the  astutest,  the  archest,  enemy 
of  Southern  slavery  that  ever  existed.  I  mean  the  "Old  Man  Eloquent," 
John  Quincy  Adams.  I  must  have  been  a  dull  boy  indeed  if  I  had  not 
learned  my  lessons  thoroughly  on  that  subject.  And  let  me  tell  you  that, 
again  and  again,  I  had  reason  to  know  and  to  feel  the  wisdom  and  the  saga- 
city of  that  departed  man.  Again  and  again,  in  the  lobby,  on  the  floor,  he 
told  me,  told  me  vauntingly,  that  the  pulpit  would  preach,  and  the  school  would 


101 

teach,  and  the  press  would  print,  among  the  people  who  had  no  tie  and  no 
association  with  slavery,  until,  would  not  only  be  reached  the  slave  trade 
between  the  states,  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  slavery  in  the 
District,  slavery,  in  the  territories,  but  slavery  in  the  states.  Again  and 
again,  he  said  that  he  would  not  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
if  he  could  ;  for  he  would  retain  it  as  a  bone  of  contention,  a  fulcrum  of  the 
lever  for  agitation,  agitation,  agitation,  until  slavery  in  the  states  was  shaken 
from  its  base.  And  his  prophesies  have  been  fulfilled — fulfilled  far  faster, 
and  more  fearfully,  certainly,  than  ever  he  anticipated  before  he  died. 
When  I  left  the  House  of  Representatives  at  that  capitol,  ten  years  ago,  had 
I  said  to  Mr.  Adams,  "Sir,  to  me  it  seems  that  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  can  carve  out  a  piece  of  slavery  territory  and  make  it  free  soil,"  he 
would  have  said,  "No,  sir;  Congress  will  not  dare  to  attempt  such  a  thing; 
it  would  be  a  casus  belli  if  they  did."  And  yet,  have  you  not  seen  that 
Congress  has  carved  out,  in  round  numbers,  44,000  square  miles  from  the 
slave  state  of  Texas  ?  Have  you  not  seen  a  brigadier  general  (Riley)  of  the 
United  States  army,  with  his  epaulettes  on  his  shoulders,  cocked  hat  upon, 
his  head,  and  sword  at  his  side,  in  full  panoply  of  uniform,  acting  as  a  briga- 
dier general  of  the  standing  army  of  the  United  States,  go  into  the  territory 
of  California,  and  there,  with  the  right  arm  and  the  left  arm  of  executive 
power — the  army  and  navy — at  his  command  ;  have  you  not  seen  him,  I 
say,  under  tht  pretext  that  the  army  and  navy  could  not  protect  persons  and 
property,  proclaim  from  the  camp  a  territorial  Legislature,  a  territorial 
judiciary,  from  iribunales  superior es  down  to  the  alcade!  Have  you  not  seen 
him  constitute  himself  chief  executive — territorial  executive?  How  dared 
a  brigadier  general  of  the  United  States  standing  army  thus  to  assume  the 

fwer  of  usurping  territorial  government?  Had  he  been  court  martialed  he 
mid  have  produced  his  order  from  a  Delaware  secretary  of  state  (Mr. 
ay  ton)  and  he  would  have  replied  that  the  solus  populi — the  safety  of  the 
people — required  this  territorial  usurpation  by  a  brigadier  general  of  the 
United  States  army.  Well,  if  it  did  require  the  civil  power — as  well  as  the 
army  and  navy — why,  the  plea  of  necessity  was  met.  There  was  the 
Legislature,  there  was  the  judiciary,  there  was  the  civil  executive,  as  well 
as  the  brigadier  general,  who  had  at  his  command  the  navy  and  the  army 
that  was  there.  How  dared  he  then,  to  go  further,  after  the  plea  of  neces- 
sity was  sufficiently  met,  and  after  the  safety  of  the  people  was  secured  ? 
How  dared  he  go  forth  and  proclaim  the  time,  place  and  manner  of  holding 
elections?  Elections  for  what?  Elections  for  a  Convention.  Convention, 
for  what?  To  form  a  constitution.  A  constitution,  for  what?  To  create  a 
state — a  sovereignty.  Yes,  by  proclamation  from  the  camp  of  the  brigadier 
general  of  the  standing  army  of  the  United  States,  elective  franchise  was 
created.  He  gave  it  to  Chilean,  to  Chinese,  to  Patagonian,  to  Peruvian,  and — 
last,  though  not  least — to  a  Georgia  representative  in  Congress  (Thomas  But- 
ler King.)  And  after  creating  suffrage  to  create  a  convention — the  highest 
act  of  the  people — convention  to  create  a  constitution,  constitution  to  create 
a  state,  a  sovereign  state — the  highest  act  of  creation  that  can  be  performed 
by  human  power — an  act  next  only  to  those  of  Deity — no  higher  act  can  the 
people  themselves  exert — he  inducted  California  a  free  soil  state  into  the 
Union.  Thus  free  soilism  has  been  proclaimed  from  the  camp  of  the  stand- 
ing army.  And  what  has  been  the  result?  "Acquiesce"  was  the  word ; 
"  acquiesce."  They  have  traded  on  the  pious  attachment  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States  to  that  palladium  of  liberty,  the  Union  of  the  states. 
They  have  traded  upon  the  feeling  of  alarm  for  the  Union  which  was  never 
in  danger — never,  never.  They  made  "acquiesce"  the  pass-word  for  the 
people.  And  what  did  we  get  in  return  ?  We  got  a  free  soil  law.  (Derisive 
cheers.)  We  got  the  grant  of  the  constitution  itself — the  glorious  privilege 


102 

of  catching  runaway  niggers.  For  that,  for  that  we  have  submitted  to  44,000 
square  miles  of  slave  state  territory  being  taken  and  converted  into  free  soil 
territory.  For  that  we  have  acquiesced  in  the  proclamation  of  free  soil 
California  from  the  camp  of  the  standing  army  of  the  United  States,  without 
authority  of  Congress.  Aye,  but  they  tell  me  it  was  all  sanctioned  by  the 
people.  The  people  !  The  word  people  has  two  significations.  It  is  either 
a  mere  aggregate  of  human  beings,  or  it  is  an  organized  aggregate  of  human 
beings.  Nothing  short  of  an  organized  aggregate  of  human  beings  in  Cali- 
fornia could  ever  have  sanctioned  this  usurpation  ;  there  was  no  organized 
aggregate  of  human  beings,  either  to  permit  the  usurpation  or  to  sanction  the 
usurpation.  But  we  got  the  fugitive  slave  act.  But  how  execute  it?  Can  we 
execute  it  ?  A  master  from  the  state  of  Maryland,  directly  after  the  act  was 
passed,  went  to  Pennsylvania  to  recover  his  property ;  he  was  murdered  ; 
and  judge  and  jury  could  not  be  found  to  execute  the  law,  to  render  a  verdict 
or  pass  judgment  upon  the  crime  of  murder  itself,  in  that  case.  At  last  a 
Virginia  master,  from  this  town,  I  believe,  went  to  Boston  to  have  the  law 
executed,  and  to  execute  it  the  marshal  had  to  call  on  the  President  of  the 
United  States — and  thank  God,  there  was  a  Democratic  New  Hampshire 
President  of  the  United  States,  who  was  ready  to  obey  the  call.  (Cheers.) 
The  army  and  navy  were  ordered  to  protect  the  marshal  in  the  performance 
of  his  duty.  He  did  perform  his  duty,  at  an  expense  of  $13,000  to  the  city 
of  Boston,  and  of  more  than  $100,000  to  the  government  and  to  individuals; 
and  the  captive  was  brought  back  by  reclamation  to  Virginia.  And  what 
has  been  the  consequence?  Now  we  come  to  the  dragon's  teeth.  Mr. 
Adams'  prediction  has  been  fulfilled.  The  preachers  have  begun.  The 
three  thousand  preachers  of  Christian  politics  opened  their  battery  from  the 
press.  I  have  here  a  specimen  of  one  of  their  sermons,  wThich  I  beg  leave 
to  read  to  you.  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  discourse  called  "The  Rendition  of 
Antony  Burns,  its  causes  and  con&equences  ;  a  discourse  on  Christian  politics, 
delivered  in  Williams'  Hall,  Boston,  Whitsunday,  June  4,  1854."— I  beg 
you,  gentlemen,  to  remember  that  date — 4th  of  June,  1854 — because  some 
prophecies  are  made  in  that  sermon  which  are  wonderful  prophecies,  if  this 
preacher  did  not  know  something — (laughter) — "by  James  Freeman  Clarke, 
minister  of  the  church  of  the  Disciples,"  published  by  request — second 
edition  of  two  thousand — printed  at  Boston.  It  commences  with  introductory 
services.  There  is — first  the  reading  the  psalms — (laughter) — second,  a 
hymn;  third,  selections  from  the  prophets;  fourth,  prayer;  fifth,  reading  of 
Scripture — selections  from  the  lamentations  of  Jeremiah — (great  laughter) — 
sixth,  a  hymn : — 

"Men,  whose  boast  it  is  that  ye 
Come  from  fathers  brave  and  free — 
If  there  breathes  on  er.rth  a  slave, 
Are  ye  truly  free  and  brave  ? 

They  are  slaves  who  dare  not  speak 
For  the  fallen  and  the  weak. 
They  are  slaves  who  will  not  choose, 
Hatred,  scoffing  and  abuse, 

Rather  than  in  silence  shrink 

From  the  truth  they  needs  must  think — 

They  are  slaves  who  dare  not  be 

In  the  right  with  two  or  three."     (Great  laughter.) 

These  are  cabilistic  terms,  gentlemen, — "  Two  or  three."     Then  comes 
seventhly,  the  sermon  : — 

"  Is  this  the  city,  which  men  call  the  perfection  of  beauty,  the  joy  of  the 


103 

whole  earth  ?  Her  gates  are  sunk  into  the  ground.  He  hath  destroyed  and 
broke  her  bars.  Her  kings  and  princes  are  among  Gentiles.  The  law 
is  no  more.  Her  prophets  also  find  no  vision  from  the  Lord." 

That  is  the  text.     The  preacher  says : 

"  I  have  invited  you  here  this  morning  to  meditate  on  the  facts  of  the 
week — the  phenomenon  whL'h  has  occurred  in  the  streets  of  Boston.  The 
slave  power  which  has  triumphed  in  Congress  over  the  rights  of  the  north, 
which  has  violated  sacred  compacts,  and  broken  contracts,  has  *  *  *  come  north 
to  Boston,  taken  possession  of  the  court-house,  so  as  to  govern  our  whole 
police  force,  our  whole  military  force,  and  suspend  and  interrupt  the  business 
of  our  citizens,  until  its  demands  can  be  satisfied.  *  *  *  The  slave 
power  drove  the  Indians  out  of  Georgia,  brings  on  a  Florida  war,  and,  at  last 
grown  bolder,  proposes  to  annex  Texas  as  a  slave  state,  and  after  a  struggle 
carries  the  main  feature  of  that  transaction.  It  was  done  avowedly  to  pre- 
vent the  abolition  of  slavery  and  to  strengthen  the  slave  power.  Not  only 
was  this  purpose  declared  in  Congress  by  Mr.  Henry  A.  Wise  and  others, 
but  also  by  Mr.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  State,  in  diplomatic  correspondence 
with  Mr.  Pakenham,  the  British  Minister.  *  *  *  A  blind  adherence  to 
party  is  another  cause  of  our  present  position.  The  mere  names  of  Whig, 
Democrat,  or  Free  Soiler  are  now  worth  nothing." 

Do  you  not  hear  some  talk  like  that  now  ? 

<:  We  must  have  men  to  vote  for — upright,  downright  and  outspoken.  In 
that  is  your  last  hope — your  only  security." 

Again — 

"The  sibyl,  each  time  we  reject  her  offer,  demands  a  higher  price.  What 
Bhe  would  have  done  in  1850  she  will  not  do  now.  What  she  will  do  now 
she  will  not  do  five  years  hence.  *  *  The  country  is  at  last  awaking. 
The  great  west  is  awaking.  Ohio  is  wheeling  into  line,  and  will  be  perhaps 
the  leader  in  the  coming  struggle." 

What  coming  struggle?  How  did  this  preacher  know  that  Ohio  was 
wheeling  into  line  as  early  as  the  4th  of  June,  1854  ? 

Again — 

"  Northern  enthusiasm,  when  fully  aroused,  has  always  been  more  than  a 
match  for  southern  organization — northern  conscience." 

Oh!  gods!  (Great  laughter.)  Northern  conscience  !  Take  a  shark  skin, 
and  let  it  dry  to  shagreen — skin  the  rhinoceras — go  then  and  get  the  silver 
steel  and  grind  it,  and  when  you  have  ground  it.  then  take  the  hone  and 
whet  it  till  it  would  split  a  hair,  and  with  it  prick  the  shagreen  or  the 
shark  skin,  and  then  go  and  try  it  on  northern  consciences.  (Cheers  and 
laughter.) 

"  Northern  conscience,  slow  but  stubborn,  more  than  a  match  for  southern 
impetuosity  !  So  may  it  be  still.  If  right  is  very  apt  to  be  overthrown  at 
first,  it  is  sure  of  victory  in  the  end — 

Careless  seems  the  great  avenger, 

History's  pages  but  record, 
One  death  struggle  in  the  darkness, 

'Twixt  old  systems  and  the  "word;" 
Truth  forever  or  the  scaffold, 

Wrong;  forever  or  the  throne, 
Yet  that  scallbld  sways  a  future, 

And  behind  the  dim  unknown 
Standeth  God  within  the  shadow, 

Keeping  watch  above  his  own.'* 

And  this  is  the  first  time  that  this  preacher  of  Christian  politics  has  named 
God  in  the  whole  sermon  : — 

"  May  to-day,  he  continues,  be  a  Pentecost  to  the  cause  of  humanity ;  to- 
day may  the  servants  of  Christ  be  every  where  speaking  with  one  tongue, 


104 


as  the  Spirit  gives  them  utterance.     May  all  our  devotions   and  aspirations 
be—" 

This  is  fusion. 

"That  all  true  lovers  of  liberty — whether  they  call  themselves  Whig, 
Democrat,  Free  Soiler  or  Abolitionist — be  united  in  one  calm  and  honest 
purpose,  that  once  again  all  may  be  of  one  speech  and  one  tongue.  We 
must  be  united  ;  we  must  sacrifice  everything  to  unite  in  one  great  northern 
party  all  the  friends  of  freedom  and  humanity.  Let  us  forget  the  past,  and 
gladly  receive  help  front  all.  Let  us  reproach  none,  because  those  who  come 
in  at  the  eleventh  hour — whoever  repent  and  do  deeds  meet  to  repentance, 
even  if  he  has  been  a  servant  of  kidnappers,  a  United  States  Commissioner 
or  Marshal,  the  editor  of  a  sham  Democratic  paper,  or  worse  than  all,  a  lower 
law  Doctor  of  Divinity.  Whoever  will  repent  let  him  be  welcome.  Let  us 
be  calm." 

And  "calm,"  there,  means  not  only  composed  but  silent  and  secret. 

"  Let  us  put  the  calmest,  coolest  man  in  front  to  lead  us ;  let  the  most 
cautious  advise  and  tell  us  what  to  do;  let  those  of  us  who  for  years  have 
been  speaking,  now  listen  for  words  from  those  whose  turn  has  come  to  speak. 
The  anti-slavery  platform  welcomes  its  new  orators  from  State  street  and 
Long  wharf.  Let  us  not  by  any  rashness  lose  the  opportunity  of  uniting  all 
men.  As  regards  the  southern  threat  of  dissolving  the  Union,  that  has  now 
lost  its  terror.  If  we  had  disregarded  it  ten  years  ago  we  should  not  have  been 
in  such  danger  of  dissolution  of  the  Union  as  we  are  to-day.  The  majority 
of  the  north  to-day  have  no  objection  to  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  In  this 
community,  where  one  man  was  opposed  to  the  Union  a  week  ago,  a  hundred 
men  are  opposed  to  it  to-day.  The  danger  of  dissolution  of  the  Union  now 
is  from  the  north,  not  from  the  south,  if  some  effective  measures  are  not 
taken  to  prevent  the  rendition  of  another  fugitive  from  the  northern  states. 
We  can  all  determine  to  support  no  man  hereafter  for  any  public  office  in 
the  federal  or  state  governments  who  is  not  openly  pledged  to  five  things  ; 
first,  the  abolition  of  the  obnoxious  clause  of  the  Nebraska  bill;  second,  the 
right  of  trial  by  jury  for  fugitives;  third,  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the 
territory ;  fourth,  the  admission  of  no  more  slave  states ;  fifth,  the  abolition 
of  the  Union,  if  these  things  cannot  be  obtained." 

That  is  what  they  call  "  Christian  politics"  in  Boston.     (Laughter.) 

What  is  the  result  of  such  preaching,  such  teaching,  such  printing  ? 
What  has  been  the  result  of  the  pulpit,  the  school-houses  and  the  press  at 
the  north  upon  this  subject  ?  Gentlemen,  but  a  short  time  back,  New  Eng- 
land— Massachusetts  especially — had  but  one  ism  within  her  limits,  and 
that  was  Puritanism,  the  religion  of  the  good  old  Covenanters  and  Congre- 
gationalists — Puritanism,  full  of  vitality,  full  of  spirituality — Puritanism 
that  made  even  the  barren  rock  of  Plymouth  to  fructify,  that  made 
the  New  Englanders  a  strong  people,  that  made  them  a  rich  people,  that 
made  them  a  learned  people.  But  since  they  have  waxed  fat,  since  they 
have  begun  to  build  churches  by  lottery,  begun  to  moralize  mankind  by 
legislation,  begun  to  play  petty  providences  for  the  people,  begun  to  be 
Protestant  Popes  over  the  consciences  of  men,  begun  to  preach  "  Christian 
politics,"  such  as  you  have  heard,  Puritanism  has  disappeared,  and  we  have 
in  place  of  it  Unitarianism,  Universalism,  Fourierism.  Millerism,  Mormonism 
— all  the  odds  and  ends  of  isms — until  at  last  you  have  a  grand  fusion  of 
all  those  odds  and  ends  of  isms  in  the  omnium  gatherum  of  isms,  called 
Know-Nothingisrn.  (Cheers,  laughter,  and  hisses.)  What  is  it  ?  Now  I 
wish  not  to  offend  any  man  in  this  assembly,  because  I  would  fain  believe 
of  our  Virginians  who  are  uniting  themselves  with  this  association,  that 
their  motives  and  their  acts  are  as  innocent  as  mine.  I  would  fain  believe 
that  no  man  in  the  state  of  Virginia  means  more  than  simply  some  political 


105 

end  by  uniting  himself  with  this  association,  and  to  such  men — consrien- 
tious,  thinking  men,  who  mean  no  more  than  to  pick  up  a  stick  with  which 
to  bruise  the  head  of  democracy — I  will  only  say,  beware!  my  friends; 
you  may  be  picking  up  a  serpent  that  will  sting  you  as  deadly  as  it  will 
democracy.  (Cheers  and  stamping  of  feet.)  I  assail  no  motives  here. 
You  may  be,  according  to  that  pas-age  of  Scripture  which  we  sometimes 
read — that  llth  verse  of  the  15th  chapter  of  2d  Samuel,  which  tells  us  that 
two  hundred  men  went  out  from  Jerusalem  with  Absalom,  when  he  left  his 
father  ;  that  they  "  went  out  in  their  simplicity,  and  that  they  knew  not  any- 
thing." (Laughter.)  And  Bishop  Hall  most  emphatically  comments  upon 
that,  by  saying  that  the  two  hundred  went  out  in  their  simplicity,  not  know- 
ing anything,  and  they  were  merely  loyal  rebels  ;  but  Absalom  knew  what 
he  was  about;  he  knew  something;  he  knew  that  when  the  trumpet  blew 
behind,  it  should  be  understood  by  the  people  that  Absalom  reigneth  in 
Hebron:  and  I  tell  you  that  there  is  an  Absalom  at  work  with  Know- 
Nothingism.  (Great  cheering  and  some  hisses.) 

"  What  is  it?     Where  did   it  come  from  ?     What  can  it  be?     Did  it  fall 
from  the  sky  ?     Did  it  rise  from  the  sea? 

I  tell  you  that  there  is  no  wonder  about  it.  I  tell  you  that  I  know  it  from 
A  to  Z.  1  know  where  it  came  from.  I  know  where  it  was  engendered. 
J  know  what  it  has  done,  and  I  can  exchange  with  you,  my  friend,  every 
sign,  every  grip,  every  pass.  (Laughter.)  I  know  its  white  triangles  and 
its  red  triangles,  its  red  arrowtops  and  its  white  arrowtops.  T  know  your 
odd  numerals  and  yonr  even  numerals.  I  know  your  odds  from  A  to  M  in- 
clusive, and  I  know  your  evens  from  N  to  Z  inclusive.  (Laughter.)  Now, 
where  did  it  come  from  ?  It  is  no  new  thing.  It  is  no  strange  thing.  Al- 
though it  is  a  wonder  here,  it  has  been  operating  for  years  and  years  in 
Old  England.  You  that  will  go  to  a  bookstore  and  buy  Dickins'  novel  of 
"  Hard  Times"  will  see  a  portraiture  of  the  thing,  and  how  it  has  operated 
in  a  country  with  an  aristocracy  and  a  queen,  with  lord  proprietors  of  facto- 
ries and  of  lands,  which  they  rent  to  middle  men  who  grind  down  the  opera- 
tives. There,  in  England,  the  secret  association  of  the  operatives  against 
grinding  capital,  I  grant  you,  has  done  much  good.  There,  there  is  some 
necessity  for  it;  there,  where  men's  noses  are  held  to  the  grindstone 
by  oppression  ;  there,  where  all  the  luxuries  are  free,  and  all  the  necessa- 
ries of  life  are  taxed;  there,  where  the  operative  is  made  to  bear  all  the 
burdens  of  society  ;  there,  where  there  is  a  crowned  head  and  an  aristocracy 
— there,  dark-lantern,  secret  association,  test  oaths  have  brought  forth  som6 
reforms.  Well,  seeing  its  effect  in  that  countr}' — Exeter  Hall — the  aboli- 
tionists of  England  sent  it  over  to  the  preachers  of  "  Christian  politics"  in 
Boston  and  New  York,  to  apply  its  machinery  to  the  north  and  the  non- 
slaveholding  states.  (Cheers  and  hisses.)  They  brought  it  over.  They 
have  tried  it  and  they  had  it  organized  as  early  as  June  4th,  1854.  They 
knew  its  potency.  They  knew  its  effect.  Therefore  it  was  that  Mr.  Free- 
man Clarke  could  tell  you  that  he  knew  that  Ohio  was  wheeling  into  line. 
This  thing  was  all  planned — all  organized — and  it  did  sweep  Massachusetts, 
and  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey,  and  Delaware,  and  Ohio, 
and  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  and  Michigan,  and  Iowa.  It  has  swept  them  with 
the  besom  of  destruction.  (Cheers  and  laughter.) 

Go  now  to  Massachusetts,  and  you  find  among  her  hundreds  of  legislators 
but  one  friend  of  the  Constitution  left.  Sixty-two  of  these  preachers  of 
"Christian  politics"  have  been  returned  to  sit  in  the  seats  once  filled  by  such 
men  as  John  Hancock.  There,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Faneuil  Hall,  in  the 
land  of  steady  habits — in  the  land  of  the  Puritans — Theodore  Parker,  but  the 
other  day,  received  122  votes  to  be  a  chaplain.  A  man  anti-Christ,  so  much 
devil  incarnate  that  he  can  hide  neither  tail  nor  hoofs,  receives  in  a  Massa- 


106 

chusetts  legislature  122  votes  to  be  a  chaplain.  Massachusetts!  Massa- 
chusetts!  the  elder  sister  of  Virginia,  who  in  the  night  of  the  revolution 
gave  her  pass- word  for  pass-word,  sign  for  sign,  cheer  for  cheer,  in  the  midst 
of  our  gloom  !  Massachusetts  has  thrown  aside  her  Puritanism,  her  Chris- 
tian religion,  her  constitution,  and  has  given  herself  up  to  Know-Not hingism 
and  anti-slavery.  (Tremendous  cheering.)  Let  us  see  the  working  of 
Kriow-Nothingism  in  Massachusetts.  I  hold  in  my  hand  the  official  address 
of  his  excellency  Henry  J.  Gardner  to  the  two  branches  of  the  legislature  of 
Massachusetts.  You  see  here  upon  one  page  of  it,  "not  through  a  glass 
darkly,"  but  plainly,  an  intimation  of  amalgamation  itself.  "  It  is  a  great  pro- 
blem," he  says,  "in  statesmanship  wisely  to  control  the  mingling  of  races 
into  one  nationality."  Can  you  give  that  the  grip  ?  (Roars  of  laughter.) 
Another  specimen  of  Know-Nothingism  is  a  recommendation  in  this  message 
that  the  right  of  suffrage  shall  be  limited  ^to  those  who  can  read  and  write. 
Do  the  Know-Nothings  of  Virginia  give  that  grip  too?  The  only  illustrious 
painting  that  this  country  has  given  to  the  fine  arts  has  been  the  picture  of 
the  Saviour  of  mankind  healing  the  sick.  This  message  recommends  that 
the  sick  foreigner  shall  be  tumbled  out  of  the  hospital  bed  into  the  Calcutta 
hole  of  the  emigrant  ship,  and  sent  back  again  to  Liverpool !  This,  then,  is 
a  sample  of  the  charitableness  and  religion  of  Know-Nothingism.  But,  gen- 
tlemen, here  is  the  governor's  doctrine  in  relation  to  the  Nebraska  bill. 

Mr.  Wise  then  read  a  passage  from  the  message  in  relation  to  the  repeal  of 
the  compromise,  which  the  governor  characterises  as  "a  violation  of  the 
plighted  faith  of  the  nation,"  and  declares  that  "the  ultimate  effect  will  be 
to  determine  us  manfully  to  demand  the  restoration  of  this  broken  compact, 
and  to  jealously  guard  each  and  every  right  that  belongs  to  Massachusetts." 

That  is  in  exact  correspondence  with  the  preaching  of  Mr.  Freeman  Clarke. 
But  the  governor  goes  on  : 

"While  we  acknowledge  our  fealty  to  the  Constitution  and  laws,  the  oft- 
repeated  cry  of  disunion  heralds  no  real  danger  to  our  ears." 

Of  those  lights  which  Massachusetts  is  jealously  to  regard,  it  seems  the 
two  cardinal  ones  are  the  habeas  corpus  to  take  the  fugitive  slave  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  United  States  commissioner;  and  trial  by  jury,  to  have  the 
title  of  the  Virginia  master  subjected  to  the  verdict  of  twelve  abolitionists! 
"It  is  submitted,"  says  the  governor,  "whether  additional  legislation  is 
required  to  secure  either  of  these  to  our  fellow-citizens." 

Gentlemen,  that  is  not  all.  This  Know-Nothing  legislature  has  just  elected 
one  of  the  most  notorious,  one  of  the  most  inveterate  of  their  abolition  lead- 
ers, to  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  and  I  beg  to  read  to  you  a  passage 
from  a  Boston  paper  which  came  to  my  hand  this  evening.  It  is  the  Boston 
Daily  Chronicle,  and  I  presume  no  one  will  say  that  it  misrepresents  the 
position  of  the  Know-Nothings  in  the  state  of  Massachusetts : 

Mr.  Wise  then  read  a  long  report  of  a  lecture  on  the  "evils  of  and  the 
remedy  for  slavery,"  delivered  at  the  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  by  Mr.  An- 
son  Burlingame,  one  of  the  Know-Nothings  elected  to  Congress,  in  which  he 
took  ground  in  favor  of  the  repeal  of  the  Nebraska  bill,  the  repeal  of  the 
fugitive  slave  law,  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and 
the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  territories  of  the  United  States. 

Speaking  of  the  Nebraska  bill,  this  lecturer  said  : 

"  One  of  its  fruits  was  the  election  of  a  senator  at  the  state  house  yester- 
terday,  (great  applause  and  calls  for  Wilson,  who  was  on  the  platform,)  one 
\vho  would  take  the  place  of  one  who  was  false  to  freedom  and  not  true  to 
the  slave,  (thus  denouncing  Edward  Everett.)  He  himself,  on  going  to 
Washington,  should  so  endeavor  to  conduct  himself  as  to  truly  represent  his 
native  place." 

The  report  eontinues  :— - 


107 

"  After  Mr.  Burlingame  had  concluded,  Mr.  Wilson  was  called  for  most 
heartily,  and  came  forward.  He  stated  that  everything  Mr.  Burlingame  had 
uttered  he  would  endorse.  He  intended,  in  accepting  his  post,  to  yield 
nothing  of  his  anti-slavery  sentiment  to  anybody  or  for  anything.  He  would 
comprehend  in  his  action  the  whole  country,  of  every  color;  but,  in  saying 
the  whole  country,  he  included  Massachusetts  and  the  north."  Governor 
Gardner  was  called  for,  and  amid  loud  cheers  rose,  but  modestly  declined  to 
speak. 

There  is  a  Know-Nothing  member  elect  from  Massachusetts  to  the  Con- 
gress  of  the  United  States.  There  is  a  United  States  senator  elect  of  the 
Know-Nothings,  who  confesses  the  accusation  which  I  make,  that  the  new 
part}'  of  Kno\v-Nothings  was  formed  especially  for  the  sake  of  abolitionism. 
(Cheers  and  hisses.)  And  there  is  a  Know-Nothing  governor — one  of  the 
nine  who  are  all  ready  to  take  the  same  ground.  (Stamping  of  feet  and 
some  hissing.)  Then,  gentlemen,  I  have  here  an  act  of  the  Know-Nothing 
legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  which  proposes  to  give  citizenship  to  the  fugitive 
slaves  of  the  south.  I  have  here,  also,  an  article  which  is  too  long  for  me  to 
read,  exhausted  as  I  am,  from  the  Worcester  Evening  Journal,  an  organ  of 
governor  Gardner  and  senator  Wilson,  which  says  to  you  boldly  that  the 
American  Organ  at  Washington  is  a  pro-slavery  organ,  that  it  is  not  a  true 
Know-Nothing  organ,  and  that  they  speak  for  the  north  when  they  claim 
that  they  have  already  one  hundred  and  sixty  votes  of  the  non-slave  holding 
states  organized,  eleven  more  than  sufficient  to  elect  a  president  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  without  a  single  electoral  vote  from  the  slaveholding  states. 

Now,  gentlemen,  having  swept  the  northern  and  the  northwestern  non- 
slaveholding  states  of  the  Union,  the  next  onset  is  on  the  soil  of  Virginia. 
This  Worcester  Journal  boasts  that  Maryland  and  Virginia  are  already  almost 
northern  states ;  and  pray,  how  do  they  propose  to  operate  on  the  south  ? 
Having  swept  the  north — Massachusetts,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  all 
those  other  states — the  question  was :  How  can  this  ism  be  wedged  in  the 
south  ;  and  the  devil  was  at  the  elbow  of  these  preachers  of  "  Christian  pol- 
itics," to  tell  them  precisely  how.  (Cat-calls,  derisive  cheers,  and  other 
manifestations  of  the  Know-Nothing  element  of  the  meeting.)  There  were 
three  elements  in  the  south,  and  in  Virginia  particularly,  to  which  they 
might  apply  themselves.  There  is  the  religious  element — the  Protestant 
bigotry  and  fanaticism — for  Protestants,  gentlemen,  have  their  religious  zeal 
without  knowledge,  as  well  as  the  Catholics.  (A  voice,  "True  enough,  sir.") 
It  is  an  appeal  to  the  103,000  Presbyterians,  to  the  300,000  Baptists,  to  the 
300,000  Methodists  of  Virginia.  Well,  how  were  they  to  reach  them? 
Why,  just  by  raising  a  hell  of  a  fuss  about  the  Pope.  (Laughter.)  The 
Pope!  The  Pope,  "now  so  poor  that  none  can  do  him  reverence,"  so  poor 
that  Louis  Napoleon,  who  requires  every  soldier  in  his  kingdom  to  be  at  Se- 
bastopol,  has  to  leave  a  guard  of  muskets  at  Rome !  Once  on  a  time,  crowned 
heads  could  bow  down  and  kiss  his  big  toe;  but  now,  who  cares  for  a  Pope  in 
Italy  ?  Gentlemen,  the  Pope  is  here.  Priestcraft  at  home  is  what  you  have  to 
dread  more  than  all  the  Popes  in  the  world.  I  believe,  intellectually,  and  in  my 
heart  as  well  as  in  my  head,  in  evangelical  Christianity.  I  believe  that  there 
is  no  other  certain  foundation  for  this  republic  but  the  pure  and  undefiled 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth.  And  the  man  of  God  who  believes  in 
the  Father,  in  the  divinity  of  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost — the  preacher  in 
the  pulpit,  at  the  baptismal  font,  by  the  sick  bed,  at  the  grave,  pointing 

The  way  to  heaven  and  leading  there, 

I  honor.     No  man  honors  him  more  than  I  do.     But  the  priest  who  deserts 
the  spiritual  kingdom  for  the  carnal  kingdom,  he  is  "of  the  earth,  earthly," 


108 

whoever  he  be — Episcopalian,  Baptist  or  Methodist — who  leaves  the  pulpit 
to  join  a  dark-lantern,  secret  political  society,  in  order  that  he  may  become 
a  Protestant  Pope  by  seizing  on  political  power — he  is  a  hypocrite,  whoever 
he  be.  (Some  applause,  and  cries  of  "good.")  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth 
settled  the  question  himself.  I  have  his  authority  on  this  question.  When 
the  Jews  expected  him  to  put  on  a  prince's  crown  and  seat  himself  on  the 
actual  throne  of  David,  he  asked  for  a  penny  to  be  shown  him.  A  penny 
was  brought  to  him,  a  metal  coin,  assayed,  clipped,  stamped,  with  the  image 
of  the  state,  representative  of  the  civil  power,  stamped  with  Csesar's  image. 
"Whose  image  and  superscription  is  this?"  "It  is  Coesar's."  "Then, 
render  unto  Csesar  the  things  that  be  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that 
be  God's."  (Applause.)  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world.  My  kingdom, 
is  a  spiritual  kingdom."  Caesar's  kingdom  is  political,  is  a  carnal  kingdom. 
And  I  tell  you  that  if  I  stood  alone  in  the  state  of  Virginia,  and  if  priest- 
craft— if  the  priests  of  my  own  mother  church  dared  to  lay  their  hands  on 
the  political  power  of  our  people,  or  to  use  their  churches  to  wield  political 
influence,  I  would  stand,  in  feeble  imitation  of,  it  may  be,  but  I  would  stand, 
even  if  I  stood  alone,  as  Patrick  Henry  stood  in  the  revolution,  between 
the  parsons  and  the  people.  (Applause  and  a  cry  of  "I'm  with  you.") 
I  want  no  Pope,  either  Catholic  or  Protestant.  I  will  pay  Peter's  pence  to 
no  pontiff — Episcopalian,  Presb}^terian,  Baptist,  Methodist,  or  any  other. 
(Applause  and  cries  of  "good.")  They  not  only  appeal  to  the  religious  ele- 
ment, but  they  raise  a  cry  about  the  Pope.  These  men,  many  of  whom 
are  neither  Episcopalians,  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Methodists,  Congrega- 
tionalists,  Lutherans,  or  what  not — who  are  men  of  no  religion,  who  have 
no  church,  who  do  not  say  their  prayers,  who  do  not  read  their  Bible,  who 
live  God-defying  lives  every  day  of  their  existence,  are  now  seen  with  faces 
as  long  as  their  dark-lanterns,  with  the  whites  of  their  eyes  turned  up  in 
holy  fear  lest  the  Bible  should  be  shut  up  by  the  Pope !  (Laughter,  ap- 
plause, and  derisive  cheers.)  Men  who  were  never  known  before,  on  the 
face  of  God's  earth,  to  show  any  interest  in  religion,  to  take  any  part  with 
Christ  or  his  kingdom,  who  were  the  devil's  own,  belonging  to  the  devil's 
church,  are  all  of  a  sudden  very  deeply  interested  for  the  word  of  God  and 
against  the  Pope  !  It  would  be  well  for  them  that  they  joined  a  church 
which  does  believe  in  the  Father,  and  in  the  Son,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 
(Good.)  Let  us  see,  my  friends,  what  Know-Nothingism  believes  in.  Do 
you  know  that,  gentlemen  ?  (Holding  up  a  small  pamphlet,  amid  great 
laughter  and  excitement.  That  is  your  formulary  of  the  Grand  Council  of 
the  United  States  of  North  America,  from  the  press  of  Damerill  &  Mcore, 
No.  10  Devonshire  street,  Boston,  1854. 

A  voice — "  Is  it  January  ?" 

Mr.  Wise — Yes,  it  is  January.  It  has  been  used.  Here  is  one  of  your 
charters,  (holding  up  a  printed  document,)  arid  now,  if  you  can  see  it,  you 
will  perceive  it  has  been  used  by  one  of  your  lodges.  (Cries  of  "  Read  it 
— drive  along,  Old  Virginny.")  Yes  I  will  read  from  your  own  book.  But 
I  am  on  the  subject  of  your  religion  now— you  want  to  put  down  one  of  the 
evangelical  churches  of  the  country,  which  does  believe  not  only  in  the 
Father,  but  in  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost — a  Trini- 
tarian church.  I  want  to  ask  the  Episcopalians,  and  the  Presbyterians,  and 
the  Methodists,  whether  they  are  going  to  put  down  that  Trinitarian  church 
by  a  secret  association  ?  Your  sphere  consists  of  the  26  letters  of  the  al- 
phabet. You  number  your  letters  from  A  to  M  inclusive,  with  the  odd 
numerals  down  to  26.  Thus,  A  1,  B  3,  C  5,  D  7,  E  9,  F  11,  G  13,  H  15, 
I  17,  J  19,  K  21,  L  23,  M  25.  The  last  thirteen  letters  of  the  alphabet  are 
numbered  with  even  numbers.  Thus,  N  2,  0  4,  P  6,  Q  8,  R  10,  S  12,  T 
14,  U  16,  V  18,  W  20,  X  22,  Y  24,  Z  26.  And  now  let  us  see  how  the 


109 

books  read.  The  first  page  of  the  cover  of  the  blue  book — and  it  is  not 
only  blue — real  Boston  blue,  but  it  is  a  Mazarine  blue,  (lighter) — contains 
the  following  in  tabular  form.  Now  listen  to  Know-Nothing  reading. 
(.Manifestations  of  intense  enjoyment  among  the  Know-Nothings,  and  of 
interest  among  the  uninitiated,  and  cries  of  "go  it,  old  boy.")  I  will  go  it, 
if  you  will  be  patient  and  let  me  reason  with  you :  12  1(5  6  10  9  £5  6,  that 
reads  "  supreme,"  4  10  7  9  10  means  "  order,"  4  11,  "of,"  14  15  6,  "  the," 
12  14  1  10,  "  star,"  12  6  1  2  13  25  9  7,  "  spangled,"  3  1  2  2  9  10,  "  banner." 
That  is  square  spelling  and  square  reading.  "Supreme  Order  of  the  Star 
Spangled  Banner."  (Cheers,  applause,  hisses,  and  manifestations  of  all 
kind-.)  The  fourth  page  of  the  cover,  contains  the  following  table — 12  6  17 
10  1714,  "spirit,"  411,  "of,"  '76,  "spirit  of  '76."  That  is  the  title 
page  and  the  formulary  of  the  Grand  Council  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America,  from  the  press  of  Damerell  &  Moore,  No.  16  Devonshire  street, 
Boston.  Next  come  the  officers  of  the  Grand  Council.  President,  (that  is 
for  the  past  year,  but  I  believe  it  still  continues,)  James  VV.  Barker,  of 
New  York.  (Cheers.)  Vice  President,  W.  W.  Williamson,  of  Alexandria, 
Va.  (Roars  of  Laughter,  cries  of  "here  he  is,"  and  "three  cheers  for 
Williamson.")  Corresponding  Secretary,  Charles  D.  Deschler,  of  New 
Brunswick,  New  Jersey.  Recording  Secretary,  James  M.  Stevens,  of  Bal- 
timore. Md.  Treasurer,  Henry  Crane,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  The  Inside 
Sentinel  is  John  P.  Hilton,  of  Washington,  D.  C.  (Laughter,  and  cheers 
from  Washingtonians  in  the  crowd.)  Outside  Sentinel,  Henry  Metz,  of 
Detroit,  Michigan.  Chaplain,  Samuel  P.  Crawford,  of  Indianapolis,  Indi- 
ana. Now,  gentlemen,  I  want  to  show  you  their  religion.  I  read  from  the 
blue  book — 

"  The  organization  shall  be  known  by  the  name  of  the  Grand  Council  of 
the  United  States  of  North  America.  Its  jurisdiction  and  power  shall  ex- 
tend to  all  the  states,  districts,  and  territories  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America.  A  person,  to  become  a  member  of  any  subordinate  Council, 
must  be  twenty-one  years  of  age.  He  must  believe  hi  the  existence  of  a 
Supreme  Being,  as  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  universe." 

No  Christ  acknowledged!  No  Saviour  of  mankind!  No  Holy  Ghost! 
No  heavenly  Dove  of  Grace  !  Go,  go,  you  Know-Nothings,  to  the  city  of 
Baltimore-,  and  in  a  certain  street  there  you  will  see  two  churches — one  is 
inscribed,  "  0  Monos  Theos" — "to  the  one  God;"  on  the  other  is  the  in- 
scription, "As  for  us,  we  preach  Christ  crucified — to  the  Jews  a  stumbling 
block,  and  to  the  Greeks  foolishness."  The  one  inscribed  "0  Mono* 
Theos"  is  the  Unitarian  church  ;  the  other,  inscribed,  "We  preach  Christ 
crucified,"  is  the  Catholic  church!  (Cries  of  "good,  good,"  and  cheers.) 
Is  it — I  ask  of  Presbyterians,  Episcopalians,  Methodists,  and  Baptists — is  it, 
I  ask,  for  any  orthodox  Trinitarian  Christian  church  to  join  an  association 
that  is  inscribed,  like  the  Unitarian  church  at  Baltimore,  "  O  Monos  Theos" 
—to  the  one  God  ?  Is  it  for  them  to  join  or  to  countenance  an  association 
that  so  lays  its  religion  as  to  catch  men  like  Theodore  Parker  and  James 
Freeman  Clarke  ?  I  put  it  to  all  the  religious  societies — to  the  Presbyteri- 
ans, the  Episcopalians,  the  Methodists,  and  the  Baptists — whether  they  mean 
to  renounce  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  when 
they  give  countenance  to  this  secret  society,  which  is  inscribed  to  the  one 
God  ? 

But,  gentlemen,  these  Know-Nothings  appeal  not  only  to  the  religious 
element,  but  to  the  political  element — not  only  to  the  political  element,  but 
to  the  agrarian  element.  Not  only  do  they  appeal  to  Protestant  bigotry — not 
only  do  they  ask  Protestants  to  out-Herod  Herod,  to  out  Catholic  the  Catho- 
lics, to  out  Jesuit  the  Jesuits  by  adopting  their  Machiavellian  creed,  but  they 
appeal  to  a  forlorn  party  in  the  state  of  Virginia — a  minority  party,  broken 


110 

down  at  home  and  disorganized,  because  their  associates  have  become 
abolitionized  at  the  North — they  appeal  to  them  as  affording  them  a  house  of 
refuge.  [Cheers  and  laughter.]  There  is  a  paper  published  in  this  town  by 
one  of  the  most  respectable  gentlemen  of  the  state,  who  some  time  ago 
published  an  article  which,  I  must  confess,  I  did  not  expect  to  see  in  print 
from  his  pen.  The  Alexandria  Gazette,  one  of  the  most  respectable  of  the 
Whig  papers  of  the  United  States,  edited  by  one  of  the  most  conservative 
and  respectable  gentlemen  that  I  know  of  among  my  acquaintance,  one  who 
has  been  advocating  the  doctrines  and  practice  of  conservatism  ever  since  I 
knew  him,  is  now  proposing  a  fusion  between  the  Know-Nothings  and  the 
Whig  party,  simply  for  the  reason  that  "the  Whigs  are  tired  of  standing  at 
the  rack  without  fodder."  [Voice  in  the  crowd  "  Oh,  go  along,"  and 
laughter.]  One  who  used,  as  I  well  remember,  to  denounce  corruption  and 
the  spoils  very  sweepingly,  is  now  actually  maintaining  that  the  Whigs  will 
not  and  cannot  go  upon  principle  any  longer  and  adhere  to  conservatism, 
because  they  are  tired  of  waiting  for  office.  [Laughter  and  cheers.]  Not 
only  that,  but  my  friend,  the  editor,  has  lately  published  this  short 
article : — 

"We  are  pleased  to  see  that  with  regard  to  Mr.  Wise,  the  Democratic 
candidate  for  governor,  the  opposition  is  generally  conducted  with  entire 
respect  to  his  character  as  a  citizen  and  a  man,  and  with  a  full  acknowledg- 
ment on  all  hands  of  his  many  excellent  personal  qualities.  The  opposition 
do  not  think  he  is  the  best  qualified  man  for  the  office  of  governor,  but  they 
admit  his  talents.  In  seeking  his  defeat,  they  mainly  desire  to  defeat  the 
political  organization  which  he  upholds." 

Remember  that,  ye  Democrats,  who  have  joined  with  Mr.  Snowden  in 
upholding  the  Know-Nothirig  cause — that  the  very  object  of  the  Whigs  in 
joining  the  Know-Nothing  society  is  to  break  up  the  organization  to  which 
you  belong.  [Cheers.]  You  Democrats  have  these  gentlemen  in  a  minority 
out  of  doors,  but  the  moment  they  get  you  into  a  Know-Nothing  lodge,  they 
have  you  in  a  minority  in  doors.  [Renewed  cheers.]  But  the  article 
goes  on : — 

"They  contend  that,  as  a  former  violent  opponent  of  the  party,  at  whose 
head  he  is  now  placed,  there  is  too  much  political  inconsistency  to  entitle 
him  to  the  position  he  seeks." 

How  then,  can  Mr.  Snowden — how  can  the  conservative  Whigs  of 
Alexandria,  to  punish  my  inconsistency,  join  hands  with  Democrats  and  go 
over  to  them  in  Know-Nothing  lodges  ?  [Cheers.]  They  tell  us  they  can- 
not give  the  grip  in  public  to  the  Whigs  of  the  North,  because  the  Northern 
Whigs  have  become  abolitionized.  Here  are  two  gentlemen  who  cannot 
shake  hands  with  one  another  in  our  presence — one  is  a  Whig  of  the  North 
and  the  other  a  Whig  of  Alexandria.  They  cannot  any  longer  keep  up  their 
Whig  organization ;  but  let  the  Whig  of  the  north,  abolitionised  as  he  is, 
become  a  Know-Nothing,  and  let  the  Whig  of  the  South,  pro-slavery  as  he 
is,  become  a  Know-Nothing,  and  then  behind  the  curtain,  these  gentlemen 
can  shake  hands  and  hunny-fuggle  writh  one  another.  [Much  laughter.] 
This  is  what  is  called  conservatism.  This  is  what  is  called  consistency. 
The  article  continues : 

"  They  are  resolved  to  unite  in  a  strong  and  determined  effort  to  break  up 
the  present  political  organization,  which  directs  the  destinies  and  controls 
the  action  of  the  state  in  all  its  departments.  Mr.  Wise  cannot  expect  the 
support  of  those  who  desire  to  see  this  change  effected." 

If  Mr.  Wise  cannot  expect  the  support  of  conservative  Whigs,  or  of  any 
Whig,  because  the  desire  of  the  Whig  party  in  joining  the  Know-Nothings 
is  to  defeat  the  Democracy,  how  can  they  expect  Democrats  to  join  them? 
But  there  is  a  last  and  worst  element  which  they  address,  for  which  they 


in 

can,  as  conservatives,  offer  me  no  excuse,  and*I  come  to  it  boldly.  It  is  the 
most  difficult  and  the  hardest  subject  to  deal  with  in  public  in  a  slave-holding 
community.  Gentlemen,  the  last  constitutional  convention  of  Virginia 
betrayed  the  important  fact  to  the  north,  as  well  as  to  ourselves,  that  out  of 
the  125,000  voters  in  the  state  of  Virginia,  but  25,000  or  30,000,  are  slave- 

1  holding  voters.  About  1  voter  in  5  is  a  slaveholder.  I  say  it  boldly,  and 
no  man  will  dispute  it  who  has  been  to  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth,  that  the  last 
and  worst  element  that  is  appealed  to  is  the  agrarian  element — appealing  to 
the  white  laborers  of  the  state  against  the  black  laborers  of  the  state.  (Cheers.) 
Go  all  over  the  state  and  tell  me  where  Know-Nothingism  is  rankest  and 
most  violent.  [Voice  in  the  crowd,  "Down  on  the  wharves,"  and  great 
laughter.]  I  tell  you  that  you'll  not  only  find  it  down  on  the  wharves  in 
Alexandria,  as  has  been  said,  and  well  said,  in  the  crowd,  but  you  will  find 
it  worse  than  anywhere  else  around  the  wharves  of  Portsmouth  and  in  Ports- 
mouth navy  yard.  The  very  men  who,  for  ten  years,  have  been  petitioning 
the  secretary  of  the  navy  to  forbid  the  employment  of  slave  labor  in 
Gos'port  navy  yard — the  very  men  who  petitioned  the  last  convention  to 
frame  a  new  constitution  for  Virginia,  to  make  it  a  part  of  the  organic  law 

>*of  the  state  that  slaveholders  should  not  allow  their  slaves  to  be  taught  the 
mechanic  arts — the^-e  are  the  men  who  are  the  very  hot-bed  of  Know- 
Nothingism. 

VOICE  IN  THE  CROWD — Send  them  to  h — 11. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  what  effect  these  three  combined  elements  are  to 
have  upon  us.  I  ask  the  Protestant  church,  to  recur  to  this  religious  ele- 
ment, how  they  expect  in  future — if  they  think  that  Catholicism  is  not  a 
pure  and  undefiled  religion — to  succeed  in  preaching  against  the  Pope  and 
Catholics?  Where  a  preacher  has  risen  in  the  pulpit,  in  times  past,  to 
arraign  the  Pope  and  the  abominations  of  the  church  of  Rome,  he  has  been 
regarded  as  a  vital  spiritual  preacher  of  Protestantism  ;  he  has  been  regarded 
as  one  looking  to  the  spiritual  kingdom ;  but  let  a  preacher  now  rise  and 
preach  against  the  Pope  and  against  Catholicism,  and  whether  he  is  sincere 
or  not,  his  congregation  feels  that  he  is  preaching  for  Know-Nothingism.  Why, 
the  other  day,  in  Isle  of  Wight,  I  saw  a  man  from  Canada,  or  I  heard  of 
him  there,  who  was  distributing  the  Bible  to  the  state  of  Virginia.  Well, 
he  may  have  been  the  very  best  colporteur  in  the  world ;  he  may  have  been 
a  man  of  as  honest  intentions  as  Father  Hannell,  who  is  your  travelling  dis- 
tributer of  the  Bible ;  but  he  came  all  the  way  from  Canada  down  to  the 
Isle  of  Wight  to  distribute  Bibles  ?  He  was  asked  why  he  distributed  Bibles 
among  us  ?  Did  he  take  us  to  be  heathen  ?  Our  churches  are  distributing 
the  word.  Our  bishops  are  distributing  the  word.  The  Bible  is  found  in 
every  steamboat  saloon,  and  in  every  chamber  of  ever}r  hotel  in  the  state.  Did 
he  take  us  to  be  heathen  ?  Oh,  no ;  he  was  glad  to  hear  that  we  had  the 
Bible  here,  but  he  thought  that  perhaps  he  would  ba  doing  us  great  service 
to  bring  the  Bible,  as  the  Pope  and  Bishop  Hughes  wanted  to  make  it  a 
sealed  book.  He  was  called  upon  to  take  his  departure,  as  he  was  known  at 
once  to  be  a  Know-Nothing  agent.  He  pretended  merely  to  visit  to  distri- 
bute the  Bible,  but  the  fellow  was  all  the  time  privately  carrying  his  dark 
lantern  and  lucifer  match  in  his  pocket  to  apply  the  test  oath.  (Laughter.) 
We  gave  him  warning  to  go  hence,  and  I  hope  he  has  gone.  So  it  is  with 
the  preachers — your  Protestant  preachers.  It  is  utterly  impossible  that  they 
can  make  any  inroads  against  the  Pope  and  against  Catholics  so  long  as  they 
are  suspected  of  political  motives — so  long  as  they  are  suspected  of  attempt- 
ing to  become  Protestant  popes ;  and  to  seize  political  power.  What  way  it, 
1  .: -k  them — what  corrupted  the  Roman  church?  There  was  once  a  time 
when  the  Bishop  of  Rome  was  the  head  of  a  pure,  primitive  church — when 
he  was  armed  only  with  eleemosynary,  with  spiritual  and  with  ecclesiastical 


112 

power.  But  the  very  moment  he  laid  his  hand  upon  the  imperial  purple  and 
crown  of  the  Caesars,  that  very  moment  the  "  whore  of  Babylon"  put  on  her 
scarlet  and  began  to  play  her  abominations  before  the  eyes  of  the  people. 
She  plaved  these  abominatio/is  till  the  times  of  Calvin,  and  Luther,  and 
Melancthon  and  Roger  Williams.  These  great  reformers  were  men  who 
did  not  go  into  secret  places*,  who  did  not  use  dark  lanterns,  who  not 
speak  in  whispers,  but  who  thundered  in  the  tones  of  Whitfield  himself. 
The  moment  the  Pope  laid  hold  of  political  power — the  moment  he  became 
part  and  head  of  the  civil  state — that  very  moment  the  state  corrupted 
the  church,  and  the  churchdestroyed  the  liberties  of  the  state.  So  it 
will  be  here,  if,  under  the  pretext  of  defying  the  Pope,  of  proscribing 
Catholicism,  you  allow  your  priests — Protestant  or  other — to  lay  their 
hands  upon  political  power,  and  put  on  the  imperial  purple  and  the  crown 
of  the  Ccesars — that  very  moment  the  state  will  corrupt  the  church,  and 
the  church  will  destroy  the  liberties  of  the  state.  As  to  the  proscrip- 
tion of  foreigners,  let  me  ask  the  Know-Nothings  themselves  to  return 
to  that  passage  of  the  Bible  to  which  I  have  already  referred  them.  If  they 
will  take  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Second  Samuel,  and  read  not  only  the  whole 
verse,  but  the  whole  history  of  Absalom,  the  traitor,  they  will  find  that  while 
Absalom- — not  only  native  born  of  the  land,  but  native  born  of  the  loins  of 
king  David — was  turning  traitor,  while  the  sweet  Psalmist  of  Israel  was 
driven  towards  the  wilderness  with  his  followers,  he  turned  and  saw  Ittai, 
the  Gittite,  and  said  to  him  :  "  Wherefore  goest  thou  also  writh  us?  Return 
to  thy  place,  and  abide  with  thy  king,  for  thou  art  a  stranger  and  also  an 
exile.  Whereas,  thou  earnest  but  yesterday,  should  I  this  day  make  thee  go 
up  and  down  with  us  ?  Seeing  I  go  whither  1  may,  return  thou  and  take 
back  thy  brethren:  Mercy  and  truth  be  with  thee."  And  Ittai,  the  exile 
and  stranger,  who  came  but  yesterday,  answered  the  king  and  said:  "As 
the  Lord  liveth,  and  as  my  lord  the  king  liveth,  surely  in  what  place  my 
lord  the  king  shall  be — whether  in  death  or  in  life — even  there  also  will  thy 
servant  be."  And  remember  that  the  case  of  Absalom  and  of  Ittai  is  but 
the  prototype  of  an  Arnold  and  a  Lafayette.  (Applause.)  Who  sent  you 
alliance  ?  You  tell  the  people  that  Catholics  never  gave  aid  to  civil  liberty; 
that  they  never  yet  struck  a  blow  for  the  freedom  of  mankind.  Who  gave 
you  alliance  against  the  crown  of  England  ?  Who,  but  that  Catholic  king, 
Louis  XVI?  He  sent  you,  from  the  court  of  Versailles,  the  boy  of  Wash- 
ington's camp,  a  foreigner  who  never  was  naturalized,  but  who  bled  at  the 
redoubt  of  Yorktown.  (Applause.)  And  not  only  did  Lafayette  bleed  at 
the  redoubt  of  Yorktown,  when  an  Arnold,  a  native  like  Absalom,  proved 
traitor,  but  when  the  German,  DeKalb,  fell  at  the  field  of  Camden,  on  south- 
ern soil,  with  fourteen  bayonet  wounds  transfixing  his  body,  and,  dying, 
praised  the  Maryland  militia — Gates,  the  yankee  native,  ran  seventy-five 
miles  without  looking  behind.  (Applause  and  laughter.)  And  not  only  that: 
In  that  intense  moment  when  the  declaration  of  our  independence  was 
brought  into  Carpenter's  Hall  by  Rutledge,  and  Franklin,  and  Jefferson,  and 
laid  upon  the  table- — that  holy  paper,  which  not  only  pledged  life  and  honor, 
but  fortune,  too — realize  that  moment  of  intense,  of  deep,  of  profound  inte- 
rest, when  the  independence  of  this  land  hung  upon  the  acts  of  men — when, 
one  by  one,  men  rose  from  their  seats  and  went  to  the  table  to  pledge  lives 
and  fortunes  and  sacred  honor  ;  at  length  one  spare,  pale-faced  man  rose, 
and  went  and  dipped  the  pen  into  the  ink,  and  signed  "  Charles  Carroll," 
and  when  reminded  that  it  might  not  be  known  what  Charles  Carroll  it  was, 
that  it  might  not  be  known  that  it  was  a  Charles  Carroll  who  was  pledging  a 
principality  of  fortune,  he  added  the  words  "  of  Carrollton."  (Cheers.)  He 
was  a  Catholic  representative  from  a  Catholic  colony.  (A  voice  in  the 
crowd — "  But  he  was  a  native  born  American.") 


113 

And,  sir,  before  George  Washington  was  born,  before  Lafayette  wielded 
the  sword  or  Charles  Carroll  the  pen  for  his  country,  six  hundred  and  forty 
years  ago,  on  the  16th  of  June,  1214,  there  was  another  scene  enacted  on 
the  face  of  the  globe,  when  the  general  charter  of  all  charters  of  freedom 
was  gained,  when  one  man — a  man  called  Stephen  Langton — swore  the 
barons  of  England,  for  the  people,  against  the  orders  of  the  Pope  and  against 
the  power  of  the  king — swore  the  barons  on  the  high  altar  of  the  Catholic 
church  at  St.  Edmundsbury,  that  they  would  have  Magna  Charta  or  die  for 
it.  The  charter  which  secures  to  every  one  of  you  to-day  trial  by  jury, 
freedom  of  the  press,  freedom  of  the  pen,  the  confronting  of  witnesses  with 
the  accused,  and  the  opening  of  secret  dungeons — that  charter  was  obtained 
by  Stephen  Langton  against  the  Pope  and  against  the  king  of  England,  and 
if  you  Know-Nothings  don't  know  who  Stephen  Langton  was,  you  know 
nothing  sure  enough.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  He  was  a  Catholic  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.  (Renewed  cheers.)  I  come  here  not  to  praise  the 
Catholics,  but  I  come  here  to  acknowledge  historical  truths,  and  to  ask  of 
Protestants  what  has  heretofore  been  the  pride  'and  boast  of  Protestants — - 
tolerance  of  opinion  in  religious  faith.  (Applause.)  All  we  ask  is  tolerance. 
All  we  ask  is,  that  if  you  hate  the  Catholics  because  they  have  proscribed 
heretics,  yout  won't  out-proscribe  proscription.  If  you  hate  the  Catholics 
because  they  have  nunneries  and  monasteries,  and  Jesuitical  secret  orders, 
don't  out-Jesuit  the  Jesuits  by  going  into  dark-lantern  secret  chambers  to 
apply  test  oaths.  If  you  hate  the  Catholics  because  you  say  they  encourage 
the  Machiavellian  expediency  of  telling  lies  sometimes,  don't  swear  your- 
selves not  to  tell  the  truth.  (Cheers.)  Here  are  the  oaths — the  oaths  that 
bind  you,  under  no  circumstances  to  disclose  who  you  are  or  what  you  are, 
and  that  bind  you  not  only  to  political,  but  to  social  proscription.  Here  is 
your  book — your  Bible — which  requires  of  you  to  stick  up  your  notices  be- 
tween midnight  and  davbreak.  (Laughter.)  I  don't  object  to  secrecy.  I 
am  a  member  of  a  secret  order,  and  I  am  proud  to  be  a  brother  Mason  ;  (loud 
cheers;)  and  I  am  at  liberty  by  my  order  to  say,  that  as  to  its  ends,  its  pur- 
poses, its  designs,  Masonry  has  no  secrets.  (Renewed  cheering.)  Its  end, 
its  purpose,  its  aim,  is  to  make  a  brotherhood  of  charity  amongst  men.  Its 
end  is  the  end  of  the  Christian  law  of  religion.  I  know  not  how  any  Mason 
can  be  a  Know-Nothing.  Masonry  binds  its  members  to  respect  and  obey 
the  laws  of  the  land  in  which  we  live  ;  and  when  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  declares  that  no  religious  test  shall  be  made  a  qualification  for 
office,  Masonry  dare  not  interpose  by  conspiring,  in  a  secret  association,  to 
attempt  to  make  a  religious  test  a  qualification  for  office.  When  Virginia 
has  an  act  of  religious  freedom — an  act  that  is  no  longer  a  mere  statute  law, 
but  is  now  a  part  of  the  organic  law,  and  which  says  that  no  man  shall  be 
burdened  for  religious  opinion's  sake — Masonry  dare  not  conspire  to  burden 
any  man  for  opinion's  sake.  Masonry  has  no  secrets  but  the  simple  tests  by 
•which  it  recognizes  its  brotherhood.  It  is  bound  to  respect  the  law  and  to 
tolerate  differences  of  opinion  in  religion  and  politics.  I  do  not  complain  of 
secrecy,  but  I  complain  of  secrecy  for  political  objects.  What  is  your  ob- 
ject ?  It  is  to  assail  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  to  conspire  to 
contradict  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  land;  it  is  to  conspire  against  the 
Constitution  and  laws,  and  swear  men  by  test  oaths — the  most  odious  instru- 
ments of  tyranny  that  intolerance  and  proscription  have  ever  devised.  It  is 
not  only  to  proscribe  Catholics  and  foreigners,  but  it  is  to  proscribe  Protes- 
tants and  natives  too,  who  will  not  unite  \vith  you  in  proscribing  Catholics 
and  foreigners.  It  is  further  than  that:  It  destroys  all  individuality  in  the 
man.  You  bring  in  your  noviciate,  you  swear  him  to  do — what?  To  give 
up  his  conscience,  his  judgment,  his  will,  to  the  judgment  and  the  conscience 
and  the*will  of  an  association  of  men  who  are  not  willing  that  others  should 
8 


114 

enslave  them,  but  their  test  oath  enslave  themselves.  And  to  what  are  they 
sworn  ?  They  are  sworn  to  passive  obedience — to  non-resistance — to  take 
sign  and  grip.'  Here  is  your  organization.  (Holding  up  a  document.)  I 
will  not  take  time  to  read  it ;  but  I  will  state  the  fact  that  your  Grand  Na- 
tional Council  of  the  United  States  is  organized  by  the  appointment  of  thir- 
teen men  from  each  state,  a  council  of  thirteen,  an  oligarchy  of  thirteen  from 
each  state,  who  assemble  outside  of  the  state  to  form  the  Grand  Council  of 
the  United  States,  with  Mr.  Barker,  of  Wall  street,  New  York,  as  president. 
Power  over  original  judgment,  power  over  appeal — all  power — is  concentra- 
ted in  that  National  Council.  And  has  it  come  to  this  ?  Has  Virginia  been 
so  provincialized  in  the  Union  that  her  sons  will  consent  not  to  be  guided  by 
their  own  individual  wills,  by  their  own  individual  consciences,  by  their 
own  individual  judgments,  but  consent  to  qe  sworn  by  a  test  oath,  to  take  a 
sign  which  comes  from  outside  the  state,  and  which  may  be  passed  to  you 
from  Mr.  Barker,  of  New  York. 

When  that  is  submitted  to  by  the  people  of  Virginia,  no  longer  call  your- 
selves a  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  state.     You  are  subdued — you  are 
conquered — you  are  provincialized — you  have  lost  your  individuality.     And 
not  only  are  these  appliances  brought  to  bear  upon  us,  but,  gentlemen,  em- 
missaries  are  everywhere  at  work.     The  New  York   Herald  has  taken  up 
this  election,  and  has  proclaimed  to  the  world   that  it  is  arranged  in  New 
York  already,  whence  the  sign  will  come,  I  suppose,  that  Mr.  Wise  is  to  be 
defeated  in  Virginia.     Bennett,  the  political  Fagan,  the   cross-eyed,  whining 
demon  of  politics,  who  has  made  himself  a  millionaire  by  black  mail—Ben- 
nett, whose  paper  I  never  would  allow  to  come  into  my  family — Bennett, 
who  has  fed  the  vultures  with  the  very  lambs  of  society — the  man  who  has 
regarded  no  purity,  no  sanctity,  nothing  that  was  holy  or  sacred — Bennett 
has  dogged  me  in  this  canvass,  without  an  open  competitor,  with  his  reporter 
for  his  paper — sending  here   that  instrument  to  catch  the  words  of  the  Vir- 
ginia stump — our  own  domestic  stump — in    order   that  he  might  travesty 
and   misrepresent  and  belie.     And,  too,  at  this   moment,  I  have  to  endure 
that  the  Whig  presses  of  the  state  have  forgotten   what  they  owe  to  the 
state — not  to  me — so  far  as  to  publish,  not  only  his  reports,  but  his  cards, 
which  insult  the  state  as  well   as  me.     That  is   tolerated.     I  care  nothing 
about  that  minion  of  the  Herald.     I  am  looking  at  higher  game.     I  am  look- 
ing at  the  Absalom.s,  at  the  Arnolds,  at  the  traitors  of  the  north,  who,  wielding 
the  power  of  the    Herald,  have  thought  to  put  me  down.     And  I  suppose 
the   Know-Nothings    are  very  confident  that  they  will   succeed.     Let  me 
tell  them  that  I  would  as  lief  die  a  martyr   in  this  cause  as  in^any  other 
cause.     Let  me  say  to  them,  where  you  have  fastened  together  Whigs  and 
Know-Nothings  and  Democrats,  when  you  get  those  who  are  blindly  leaving 
their  party  to  place  themselves  in  machinery — those  who  are  either  seeking 
office  or  are  disappointed  in  no^  getting  office — and  when  you   have  thus  put 
me  down,  when  you  have  crusned  the  slaveholding  power  in   my  election, 
why  then  follows  a  total  revolution — a  social  and  political  revolution,  not 
only  in  the  state  of  Virginia,  but  in   the  whole  south.     Gentlemen,  what  is 
to  follow  from  this  ?     Where  is   it   to   end  ?     They   have  swept  the  north. 
They  have    nine    governors.     They  claim  that  they  have  got  a  majority 
elected  to  the  next  House  of  Representatives.     They  are  now  trying  to  ob- 
tain, by  the  end  of  the  next  three  years,  a  majority  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States ;  but  if  I  am  elected  governor  of  the  state  of  Virginia,  what 
will  be  the  state  of  things  ?     The  next  Congress  will  assemble  'on  the  first 
Monday  in  December  next.     If  I  be  elected  governor  of  the   state  of  Vir- 
ginia, I  shall  be  sworn  in  on  the  first  of  January  next.     And  now  I  tell  you 
what  will  be  the  consequence.     When  I  take  the  oath  to  support  the  consti- 
tution of  the  state  of  Virginia,  I  will  remember  me  that  I  will  be  invested 


115 

with  the  militia  power  of  the  state  of  Virginia,  to  repel  invasion  and  to  sup- 
press insurrection.  No  man  loves  and  adores  the  Union  of  this  land  more 
than  I  do.  I  have  been  taught  to  venerate  and  to  cherish  the  Union  of  these 
states.  It  is  the  holiest  of  all  holy  things.  I  would  gladly  give  my  life,  my 
blood,  as  a  sacrifice  to  save  it  if  required.  But  I  know  that  the  main  pillars 
of  the  Union,  the  main  props»nd  supporters  of  this  palladium,  are  the  pil- 
lars of  state  rights  and  state^ifovereLgnty.  (Applause.)  If  you  place  me 
with  your  sword  in  hand  by  th^  great  pillar  of  Virginia  sovereignty,  I  pro- 
mise you  to  bear  and  forbear  to  the  last  extremity.  I  will  suffer  much,  suffer 
long,  suffer  almost  anything  but  dishonor.  But  it  is,  in  my  estimation,  with 
the  union  of  the  states  as  it  is  with  the  union  of  matrimony.  You  may  suffer 
almost  anything  except  dishonor ;  but  when  honor  is  touched  the  union  must 
be  dissolved.  (Loud  and  prolonged  cheering.)  I  will  not  say  that.  I  take 
back  the  words.  I  will  not  allow  myself  to  contemplate  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  (Renewed  cheering.)  No,  we  will  still  try  to  save  it.  But  when 
the  worst  comes  to  the  worst,  if  compelled  to  draw  the  sword  of  Virginia,  I 
will  draw  it ;  and  by  the  gods  of  the  state  and  her  holy  altars,  if  I  am  com- 
pelled to  draw  it,  I  will  flesh  it  or  it  shall  pierce  rny  body,  (Enthusiastic 
cheering.)  And  I  tell  you  more :  we  have  got  abolitionists  in  this  state. 
(Voice  in  the  crowd — "D — n  the  Know-Nothings,"  and  great  laughter.)  If 
I  should  have  to  move,  some  of  the  first,  I  fear,  against  whom  I  should  have 
to  act,  would  be  some  within  our  own  limits.  But  if  forced  to  fight,  I  will 
not  confine  myself  to  the  state  of  Virginia.  My  motto  will  be — 

Woe  to  the  coward  that  ever  he  was  born, 

That  did  not  draw  the  sword  before  he  blew  the  horn.         (Loud  cheers.) 

Gentlemen,  I  was  in  a  very  poor  plight  to  speak  to  you  to-night.  Perhaps 
I  have  spoken  already  too  long,  although  I  have  not  said  half  what  I  would, 
say  to  you,  or  produced  half  the  evidence  which  I  have  with  me.  Ail  I 
have  to  say  to  the  Democracy  is,  that  all  you  want  is  active,  earnest  organi- 
zation. (Cheers.)  Remember  that  if  these  Know-Nothings  hold  together, 
they  are  sworn,  compact  committees  of  vigilance.  Go  to  work,  then.  Or- 
ganize actively  everywhere.  Appoint  your  vigilance  committees,  but  take 
especial  care  that  no  Know-Nothings  are,  secretly  and  unknown  to  you,  upon 
them.  (Cheers.)  Be  prepared.  .1  have  gone  through  most  of  eastern  Virginia, 
and  in  spite  of  their  vaunting  I  defy  them  to  defeat  me.  (Great  cheering.) 
There  are  Indians  in  the  bush,  but  I'll  whack  on  the  bayonet,  and  lunge  at 
every  shrub  in  the  state,  till  I  drive  them  out.  (Renewed  and  enthusiastic 
cheering.)  I  tell  them  distinctly  there  shall  be  no  compromise,  no  parley.  I 
will  come  to  no  terms.  They  shall  either  crush  me  or  I  will  crush  them  in 
this  state.  (Great  applause.)  Of  the  conscientious  and  considerate  and 
conservative  men  of  the  Whig  party,  I  would  ask  where  they  can  find  any- 
thing in  form,  shape,  tendency  or  result,  that  promises  so  much  destructive- 
s  Know-Nothingism  ?  I  challenge  them  to  compare  Know-Nothingism 
with  Democracy,  and  to  tell  me  what  it  is  in  Democracy  that  they  cannot  touch 
in  comparison  with  Know-Nothingism.  I  will  say  that  I  do  expect  that  the 
Democratic  nominations  in  this  election  will  gain  the  support  of  some  of  the 
brightest  jewels  of  the  Whig  party  in  the  state.  (Cheers  and  laughter.)  I 
hail  them  and  extend  to  them  the  right  hand  of  fellowship ;  and  I  believe 
that  if  Know-Nothingism  can  claim  no  other  good  deed,  it  will  at  least  effect 
a  reorganization  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the  state. of  Virginia  upon 
higher  ground,  more  affiliated,  stronger  and  abler,  better  to  serve  itself  and 
the  country,  than  it  has  been  for  the  last  twenty-five  years.  Let  them,  then, 
boast  of  their  30,000  and  40,000  and  50,000  majorities.  We  will  take  our 
old  and  usual  majority — I  will  be  satisfied  with  that.  (Cheers  and  laughter.) 


116 

And  to  obtain  it,  I  would  not  flatter  you,  the  people,  "if  you  were  Neptune, 
for  his  trident,  or  Jove  for  his  power  to  thunder."  I  will  deceive  no  man; 
I  will  hunny-fuggle  no  voter.  (Laughter.)  I  will  condescend  to  nothing  unbe- 
coming a  gentleman.  I  will  conduct  this,  canvass  throughout  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  will  command  your  respect  and  preserve  my  own  self-respect.  God 
grant  that  I  may  live  through  the  campaign.  If  I  continue  to  speak  as  I 
have  been  doing,  I  doubt  very  much  whether  I  can  survive  it.  But,  "sink 
or  swim,  live  or  die,"  I  will  do  my  duty  ;  and  "if  Rome  falls,  I  am  inno- 
cent." 

Mr.  Wise  then  retired,  amidst  enthusiastic  cheering,  and  the  meeting  at 
once  dispersed. 


DISTINGUISHED  DEMOCRATIC  ORATORS  OF  THE  CANVASS. 

Among  other  distinguished  gentlemen  who  took  the  stump  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  State,  during  the  campaign,  were  the  following.  HOQ.  Shelton  F. 
Leake,  of  Madison ;  Messrs.  James  Lyons,  and  Patrick  H.  Aylett,  of  Richmond, 
(this  gentleman  especially  deserves  the  thanks  of  the  Democracy  for  his  arduous 
labours  and  repeated  dissections  of  Know  Nothingism);  Maj.  James  Garland, 
and  Charles  Irving,  of  Lynchburg ;  Roger  A.  Pryor,  of  the  Richmond  Enqui- 
rer ;  A.  I).  Banks,  of  the  Southside  Democrat ;  R.  K.  Meade,  of  Petersburg  • 
Col.  William  M.  Howerton,  of  Halifax ;  Senator  James  M.  Mason,  of  Frede- 
rick; Dr.  Clement  R.  Harris,  of  Augusta;  William  M.  Treadway,  of  Pittsyl- 
vania ;  Henry  L.  Hopkins,  of  Powhatan,  late  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Dele- 
gates j  William  Cabell  Flournoy,  of  Prince  Edward ;  and  others. 

In  the  western  portion  of  the  State,  very  great  and  arduous  services  were 
rendered.  Conspicuous  among  the  Democratic  speakers,  was  Mr.  Elisha  W. 
McComas,  who  made  an  active  and  most  successful  tour  through  almost  the 
entire  west.  Ex-Governor  John  B.  Floyd,  of  Washington  county,  did  herculean 
service,  and,  by  his  judicious  arrangements  for  the  canvass  in  his  district,  pro- 
duced a  majority  there  unprecedented  in  the  political  annals  of  "  Little  Teunes. 
see."  In  the  northwest,  conspicuous  among  the  speakers,  were  Hon.  Sherrard 
Clemens,  of  Wheeling,  and  Mr.  Benj.  W.  Jackson,  of  Pleasants  county.  In 
the  Valley,  Col.  Wm.  H.  Harman,  of  Augusta,  and  James  W.  Massie,  of 
Bockbridge,  were  very  able  and  efficient. 

The  Examiner  had  the  following  notice  of  the  canvass  in  that  important  dis. 
trict  of  the  State—"  Little  Tennessee." 

GLORIOUS  LITTLE  TENNESSEE. — We  hear  daily  more  and  more  encouraging 
tidings  from  the  Democracy  of  this  Heart  of  Midlothian.  In  spite  of  the  fal- 
lacious asseverations  of  the  Know  Nothings  to  the  contrary,  Little  Tennessee 
will  give  the  Democratic  ticket  a  majority  of  two  thousand  at  the  very  lowest 
figure.  McMuLLiN  will  beat  both  his  Know  Nothing  competitors — TRIGG  and 
MARTIN — by  a  large  majority. 

The  services  of  Sir.  WM.  H.  COOK,  of  Carroll  county,  have  been  efficient  and 
invaluable  in  the  canvass.  He  has  met  TRI-GG  twice  on  the  stump  in  a  manner 
that  neither  his  poor  victim  nor  the  people  who  witnessed  the  onslaught 
will  ever  forget.  He  has  had  Carroll  and  Grayson  in  his  especial  keeping,  and 
the  result  in  those  two  counties  will  attest  the  effectiveness  of  his  labors  in  the 
Democratic  cause. 


117 

Nor  has  Col.  BEN.  RUSH  FLOYD,  of  Wytheville,  allowed  the  imperative  calls 
of  his  profession  to  interfere  with  his  duty  as  a  Democrat.  His  speeches  at 
Wytheville  are  pronounced  the  most  powerful  ever  delivered  in  that  county, 
and  has  told  with  crushing  effect  upon  the  Know  Nothing  cause.  The  election 
of  GRAHAM,  in  AYythe,  is  set  down  as  a  fixed  fact. 

Tuos.  L.  PRESTON,  Esq.,  has  surprised  his  warmest  admirers  by  the  ability 
and  eloquence  of  his  speeches  in  denunciation  of  Know  Nothingism.  He  has 
gone  from  precinct  to  precin3t,  and  man  to  man,  crying  aloud  and  sparing  not. 
The  Order  boasted  that  they  had  secured  the  county  and  fettered  its  voters  be- 
fore the  canvass  commenced ;  but  Mr.  PRESTON  has  knocked  the  scales  from 
the  eyes  of  the  people,  broken  up  the  plans  of  the  enemy,  and  completely  de- 
stroyed the  work  of  the  Order.  His  election,  in  Smyth,  we  are  assured,  is  a 
certain  event. 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  that  brave  man — that  fearless  champion  of  Democ- 
racy through  evil  and  through  good  report — who  can  neither  be  driven  by  trea- 
chery nor  seduced  by  flattery  from  the  cause  in  which  he  was  born  and  reared, 
for  which  he  has  lived  and  fought,  and  which  has  never  yet  failed  or  faltered  m 
his  district  when  he  was  in  the  field — the  ACHILLES  of  the  Southwest — JOHN 
B.  FLOYD  ? 

The  secret  Order  had  already  stolen  a  march  upon  the  Democracy  in  Wash- 
ington county.  They  already  boasted  to  have  captured  and  bound  and  fettered, 
by  oaths  and  pledges,  a  majority  of  the  freemen  of  the  county.  The  Demo- 
crats were  taken  by  surprise,  and  had  already  been  surrounded  before  they  knew 
that  the  prowling  enemy  was  near  them.  They  turned  to  FLOYD,  and  appealed 
to  him,  with  odds  already  counted  against  them,  to  take  the  field  and  attack  the 
enemy  in  his  fortifications.  With  a  noble  unselfishness  he  consented  to  be  a 
candidate  for  an  office  he  did  not  want.  He  took  the  stump,  spoke  in  every 
nook  and  corner,  saw  every  man,  and  addressed  every  dozen  men  in  the  county. 
He  burst  up  lodges,  and  scattered  dismay  and  consternation  among  the  follow- 
ers of  the  dark  lantern.  He  has  redeemed  the  county  by  a  series  of  speeches 
surpassing  even  himself  in  ability  and  power,  and,  as  a  Whig  adversary,  distin- 
guished for  intelligence,  and  no  friend  of  Mr.  FLOYD,  says,  never  surpassed  be- 
fore in  any  political  contest  in  this  country.  He  has  crushed  the  puny  adver- 
saries that  have  been  pitted  against  him — as  the  president  of  a  Know  Nothing 
council  and  adversarv  tells  it,  taking  them  by  couples,  and  knocking  their  block 
heads  together,  and  jarring  out  every  grain  of  sense  they  ever  contained. 

Having  secured  his  own  county,  he  has  gone  into  the  unvisited  counties  of 
Lee  and  Scott,  crushing  out  the  Order  by  his  ponderous  blows,  and  speaking 
everywhere  with  a  power  never  before  known  there.  In  Scott,  last  Monday 
week,  he  spoke  with  peculiar  ability,  and  with  such  effect  that  an  old  Methodist 
minister  exclaimed,  as  he  closed,  "God  never  made  the  man  who  ever  delivered 
such  a  speech  as  that." 

Amongst  the  distinguished  Whigs  who  took  ground  against  Know  Nothingism, 
and  acted  with  the  Democracy,  were  the  following :  Thomas  J.  Michie,  of 
Staunton;  Judge  Robertson,  of  Richmond;  John  Y.  Gholson,  of  Petersburg; 
and  Maj.  John  T.|L.  Preston,  of  the  Virginia  Military  Institute. 

We  here  insert  the  letter  of  Mr.  Michie,  as  distinguished  for  its  ability  and 
the  influence  it  exerted  over  the  popular  mind. 

MR.  MICHIE'S  LETTER. 

STAUNTON,  April  9th,  1855. 

My  Dear  Sir  : — On  my  return  to-day  from  Shenandoah,  where  I  had  been 
for  the  last  week,  attending  a  session  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  that  county,  I  re- 


118 

ceived  your  kind  and  flattering  invitation  to  address  the  people  of  Richmond 
City. 

Permit  me  to  tender  to  yourself  and  the  committee  from  whom  it  emanated, 
my  grateful  thanks  for  the  honor  you  have  done  inc.  But  I  fear  that  constant 
and  unavoidable  professional  engagements,  will  place  it  out  of  my  power  to 
visit  Richmond  between  this  time  and  the  4th  Thursday  in  May.  On  the  12th 
inst.,  I  must  be  in  Rockbridge,  and  thence  to  Highland,  this  place,  and  Alber- 
marle,  in  rapid  succession.  Nothing,  I  assure  you,  would  give  me  more  plea- 
sure than  to  address  the  intelligent  people  of  Richmond,  on  the  interesting 
questions  of  the  present  canvass — to  tell  them  how  blighting  to  the  free  spirit 
of  our  country  the  secret  mystery  of  Know  Nothingism  must  prove — how  de- 
moralizing it  will  be  to  our  own  children,  the  hitherto  high-minded,  open- 
hearted,  bold  youths  of  Virginia,  to  be  educated  in  the  sneaking  arts  of  secrecy 
and  espionage — to  be  taught  by  their  fathers  to  spy  out  all  the  political  actions 
of  their  fellow  men.  and  yet,  to  keep  their  own  actions  and  "  objects,"  in  refe- 
rence to  matters  which  necessarily  concern  all,  a  profound  secret — to  publish 
platforms  of  pretended  principles,  suited  to  every  latitude  and  every  taste,  for 
the  purpose  of  gaining  proselytes,  while  they  feel  the  degrading  consciousness 
that  they  are  prohibited,  by  horrible  oaths,  from  ever  revealing  their  real  objects 
and  principles  outside  of  their  Order — and  while  a  disgusted  world  is  forced  to 
conclude,  either  that  their  platforms  are  filled  with  false  professions,  intended  to 
mislead,  or  that  those  who  publish  them  are  perjured. 

Has  any  party  a  right  to  political  secrets  ?  In  private  associations  men  may 
conceal  matters  which  concern  themselves  alone.  But  politics,  relating  neces- 
sarily to  the  affairs  or  conduct  rp  a  government,  in  which  every  citizen  has  an 
equal  stake,  how  can  a  party  be  tolerated  in  withholding,  from  any  portion  of 
our  citizens,  information  on  a  subject  which  vitally  concerns  every  one  of  them  ? 
In  a  small  partnership,  if  a  portion  of  the  partners  were  to  conceal  from  the 
rest  their  designs  in  reference  to  the  social  funds,  their  associates  so  excluded, 
would  be  justified  in  forming  a  conclusion  of  dishonesty,  and  a  court  of  justice 
would  interfere.  In  the  ordinary  intercourse  of  life,  an  honest  man  of  ordinary 
humanity,  possessed  of  a  secret  which  concerns  his  neighbor's  interests,  feels 
bound  by  a  high  moral  obligation  to  disclose  it  to  him  whom  it  interests.  Yet 
here  is  a  political  party  intermeddling  in  the  dark  with  the  affairs  of  govern- 
ment, which  involve  your  and  my  life,  liberty  and  property,  and  those  of  our 
children,  and  of  millions  of  others,  and  yet  they  coolly  refuse  to  let  us  know 
what  their  objects  are  until  we  shall  be  informed  by  such  result  as  they  may 
hereafter  produce.  By  their  own  showing  they  are  enemies  of  popular  govern- 
ment— for  in  such  a  government  the  whole  community  participates. 

But  they  show  their  enmity  in  various  other  forms.  They  practically  deny 
the  capacity  of  the  people  to  govern,  and  therefore  establish  aristocratic  coun- 
cils, with  a  great  consolidating-  and  controlling  head,  located  most  fitly,  some- 
where near  "  the  five  points"  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Power  with  them,  in- 
stead of  being  vested  in  the  people  and  emanating  from  them,  is  vested  in  these 
aristocratic  councils.  The  theory  of  our  government  requires  an  appeal  from 
aristocracy  to  the  people.  Know  Nothingism  reverses  that  theory,  by  providing 
in  all  cases  an  appeal  from  the  people  to  aristocracy. 

If  the  people  had  capacity  for  self-government,  this  self-styled  American 
(qusere,  Aboriginal?)  party  deny  their  honesty.  Therefore,  they  are  never 
trusted  except  under  oath.  And  again,  while  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  re- 
quires every  citizen  to  exercise  his  own  best  judgment  in  voting  for  all  officers 
of  government — this  wonderful  invention  of  Yaukeedom  requires  him  to  bind 
himself  by  solemn  oath,  not  to  exercise  his  own  judgment  at  all,  but  to  give  his 
vote  as  the  majority  of  a  caucus,  itself  subservient  to  the  mandate  of  a  supe- 
rior caucus,  may  order.  These  are  startling  novelties  to  an  American  ear. 
Yet;  Know  Nothingisin,  bold  "'in  this  respect  alone,  in  all  others  skulking, 


119 

denying  its  name,  denying  its  association,  refusing  to  make  known  its  ob- 
jects, hiding  in  dark  caverns  with  bats  and  owls,  denounces  all  as  anti- 
Ainerican  who  will  not  adopt  its  dogmas  !  I  should  like  to  discuss  and 
dissect  the  monster,  not  only  under  the  preceding  head,  but  many  others,  and 
especially  its  Federalism.  I  should  like  to  show  the  people  of  Richmond,  and 
the  whole  South,  the  cunning  device  of  the  Know  Nothing  nominee  for  Gover- 
nor, instilled  into  him,  no  doubt,  by  the  same  masters  under  whom  he  learned 
his  "  Americanism,"  by  which  he  asks  the  people  of  Virginia  to  deprive  them- 
selves of  all  ground  of  resistance  hereafter,  to  the  Northern  plan  of  interven- 
tion iu  our  domestic  affairs — by  intervening  in  a  crusade  against  Catholics  and 
foreigners,  not  because  she  is  suffering  any  inconvenience  from  them  herself,  but 
in  order  to  rid  her  sister  States  of  the  nuisance.  ' 

But  I  console  myself,  under  my  inability  to  obey  your  call,  by  the  reflection 
that  if  I  went,  it  would  only  contribute  the  feeble  light  of  a  candle,  to  that 
glorious  sun  which  has  shone  and  which  continues  to  shine  among  you  and  en- 
lighten you  till  the  day  of  election.  Wise  and  Douglas,  and  a  host  of  others, 
have  told  you  more  than  I  can  tell.  But  as  I  have  been  a  Whig — only  say  for 
me  to  my  old  Whig  friends,  that  I  have  looked  carefully  under  the  cloak  of 
Know  Nothingism — have  lifted  with  a  daring  hand  the  veil  that  covered 
the  face  of  the  Prophet  Sam,  and  satisfied  myself  well  that  it  is  not  Whig- 
gery,  as  I  had  always  understood  it,  and  as  I  knew  it  was  understood  and  pro- 
fessed by  thousands  of  honest  and  patriotic  men,  but  monstrum  horrendum  in- 
formi  -ingem  uni  lumen  redemptum.  Yes,  as  blind  as  a  bat,  and  as  dark  as 
Erebus.  Let  them  beware  of  it,  as  they  love  their  lives  and  high  reputation. 
History  informs  us  of  many  secret  political  parties,  but  not  of  one  that  I  re- 
member, which  has  not  been  damned  by  impartial  posterity.  This  party  has 
much  besides  its  secrecy  to  give  it  an  earlier  and  deeper  condemnation  than  that 
which  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  its  predecessors.  If  the  Democratic  party  should 
follow  its  lead,  what  a  Hell  upon  earth  their  underground  fight  would  make, 
yet  it  would  plead  example,  and  the  responsibility  would  be  Sam's. 

With  high  regard, 

THOS.  J.  MICHIE. 


VIRGINIA  DEMOCRATIC  ORGANIZATION. 

The  Democratic  party,  not  deeming  it  wise  to  despise  their  secret  foe,  and 
wishing  to  hand  down  to  their  children  the  political  escutcheon  of  their  State 
untarnished,  thought  it  provident  and  well  to  organise  efficiently,  in  order  to  go 
into  a  contest  with  unbroken  column  and  solid  phalanx.  Accordingly  their 
executive  committee  for  the  State  met,  Feb.  12th,  and  appointed  the  following 
Congressional,  senatorial  and  .county  electors. 

CONGRESSIONAL   ELECTORS. 

First  Congressional  District — Ro.  L.  Montague  of  Middlesex. 

Second  District — Mordecai  Cooke  of  Norfolk  City. 

Third  District— P.  IT.  Aylett  of  Richmond  City. 

Fourth  District— R.  K.  Meade  of  Petersburg. 

Fifth  District — A.  Hughes  Dillard  of  Henry. 

Sixth  District — Wm.  J.  Robertson  of  Albemarle. 

Seventh  District — Beuj.  II.  Berry  of  Alexandria. 


120 

Eighth  District— Thos.  M.  Isbell  of  Jefferson. 
Ninth  District — Geo.  E.  Deneale  of  Rockingham. 
Tenth  District— Sherrard  Clemens  of  Wheeling. 
Eleventh  District — Benj.  W.  Jackson  of  Wood. 
Twelfth  District — A.  A.  Chapman  of  Marion. 
Thirteenth  District — Jno.  B.  Floyd  of  Washington. 

SENATORIAL   ELECTORS. 

1st  Senatorial  District — L.  J.  Bell  of  Accomac. 

2d  do.  Hunter  Woodis  of  Norfolk  City. 

3d  do.  S.  Wheeler  of  Norfolk  County. 

4th  do.  James  F.  Crocker  of  Isle  of  Wight. 

5th  do.  E.  W.  Massenburg  of  Southampton. 

6th  do.  Thos.  Wallace  of  Petersburg. 

7th  do.  Lewis  E.  Harvie  of  Amelia. 

8th  do.  Alex.  Jones  of  Chesterfield. 

9th  do.  Win.  C.  Flournoy  of  Prince  Edward. 

10th  do.  Wm.  B.  Baskervill  of  Mecklenburg, 

llth  do.  J.  Redi  Smith  of  Pittsylvania. 

12th  do.  Wm.  M.  Howerton  of  Halifax. 

13th  do.  Arch'd  Stuart  of  Patrick. 

14th  do.  Austin  M.  Trible  of  Bedford. 

I5th  do.  Thos.  K.  Kirkpatrick  of  Lynchburg. 

16th  do.  W.  R.  C.  Douglas  of  New  Kent. 

17th  do.  John  B.  Young  of  Henrico. 

18th  do.  Geo.  W.  Randolph  of  Richmond  City. 

19th  do.  John  T.  Seawell  of  Gloucester. 

20th  do.  R.  Claybrook  of  Northumberland. 

21st  do.  Wm.  R.  Aylett  of  King  William. 

22d  do.  Eustace  Conway  of  Spottsylvania. 

28d  do.  Eppa  Hunton  of  Prince  William. 

24th  do.  David  Funsten  of  Alexandria. 

25th  do.  Jno.  W.  Minor  of  Loudoun. 

26th  do.  J.  Y.  Menifee  of  Rappahannock. 

27th  do.  A.  R.  Blakey  of  Madison. 

28th  do.  Burrell  Snead  of  Albemarle. 

29th  do.  W.  D.  Leake  of  Goochland. 

30th  do.  B.  M.  Dewitt  of  Nelson. 

31st  do.  Wm.  Lucas  of  Jefferson. 

32nd  do.  G.  T.  Barbee  of  Hardy. 

33d  do.  Thos.  T.  Fauntleroy  of  Frederick. 

34th  do.  J.  S.  Calvert  of  Shenandoah. 

35th  do.  John  T.  Harris  of  Rockingham. 

36th  do.  Wm.  H.  Harman  of  Augusta. 

37th  do.  Jas.  W.  Massie  of  Rockbridge. 

38th  do.  Oliver  H.  Gray  of  Botetourfc. 

39th  do.  Wm.-H.  Cook  of  Carroll. 

40th  do.  G.  W.  G.  Browne  of  Tazewell. 

41st  do.  Isaac  J.  Leftwich  of  Wythe. 

42d  do.  Sam'l.  V.  Fulkerson  of  Lee. 

43d  do.  T.  Dunn  English  of  Logan. 

44th  do.  R.  F.  Dennis  of  Greenbrier. 

45th  do.  Jeremiah  Wellman  of  Wayne. 

46th  do.  A.  J.  Smith  of  Harrison. 

47th  do.  James  Neeson  of  Marion, 


121 


48th  Senatorial  District— Benj.  Bassell,  Jr.,  of  Upshur. 
49th  do.  Win.  G.  Brown  of  Preston. 

50th  do.  Campbell  Tarr,  Jr.,  of  Brooke. 

COUNTY   ELECTORS. 

Accomac — J.  W.  H-  Parker. 
Albcmurle — Dr.  W.  G.  Rogers. 
Alexandria — George  L.  Gordon. 
Alleahany  and  .Zto//i— Samuel  Carpenter. 
Amelia — Win.  Gregory. 
Nottoicay — Thomas  Kowlett. 
Amliersi.—Dr.  S.  C.  Gibson. 
Jjipomattox — S.  D.  McDearmon. 
Aityusta — James  H.  Skinner. 
Barbour — A.  G.  Reger. 
Bedford — Samuel  G.  Davis. 
Berkeley — M.  S.  Grant-ham. 
Botetourt — B.  F.  Miller. 
Craiy— Ho.  M.  Wiley. 
Braxfon  and  Nicholas — Jonathan  Koiner. 
Brooke — Wm .  DeCa m  ps. 
Hancock — Tbos.  Bambrick. 
Brunswick— Robt.  D.  Turnbull. 
JBiickmyham — E.  W.  Hubard. 
Ca&etf— Peter  C.  Buffington. 
Campbell— Wm.  T.  Yaucey. 
Caroline — Jno.  Washington. 
Carroll — Jno.  Carroll. 
Charles  City,        ~\ 

Jamr*  City,  and  y  E.  Waddill  and  H.  T.  Jones. 
New  Kt'ntj  ) 

Charlotte — Wm.  H.  Dennis. 
Chesterfield—  Alex.  Cogbill. 
Clarke— E.  W.  Massie. 
Calpcper — Jno.  W.  Bell. 
Ctint'x'.rland,  and~)  Creed  D.  Coleman. 
Poirkataiiy  j  Henry  L.  Hopkins. 

Dinwuldie — James  Boisseau. 
DoddriJ<jc  and  Tyler — Chapman  J.  Stewart. 
Elizabeth  City — 1  James  B.  Hope. 
Wnrtcick—  <  Wm.  G.  Young. 

York —  j  J.  B.  Cosnahan. 

Williumsburfjli — J  Talbot  Sweeney. 
Exsex —  )  J.  M.  Matthews. 

Kin </  and  Queen —  j  J.  M.  Jeffries. 
Fairfax — Jno.  Powell. 
Fauqiiicr — Silas  B.  Hunter. 
F>u/<-ite  and  Raleigh — Aaron  Stockton. 
Floyd — Harvey  Deskins. 
Fluvanna — Ro.  H.  Poore. 
Franklin— Wm.  H.  Edwards. 
Frederick—]?.  M.  Holladay. 
Giles — James  Johnson. 
Gilmer — Sam'l  L.  Hays. 
Wirt— R.  S.  Brown. 


122 

Gloucester—  Wra.  B.  Taliaferro. 
Goochlanrf—W.  W.  Cosby. 
Gfrayfyn  —  Sam'l  McCamant. 
Green  and}  Wvatt  S.  Beazley. 
Orange  —  j  Jno.  Welch. 
Greensville  and  )  0.  A.  Claiborne. 

Sussex—  j  Richmond  F.  Dillard. 

Halifax—  Woodson  Hughes. 

Hampshire—  A.  W.  McDonald,  Jr. 

Hanover—  Edw'd  W.  Morris. 

Hardy—  J.  F.  W.  Allen. 

Harrison  —  Robt.  Johnston. 

Henrico  —  Dan'l  E.  Gardner. 

Henry  —  Geo.  Hairston. 

Highland  —  Adam  Stephenson   Jr 

Isle  of  Wight—  V.  B.  Haden. 

Jackson  —  H.  Fitzhue,  Jr. 

Jefferson  —  S.  K.  Donavin. 

Kanawha  —  Jno.  A.  Warth. 

King  George  and  Stafford—  Chas.  Mason,  Jno.  C.  Moncure 

King  William—  Wm.  Hill. 

Lancaster  and  Northumberland—  Addison  Hall. 

Lee—  S.  S.  Slemp. 

Lewis  —  Jno.  Brannon. 

Logan,  Boone  and  Wyoming—^.  Clair  Ballard.  James  Shannon. 

Louisa—  II.  B.  Waddy. 

Loudoun  —  Geo.  Rust. 

Lunenhury—Wm.  J.  Neblitt. 

Madison—  Thos.  J.  Humphreys. 

Marion  —  Wm.  J.  Willey. 

Marshall  —  Bush  W.  Price. 

Mason—  John  Green  Newman. 

Matthews  and  Middlesex—  Alex'r  K.  Sheppard,  Geo.  L  Nicolson. 

Mecklenburg—  Mark  Alexander,  Jr. 

Mercer—  Geo.  W.  Pearis. 

Monongalfa—T)r.  M.  Dent. 

Monne—  Nath'l  Harrison. 

Montgomery—  -James  C.  Taylor. 

Morgan—  Peter  Dyche. 

Nansemond  —  H.  H.  Kelly. 

Nelson—  Dr.  L.  N.  Ligon.  ' 

Norfolk  City—  Geo.  Blow. 

Norfolk  Cbwrcty—  -Tapley  Portlock. 

Northampton—  Myers  W.  Fisher. 

Page  —  Andrew'  Keysey. 

Ohio—  John  T.  Russell. 

Patrick  —  Edward  Tatem. 

Pendleton  —  A.  S.  Norm  en  t. 

Petersburg  —  Francis  E.  Rives. 

Pittsyhania  —  Walter  Coles,  Jr. 

Peasants  and  Ritchie—  U.  C.  Creel,  L.  A.  Phelps. 

Pocahontas—3.  S.  Bradford. 

Preston—  S.  A.  F.  Martin. 

Geor$e  and  SurrV—  Sam'l  C.  Anderson,  Thomas  H. 


Princess  Anne—  E.  H.  Herbert. 


123 


Prince  William  —  Chas  E.  Sinclair. 

J>u!,,*ki—1\.  M.  ('raitf. 

Putnam  —  Dan'l  13.  Washington. 

Randolph  —  Sain'l  Crane. 

Rappahannock  —  Rob't  S.  Yass. 

Richmond  CYty—  Wm.  F.  Watson. 

Richmond  Count)/  and  Westmoreland  —  Henry  T.  Garnett. 

Roanulte  —  Wm.  M.  Cook. 

Rockbridyc  —  James  B.  Dorman. 

Ritckinyham  —  E.  A  Sbands. 

Russell  —  George  Cowan. 

Scott  —  H.  A.  Morrison. 

fihenandoah  —  Sarn'l.  C.  Williams. 

/S'w?////t  —  Hiram  A.  Greaver. 

Southampton  —  Francis  llidley. 

$pbtsylvania  —  Gabriel  Jobnson. 

Taylor—  3.  T.  Curry. 

Ta'::e,cdl—Wm.  l\  Cecil. 

Upshur  —  Rich'd  L.  Brown. 

Warren  —  Hanson  Dorsey. 

Washington  —  Isaac  B.  Duma. 

Wayne  —  Jos.  J.  Mansfield. 

Wrfzd  —  Presley  Martin. 

Wood  —  John  Spencer. 

lex.  Matthews. 


On  motion  of  Mr.  Hughes,  the  following  resolution  was  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  this  committee  recommends  that  meetings  of  the  party  be 
called  in  each  of  the  election  districts  of  the  counties,  at  the  earliest  practicable 
day,  for  the  purpose  of  appointing  vigilance  committees  for  the  election  districts, 
and  that  each  of  such  districts  appoint  two  members  of  a  general  executive 
committee  for  the  county,  and  that  the  electors  for  the  counties  be  requested  to 
aid  in  promoting  the  object  of  this  resolution. 

JOHN  RUTH]?RFOORD;  Chairman. 
WM.  F.  RITCHIE,  Secr'y. 


At  a  subsequent  meeting  they  adopted  the  following  address : 
To  the  People  of  Vinjitua  : 

Fellow  citizens  :  The  Democratic  State  Rights  Republican  party  have  presen- 
ted to  you  their  candidates  for  the  Executive  offices,  which  are  to  be  filled  by 
your  election,  on  the  fourth  Thursday  in  May  next.  Those  candidates  have 
been  selected  by  our  usual  organization,  as  faithful  representatives  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  our  party,  and  as  men  eminently  qualified  to  perform  all  the  duties  of 
the  high  places  for  which  they  are  proposed.  Recognizing  the  vital  importance 
of  the  result  of  the  approaching  elections  to  our  party  and  to  our  country,  the 
"State  Democratic  Executive  Committee"  make  an  earnest  appeal  for  your  co- 
operation in  the  contest  which  now  engages  the  attention  of  the  whole  Union. 

Our  party  hud  its  origin  in  the  earliest  days  of  the  present  Confederacy. 
When  the  Constitution  was  first  put  in  operation,  two  antagonistic  parties  strug- 
gled for  ascendancy.  One  sought  to  confine  the  Federal  Government  within 
the  strict  and  defined  limits  of  the  Constitution, — avoiding  the  exercise  of  all 
doubtful  powers,  and  aiming  only  at  those  objects  which  the  framers  of  the 


124 

Constitution  had  designated  in  unequivocal  terms  as  legitimate  to  the  Central 
Government.  This  party  exacted  an  unhesitating  homage  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
august  authors  of  that  instrument,  and  sought  to  administer  the  government  in 
rigid  conformity  with  the  written  provisions  of  the  Constitution.  The  other 
party  sought,  by  a  latitudinarian  construction  of  the  Constitution,  to  obtain  in 
the  actual  administration  of  the  Federal  Government  all  the  power  which,  in 
the  judgment  of  those  in  authority,  it  might  be  expedient  to  exercise.  This 
characteristic  division  has  continued  to  separate  the  Democratic  party  from  the 
old  Federal  party,  and,  since  its  overthrow,  from  the  various  parties  that  have 
been  in  opposition  to  the  Democracy. 

That  the  Democratic  party  is  organized  upon  the  true  principles  of  the  Con- 
stitution, is  signally  demonstrated  by  the  fact,  that  it  is  the  only  party  which 
.has  maintained  n  permanent  existence  coeval  with  our  present  Constitutional 
system.  The  history  of  our  party  is  se  fortunately  identified  with  the  history 
of  our  country,  that  the  prosperity  aud  glory  of  the  one  have  been  coincident 
with  the  success  of  the  other.  The  fact  that  its  leading  measures  are  now  in. 
full  operation,  and  have  been  sanctioned  repeatedly  by  the  approval  of  the  coun- 
try, and  that  no  open  organization  now  opposes  them,  stamps  it  as  the  constitu- 
tional party  of  the  Union,  and  renders  it  unnecessary  to  set  out  her  in  detail  its 
principles,  already  so  familiar  to  the  people  of  Virginia. 

In  the  career  of  its  history,  the  Democratic  party  has  had  to  encounter  the  op- 
position organized  in  different  forms,  and  bearing  different  designations.  So 
far,  it  has  overpowered  all  resistance,  and  annihilated  the  national  organizations 
that  have  opposed  it.  The  Whig  party,  which  for  some  years  past  has  combined 
the  elements  of  antagonism  to  Democracy,  has  apparently  succumbed.  The 
opposition  seems  once  more  to  be  arraying  itself  in  new  forms  and  under  new  names. 
Taught  by  past  experience,  those  who  oppose  the  Democratic  party  dare  not 
risk  themselves  any  longer  upon  a  fair  comparison  of  principle  arid  policy  before 
an  enlightened  popular  judgment.  We  have  to  meet,  in  the  impending  canvass, 
a  party  which  avoids  an  open  encounter,  and  withdraws  from  public  observation 
its  discussions  of  political  topics  and  its  deliberations  upon  public  affairs.  This 
new  party  artfully  adapts  its  appeals  for  votaries  to  the  national  and  religious 
prejudices  of  the  country,  while  it  proposes  to  retain,  by  the  most  rigid  and 
imposing  party  discipline,  *t1iose  who  may  be  enticed  into  its  ranks.  If  it  suc- 
ceeds in  the  effort  to  obtain  control  over  the  Federal  Government,  it  must  use 
its  powers  for  purposes  not  now  disclosed — perhaps  not  contemplated  by  many 
of  its  adherents.  It  must  have  its  measures  upon  the  great  subjects  which  are 
so  frequently  agitated  in  Congress — the  Tariff,  the  Finances,  the  Public  Lands, 
Internal  Improvements  and  the  Constitutional  Rights  of  the  slaveholders.  It 
can  have  no  measures  of  material  importance  relating  to  the  avowed  objects  of 
its  organization — the  immigrant  and  Catholic  population.  If  it  goes  into  power, 
it  goes  with  purposes  unavowed  and  unknown  on  those  great  subjects  concern- 
ing which  its  action  may  be  of  the  last  consequence,  while  it  flatters  the  public 
prejudices  respecting  subjects  upon  which  it  can  really  accomplish  little  or 
nothing. 

The  Federal  Government,  with  all  its  departments  combined,  can  apply  no 
effective  remedy  for  the  alleged  evils  incident  to  the  residence  of  the  immi- 
grant population  within  our  limits.  The  naturalization  laws  may  be  amended 
or  repealed.  But  irrespective  of  those  laws,  the  most  valuable  privileges  may 
still  be  granted  to  the  alien  by  the  State  Governments.  The  right  of  residence, 
the  right  to  acquire  and  hold  lands,  and  the  right  of  suffrage,  may  all  be  be- 
stowed upon  the  alien  by  the  State  authorities,  without  regard  being  had  to  the 
naturalization  laws.  The  power  to  refuse  residence  to  the  immigrant  population 
appropriately  belongs  to  the  State  governments.  The  power  of  the  Federal  Go- 
vernment to  expel  any  portion  of  the  alien  population,  whose  residence  is  per- 
mitted by  the  State  Government,  was  indignantly  repelled  by  the  Republican 


125 

part}-  in  1798.  The  celebrated  alien  law  provided  for  the  expulsion  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  resident  aliens.  Both  Virginia  and  Kentucky  denounced  the  law 
as  an  unconstitutional  usurpation.  In  the  address  to  the  people  of  Virginia 
accompanying  the  resolutions  of  1798,  it  is  emphatically  declared  that  "  there 
is  nothing  in  the  Constitution  distinguishing  between  the  power  of  a  State  to 
permit  the  residence  of  natives  and  Aliens.  It  is,  therefore,  a  right  originally  pos- 
sessed and  never  surrendered  by  the  respective  States,  and  which  is  rendered 
dear  and  valuable  to  Virginia,  because  it  is  assailed  through  the  bosom  of  the 
Constitution,  and  because  her  peculiar  situation  renders  the  easy  admission  of 
artizans  and  laborers  an  interest  of  vast  importance  to  her/'  The  fourth  Ken- 
tucky Resolution  of  1798 — drawn  by  Mr.  Jefferson — asserts  "  that  alien  friends 
are  under  the  jurisdiction  and  protection  of  the  laws  of  the  State  wherein  they 
are :  that  no  power  over  them  has  been  delegated  to  the  United  States,  nor  pro- 
hibited to  the  individual  States,  distinct  from  their  power  over  citizens."  Mr. 
Madison's  Report  of  1799  maintains  similar  positions.  It  is  presumed  that 
this  exposition  of  the  Constitutional  powers  of  the  State  and  Federal  Govern- 
ments, over  this  subject,  will  not  be  questioned  in  Virginia  at  this  day. 
Each  State  has  the  exclusive  right  to  determine  for  itself,  to  what  extent  the 
residence  of  alien  immigrants  in  its  limits  shall  be  permitted.  The  Govern- 
ments of  the  respective  States  alone  have  the  right  to  refuse  residence  to  such 
of  the  immigrant  population  as  may  be  considered  objectionable  by  them. 
While  some  of  the  advocates  of  a  latitudinarian  construction  of  the  Federal  au- 
thority contend  that  the  power  of  the  States  over  the  admission  of  aliens  is 
limited,  in  certain  respects,  by  the  power  of  the  General  Government  to  regu- 
late commerce,  the  absolute  power  of  the  States  to  exclude  alien  paupers  and 
convicts  is  universally  conceded.  The  power  to  permit  or  refuse  residence  to 
objectionable  aliens  belonging  thus  appropriately  to  the  States,  the  subject  is 
beyond  the  control  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  affords  no  legitimate  object 
for  the  organization  of  a  national  party. 

The  right  to  acquire  and  hold  real  estate,  and  the  right  of  suffrage,  are  equal- 
ly subject  to  State  authority.  The  powers  of  the  States  over  these  subjects 
have  been  too  often  exercised  and  too  generally  admitted  to  need  any  discussion 
at  this  time.  Probably  all  the  States  permit  resident  aliens  to  acquire  and  hold 
real  estate  prior  to  naturalization, — Virginia  certainly  does.  Some  of  the  States 
confer  the  right  of  suffrage  upon  aliens  who  have  declared  their  intention  to 
become  citizens,  while  others  require  them  to  be  fully  naturalized  before  they 
are  allowed  to  vote.  The  whole  subject  of  suffrage  is  exclusively  regulated  by 
the  State  constitutions.  It  may  be  confined  to  native-born  citizens,  or  it  may 
be  extended  to  all  resident  aliens,  at  the  sole  discretion  of  the  State  soverei^n- 
ties.  The  naturalization  laws  affect  the  subject  only  so  far  as  the  State  consti- 
tutions may  direct.  It  is  wholly  impracticable  for  the  Federal  Government  to 
control  the  right  of  suffrage  through  any  laws  which  it  would  enact. 

Those  who  seek  to  curtail  the  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  immigrant  population 
can  accomplish  no  essential  object  through  the  agency  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. So  long  as  the  alien  enjoys,  under  the  State  government,  the  right  of 
residence,  the  right  to  acquire  and  hold  property,  and  the  right  of  suffrage,  he 
can  experience  but  little  inconvenience  from  the  want  of  the  few  additionat  priv- 
ileges which  full  and  formal  citizenship  would  confer.  The  only  appropriate 
theatre  for  the  operations  of  a  party,  organized  to  effect  the  professed  objects  of 
Know-Nothingism,  is  to  be  found- in  the  States  where  the  immigrant  population 
abounds,  and  where  the  alleged  evils  of  foreignism  may  exist.  Those  evils 
are  essentially  local,  and  can  be  properly  remedied  only  by  the  local  authorities. 
They  afford  the  appropriate  subject  for  municipal  and  police  regulations.  Five- 
sixths  of  the  foreign  born  population  of  the  United  States  are  resident  in  the 
non-slaveholding  States,  and  even  there  nearly  one-half  of  it  is  accumulated 
in  the  cities.  The  whole  of  this  population  in  the  United  States  numbers 


126 

2,224,648.  Of  that  number,  only  43,531  are  in  the  Southern  States,  with  a 
native  white  population  of  2,342,255,  and  105,335  in  the  Southwestern  States, 
with  a  native  white  population  of  1,973,531.  A  considerable  proportion  of 
this  class  of  our  population  in  the  slaveholding,  as  in  the  non-slaveholding 
States,  are  congregated  in  the  cities.  These  facts  strongly  display  how  singu- 
larly local  must  be  the  alleged  evils  of  foreignism.  A  full  investigation,  per- 
haps, might  show  that  the  real  evils  (if  such  there  are)  are  confined  to  the 
cities,  which,  according  to  the  census  returns,  contain  nearly  one  half  of  all  the 
foreign-born  residents  in  the  Union.  The  entire  repeal  of  the  naturalization 
laws  would  not  materially  diminish  the  number  of  that  class  of  immigrants, 
who  come  here  seeking  employment  for  their  labor,  and  accumulate  in  the  cities. 
They  come  to  make  a  living,  not  to  acquire  the  right  of  suffrage— allured  by 
no  expectation  of  easy  naturalization,  but  by  the  prospect  of  higher  wages  and 
more  constant  employment  than  they  can  find  in  the  country  which  they  leave, 
Of  the  foreign-born  males  over  the  age  of  twenty-one,  in  the  city  of  Boston, 
the  returns  for  1845  and  1850,  show  that  five-sixths  were  unnaturalized.  It  is 
fair  to  presume,  that  a  similar  proportion  in  the  other  cities  have  failed  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  advantages  of  our  present  naturalization  laws. 

The  other  ostensible  object  of  the  Know  Nothing  organization  is  entirely 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  Federal  Government.  It  cannot  touch  Roman  Catho- 
licism by  any  Constitutional  action.  The  folly  of  attempting  to  arrest  the  pro- 
gress of  a  religious  creed  by  persecutions  and  civil  disabilities,  has  been  so  often 
demonstrated  that  it  is  surprising  to  see  it  revived  in  this  age  and  country.  A 
distinguished  advocate  of  religious  liberty  declared,  nearly  a  half  century  ago, 
that  even  in  Great  Britain,  nearly  all  its  opponents  had  been  silenced — some 
had  been  taught  sense,  others  inspired  with  shame,  until  none  were  left  upon 
the  field,  except  those  who  could  neither  learn  nor  blush.  The  principles  of 
religious  liberty  are  cherished  in  Virginia  with  peculiar  affection.  Our  act  for 
the  establishment  of  religious  freedom,  asserts  in  imposing  and  authoritative 
language  that  "  the  proscribing  any  citizen  as  unworthy  the  public  confidence, 
by  laying  upon  him  an  incapacity  of  being  called  to  offices  of  trust  and  emolu- 
ment, unless  he  profess,  or  renounce  this  or  that  religious  opinion,  is  depriving 
him  injuriously  of  those  privileges  and  advantages  to  which  in  common  with 
his  fellow  citizens  he  has  a  natural  right;  that  it  tends  only  to  corrupt  the 
principles  of  that  religion  it  is  meant  to  encourage,  by  bribing,  with  a  mono- 
poly of  worldly  honors  and  emoluments,  those  who  will  externally  profess  and 
conform  to  it,  that  though,  indeed,  those  are  criminal  who  do  not  withstand 
such  temptation,  yet  neither  are  those  innocent  who  lay  the  bait  in  their  way.7' 
In  the  struggle  which  terminated  in  the  complete  emancipation  of  religion  in 
this  State,  the  dissenting  Protestant  sects,  under  the  energetic  lead  of  the  Bap- 
tists, bore  a  conspicuous  part.  The  act  for  the  establishment  of  Religious 
Freedom,  was  eminently  a  Protestant  achievement,  and  Protestantism  in  Vir- 
ginia rudely  despoils  itself  of  the  fairest  ornament  with  which  it  is  decorated 
by  history,  when  it  violates  the  letter  or  the  spirit  of  that  celebrated  law.  The 
men  who  ,now  seek  to  renew  the  dogmas  of  religious  intolerance,  pay  an  appro- 
priate homage  to  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  this  country,  when  they  conceal 
themselves  from  public  observation.  Those  who  are  afraid  to  meet  the  Roman 
Catholic  arguments  in  the  field  of  fair  discussion,  may  well  be  alarmed  at  its 
anticipated  progress  ;  but  its  more  intelligent  opponents  will  regard  with  com- 
posure what  they  consider  its  errors,  so  long  as  reason  is  left  free  to  combat 
them.  For  every  Roman  Catholic  Priest  in  the  United  States,  there  are  some 
25  Protestant  preachers;  for  every  Catholic  altar,  there  are  30  Protestant  pul- 
pits. Scarcely  one-twentieth  part  of  the  population  of  the  Union  is  attached 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  religion.  If  Protestantism  is  not  safe  with  these  heavy 
odds  in  its  favor,  its  ascendancy  will  not  be  maintained  by  persecutions  and  ci- 
vil disabilities  imposed  upon  its  opponents.  Know  Nothingism  may  do  more 


127 

to  advance  the  Catholic  cause  than  all  its  Priesthood,  and  place  Catholicism  on 
the  right  side  and  Protestantism  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  great  question  of 
Religious  Liberty,  by  a  course  so  illiberal  and  unwarrantable.  This  is  attemp- 
ted to  be  justified  by  an  absurd  exaggeration  of  the  political  influence  of  Catho- 
licism in  this  country.  Mr.  Chandler,  of  Pennsylvania,  addressing  the  House 
of  Representatives  a  few  weeks  since,  declared  that  he  knew  of  but  one  Catho- 
lic besides  himself,  who  was  a  member  of  that  House  of  Congress.  We  may, 
then,  at  least  pronounce  the  Legislative  Department  to  be  free  from  Catholic 
control.  There  seems  to  be  no  occasion  to  organize  a  new  party  to  protect  that 
branch  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  the  Catholic  influence  is  equally  feeble 
in  the  Executive  and  Judicial  departments. 

What  then  can  Know  Nothingism  accomplish  upon  the  subjects  which  it 
undertakes  to  agitate  ?  It  may  expel  from  the  Executive  department  a  few 
naturalized  citizens  who  are  incumbents  of  office, — but  as  nine-tenths  of  the 
Federal  offices  are  said  to  be  already  filled  by  native  citizens,  that  can  scarcely 
be  an  object  worth  the  attention  of  a  national  party.  Those  who  originated 
and  expect  to  control  this  organization,  must  have  other  and  undivulged  objects 
in  view.  Temporary  prejudice  and  excitement  on  the  subjects  of  Foreignism 
and  Catholicism  may  serve  to  place  them  in  power.  How  will  they  use  power 
when  so  acquired  ?  We  may  well  recall  the  eloquent  warning  of  a  great  Eng- 
lish statesman,  and  beware  of  "  so  trying  a  thing  as  new  power  in  new  persons, 
of  whose  principles,  tempers  and  dispositions  we  have  little  or  no  experience, 
and  in  situations  where  those  who  appear  most  stirring  on  the  scene  may  not  be 
the  real  movers."  What  isjthis  new  party  expected  to  do  upon  those  great  sub- 
jects of  practical  interest  to  which  we  have  before  referred  ?  The  elections  in 
which  they  have  already  triumphed  afford  us  sufficient  data  to  infer  their  policy 
upon  the  most  important  of  these  subjects — SLAVERY. 

Know  Nothingism  has  had  its  origin  and  growth  in  those  quarters  of  the 
Union  where  Abolitionism  is  most  powerful.  At  the  very  instant  that  Kqow 
Nothingism  has  swept  over  the  non-slaveholding  States,  Abolitionism  has  ac- 
quired an  ascendency  to  which  it  never  before  aspired.  Every  election  in  which 
Northern  Know  Nothingism  has  triumphed,  has  enured  to  the  benefit  of  Aboli- 
tionism. Every  individual  whom  the  Northern  Know  Nothings  have  elected  to 
either  branch  of  the  Federal  Legislature,  is  committed  to  the  most  violent  views 
of  the  Abolitionists,  They  have  prostrated,  wherever  they  had  the  power  to  do 
BO,  the  same  men  whom  the  Abolitionists  wished  to  prostrate.  They  have  sus- 
tained every  man  whom  the  Abolitionists  wished  to  save.  Know  Nothingism, 
in  the  ascendant  throughout  the  non-slaveholding  States,  does  not  elevate  into 
power  a  single  friend  to  the  South.  No  solitary  exception  breaks  the  gloomy 
uniformity  of  the  scene.  Everywhere  they  are  doing  the  work  which  Aboli- 
tionism has  been  unsuccessfully  attempting  for  years.  And  yet  we  are  required 
to  believe  that  they  were  not  organized  to  perform  this  part,  but  only  to  do  those 
other  things  which,  as  we  have  endeavoured  to  show,  no  such  party  can  effect. 
It  must  be  apparent  to  every  intelligent  observer  that  the  anti-slavery  senti- 
ment now  domineers  over  the  public  mind  in  the  non-slaveholding  States.  In 
all  the  recent  elections  in  that  quarter  of  the  Union,  the  ordinary  political  issues 
have  been  made  subordinate  to  the  slavery  subject.  Is  it  not  surprising  that 
Southern  men  should,  at  such  a  moment,  be  expected  to  waive  this  issue,  and 
elevate  a  new  party  into  power,  without  even  inquiring  their  purposes  upon  this 
subject  ?  Just  at  the  time  when  the  Northern  States  are  uniting  in  an  assault 
upon  the  vital  interests  of  the  South,  ought  we  to  abandon  'the  vigilant  care  of 
our  own  affairs,  in  a  gratuitous  effort  to  purge  Northern  society  of  a  disease 
which  may  afflict  them,  but  does  not  disturb  us  ?  We  appeal  to  Southern  men, 
without  distinction  of  party,  to  ponder  the  consequences  before  they  co-operate 
with  this  organization.  The  secrecy  with  which  its  proceedings  are  conducted, 
afford  ample  ground  for  caution  and  suspicion.  A  party  which  conceals  all  its 


128 

operations  and  designs  from  the  public,  may  conceal  some  of  its  ultimate  pur- 
poses from  that  portion  of  its 'own  votaries  to  whom  a  premature  disclosure 
might  be  hazardous.  The  same  principle  of  political  ethics,  which  justifies  de- 
ception upon  those  outside  the  order,  might  excuse  partial  concealment  from 
those  within.  When  you  enter  this  order,  you  assent  to  the  propriety  of  con- 
cealment as  an  agency  in  partisan  contests.  How  can  you  complain  when  it  is 
practiced  upon  yourselves  by  your  own  confederates  ?  Know  Nothingism  does 
not  pretend  to  disclose  to  its  Southern  adherents  its  designs  upon  any  of  the 
questions  concerned  which  Federal  Legislation  can  really  affect  Southern  inter- 
ests. Will  you  persist  in  arming  this  party  with  all  the  powers  of  the  Federal 
Government,  without  enquiring  and  approving  its  purposes  upon  those  questions, 
simply  because  you  may  happen  to  agree  with  its  views  upon  two  subjects  of  no 
practical  importance  to  you,  and  concerning  neither  of  which  can  any  material 
action  be  had  by  the  Federal  Government  ?  The  fact,  that  it  discloses  to  you 
its  views  upon  those  subjects,  while  it  carefully  conceals  them  upon  more  vital 
topics,  ought,  of  itself,  to  awaken  your  apprehensions.  While  it  attempts  to 
delude  you  with  the  fiction  that  Opposition  to  Foreignism  and  Catholicism  is 
an  issue  which  overrides  all  others,  it  is  actively  and  rapidly  filling  the  halls  of 
Congress  with  men  pledged  to  measures  of  fearful  import  to  your  interests. 

If  the  designs  of  Know  Nothingisin  were  even  free  from  censure,  it  should 
still  be  repelled  from  your  midst.  In  giving  countenance  to  a  secret  political 
organization,  you  are  introducing  an  instrument  which  may  be  applied  to  the 
most  dangerous  purposes.  Before  you  bring  the  wooden  horse  within  our  gates, 
be  sure  that  no  armed  enemy  is  concealed  in  the  fatal  structure.  If  any  party 
in  our  midst  ever  assails  the  institution  of  slavery,  its  first  approaches  will  be 
cloaked  in  a  secrecy  similar  to  that  which  now  conceals  Know  Nothingism.  The 
World's  Convention  of  Abolitionists,  at  London,  recommended  the  formation  of 
anti-slavery  societies  in  the  Southern  States.  Popular  sentiment  opposes  a  for- 
midable and  unsuperable  barrier  to  the  public  execution  of  this  plan.  But 
•when  the  operations  of  parties  have  become  secret,  how  soon  may  we  not  expect 
such  an  organization  as  the  World's  Convention  has  advised  ?  We  respectfully 
and  earnestly  beg  you  to  consider  whether  any  good  which  this  organization 
may  be  expected  to  effect  can  compensate  for  the  least  of  the  evils  that  may 
follow  in  its  train. 

What  have  we  to  expect  from  the  action  of  this  party  upon  those  other  sub- 
jects which  the  Democratic  party  has  been  accustomed  to  regard  as  so  important 
in  the  administration  of  the  Federal  Government '/  After  the  arduous  contests 
which  we  have  maintained  for  so  many  years — just  as  the  Democratic  policy  is 
fully  established,  and  the  country  is.  gladdening  under  its  influence — shall  we 
blindly  elevate  into  power  a  party  which  may  revolutionize  the  whole  system  ? 
However  carefully  they  may  conceal  their  political  views,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  this  party  is  principally  composed  of  the  same  materials  which,  combined 
under  a  different  name,  have  been  heretofore  in  opposition  to  the  Democratic 
party.  The  same  indiscriminate  hostility  to  naturalized  citizens  that  now  dis- 
tinguishes Know-Nothingism,  characterized  the  Federal  party  in  the  times  of 
John  Adams  and  of  the  Hartford  Convention.  The  Democracy,  under  the  lead 
of  Jefferson  and  of  Madison,  have  successfully  encountered  it  heretofore,  and 
are  not  afraid  to  meet  it  again.  The  annihilation  of  the  Democratic  party  in 
the  Union  is  a  leading  object  of  the  Know  Nothing  organization.  Flushed 
with  its  Northern  triumphs,  it  comes  here  upon  Virginia  soil  to  encounter  a 
party  that  wears  the  insignia  of  its  victories  through  half  a  century,  and  that 
has  never  known  defeat.  Whenever  disaster  has  overwhelmed  the  Democracy  of 
the  Union,  they  have  always  looked  to  the  Party  in  Virginia  to  retrieve  the 
fortunes  of  the  day.  Once  more  we  are  called  to  perform  that  duty.  If  we 
arrest  the  progress  of  this  new  enemy,  and  lift  the  trailing  banner  of  our  party, 
we  rally  the  Democracy  of  the  confederacy  for  a  successful  struggle  in  the  Pre- 


129 

sidential  contest  of  185G.  If  wo  are  defeated  in  Virginia,  we  disappoint  the 
hopes  of  the  best  friends  of  the  Constitution.  We  are  looked  to  with  hope  or 
with  fear  by  the  whole  confederacy.  Let  the  Democracy  of  Virginia  be  equal 
to  the  emergency. 

JOHN  RUTHERFOORD,    Chairman. 


VARIOUS  ARGUMENTS  AND   DOGMAS  OF  KNOW  NOTHINGISM 

EXAMINED. 

We  append  here  sundry  articles  from  the  Richmond  Examiner  touching  sun- 
dry features  of  Know  Nothingism. 

THE  KNOW  NOTHINGS'  OATHS  GROSSLY  VIOLATE  THE  CONSTITUTION. — The 
following  schedule  contrasts  the  nationality  of  which  the  Constitutions  of  Vir- 
ginia and  of  the  Union  is  refulgent  in  every  line  and  letter,  with  the  explosive, 
combustible,  revolutionary,  fanatical  and  bigoted  stuff,  with  which  the  Know 
Nothing  ritual  is  saturated  iu  every  section  and  article. 


Know  Nothing  Constitution. 
Art.  III.  "The  object  of  this  or- 
ganization shall  be  to  resist  the  insid- 
uous  policy  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
and  other  foreign  influences  against  the 
institutions  of  the  country,  by  placing 
in  all  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  people, 
or  by  appointment,  none  but  native 
born  PROTESTANT  citizens." 

Know  Nothing  oath. 
"You  furthermore  promise  and  de- 
clare that  you  will  not  vote  nor  give 
your  influence  for  any  man  for  any  of- 
fice in  the  gift  of  the  people,  unless 
he  be  an  American  born  citizen,  in 
favor  of  Americans  ruling  America, 

NOR  IF  HE  BE  A  IloMAN  CATHOLIC." 


Again :  "  You  solemnly  and  sin- 
cerely swear,  that, if  it  may  be  legally, 
you  will,  when  elected  to  any  office, 
remove  all  foreigners  and  ROMAN  CA- 
THOLICS FROM  OFFICE;  and  that  YOU 

WILL    IN    NO    CASE    APPOINT    SUCH  TO 
OFFICE." 


Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

Art.  V-I.  No  religious  test  shall  ever 
be  required  as  a  qualification  for  any 
office  of  public  trust  under  this  govern- 
ment. 


Amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the- 

United  States. 

Art.  I.  Congress  shall  make  no  law 
respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,. 
or  the  free  exercise  thereof;  or  abridg- 
ing the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press ; 
or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to 
assemble,  and  to  petition  the  govern- 
ment for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

Constitution  of  Virginia. 
Sec.  XV.  "No  man  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  frequent  or  support  any  re- 
ligious worship,  place  or  ministry 
whatever;  nor  shall  any  man  be  en- 
forced or  restrained,  molested  or  bur- 
thened  in  his  body  or  goods,  or  other- 
wise svffvr,  on  account  of  his  religious 
opinion  or  belief;  but  all  men  shall  be 
free  to  profess,  and  by  argument  to- 
maintain,  their  opinions  in  matters  of 
religion,  AND  THE  SAME  SHALL  IN  NO- 
WISE AFFECT,  DIMINISH  OR  ENLARGE 
THEIR  CIVIL  CAPACITIES." 


130 

There  could  not  be  a  more  palpable  conflict  than  that  which  is  here  exhibited 
between  the  Covenant  of  nationality  and  Union,  handed  down  to  us  by  our  fa- 
thers, and  its  clandestine  assailant.  The  wonder  is,  that  among  an  intelligent 
and  patriotic  people,  so  dark  and  ominous  a  conspiracy  could  have  acquired  the 
strength  it  has  attained  in  the  land  ;  but  what  HUDIBRAS  said  in  the  bitterness 
of  his  cynicism  must  be  acknowledged  to  be  true  in  the  extent  to  which  it  ap- 
plies to  the  proselytes  of  this  new  monstrosity  : — 

The  world  is  naturally  averse, 
To  all  the  good  it  sees  and  hears  ; 
But  swallows  nonsense  and  lies, 
With  greediness  and  gluttony. 

The  Constitution  of  our  country  guarantees  to  every  man  in  the  land  th« 
right  to  profess  and  propagate  his  creed,  provided  only  that  he  is  a  law-abiding 
citizen.  This  is  as  it  should  be.  That  great  charter  of  our  liberty  never  con- 
templated any  religious  test  to  constitute  a  man  a  suitable  person  to  hold  an  of- 
fice under  its  purview.  It  is  vain  to  say  that  you  only  exercise  your  rights  as 
freemen  to  cast  your  votes  for  whom  you  please.  In  pledging  yourselves  to  ex- 
elude  all  persons  from  political  offices  who  hold  the  Romish  faith,  you  do  virtu- 
ally require  a  religious  test.  You  require  at  least  that  your  candidate  shall  be 
a  Protestant.  The  question  is  not,  if  two  persons  are  equally  qualified  to  fill 
an  office,  the  one  a  Romanist,  the  other  a  Protestant,  which  of  the  two  you 
shall  choose ;  but  your  principles  force  you  to  choose  a  man  wholly  unfit  to  fill 
the  place  in  opposition  to  a  man  qualified  in  every  respect  to  fill  it,  save  that  he 
is  a  Romanist.  You  would  proscribe  a  Taney,  or  a  Graston,  for  his  faith,  and 
in  his  place  elect  a  man  in  no  respect  qualified  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the 
office.  Now  if  this  is  not  proscribing  a  man 'for  his  religious  opinions,  the  wri- 
ter is  at  a  loss  to  know  what  it  is.  Leave  this  whole  matter  where  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  country  leaves  it.  Judge  each  man  by  himself,  and  decide  upon 
his  own  individual  merits,  but  do  not  proscribe  him  for  his  faith.  You  cannot 
coerce  a  man  to  your  opinion.  He  may  adopt  your  shibboleth  for  the  sake  of 
gain,  but  you  have  only  made  a  hypocrite  instead  of  a  proselyte. 

The  purity  of  religion  no  less  than  the  welfare  of  the  country  would  be  pro- 
moted, by  leaving  the  question  of  Romanism  where  our  Constitution  leaves  it. 
Without  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  pure  religion  would  be  advanced  in  the  same 
way.  An  effort  to  exclude  all  Romanists  from  participating  in  the  administra- 
tion of  our  government,  would  only  make  them  combine  to  accomplish  more 
effectually  their  object,  whereas  if  left  to  the  silent  operation  of  other  influences 
they  would  cast  th.eir  votes  as  citizens,  and  not  as  persecuted  religionists.  There 
will  always  be  found  men  who  will  bid  for  their  suffrages.  In  a  representative 
form  of  government  the  power  of  numbers  must  be  felt,  and  if  Romanists 
cannot  elect  a  man  who  professes  their  faith,  they  will  cast  their  suffrages  for 
one  who  most  nearly  reflects  their  peculiar  views,  or  will  do  their  bidding.  In 
this  way  a  secret  Romanist  will  be  elected,  instead  of  an  open.  Which  of  the 
two  is  preferable  ?  Is  it  not  better  to  have  an  open  than  a  secret  foe  ?  The 
truth  is,  this  whole  agitation,  instead  of  weakening,  will  strengthen  this  sect. 
It  will  elevate  an  unimportant  political  element,  by  the  power  of  combination, 
into  one  important,  if  not  controlling. 

The  test  of  religious  belief  is  arbitrary,  unjust  and  oppressive.  It  is  contra- 
ry to  the  Constitution,  which  expressly  forbids  that  "  any  religious  test  shall 
ever  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office  of  public  trust  under  this  go- 
vernment.'' Every  Know  Nothing  who  takes  an  oath  bidding  him  to  try  can- 
didates by  this  test,  takes  an  oath  against  the  Constitution  of  the  Union.  We 
do  not  charge  them  with  intentional  culpability  in  this  act,  which  we  know  they 
must  commit  in  thoughtlessness  and  without  due  examination,  but  we  warn  them 


131 

against  persisting  in  an  oath  in  direct  antagonism  to  the  Constitution  of  their 
country. 

There  are  a  great  many  honest  men  who  see  the  dilemma  in  which  their 
Know  NothiDgism  places  them  as  good  citizens,  and  yet  are  deterred  from  leav- 
ing the  Order  from  consciencious  scruples  in  regard  to  this  oath  taken  in  their 
initiation.  An  oath  to  violate  one's  conscience  ought  not  to  be  obeyed.  The 
passage  from  ST.  MARK,  reciting  the  occurrence  between  Herod  and  the  daughter 
of  Herodias,  illustrates  the  fatal  consequences  of  a  vicious  vow. 

"For  Herod  himself  had  sent  forth  and  laid  hold  upon  John,  and  bound  him 
in  prison  for  Herodias'  sake,  his  brother  Philip's  wife ;  for  he  had  married  her. 

For  John  had  said  unto  Herod  :  It  is  not  lawful  for  thee  to  have  thy  bro- 
ther's wife. 

Therefore,  Herodias  had  a  quarrel  against  him,  and  would  have  killed  him,  but 
she  could  not. 

For  Herod  feared  John,  knowing  that  he  was  a  just  man  and  an  holy,  and 
observed  him  ;  and  when  he  heard  him,  he  did  many  things,  and  heard  him 
gladly. 

And  when  a  convenient  day  was  come,  that  Herod  on  his  birth-day,  made  a 
supper  to  his  lords,  high  captains,  and  chief  estates  of  Galilee ; 

And  when  the  daughter  of  the  said  Herodias  came  in,  and  danced,  and 
pleased  Herod  and  them  that  sat  with  him,  the  King  said  unto  the  damsel,  ask 
of  me  whatsoever  thou  wilt,  and  I  will  give  it  thee. 

And  he  sivore  unto  her,  whatever  thou  shalt  ask  of  me,  I  will  give  it  thee, 
even  unto  half  of  my  kingdom. 

And  she  went  forth,  and  said  unto  her  mother,  what  shall  I  ask  ?  and  she 
said  the  head  of  John  the  Baptist. 

And  she  came  in  straightway  with  haste  unto  the  King,  and  asked,  saying, 
I  wish  that  thou  give  me,  by  and  by,  in  a  charger,  the  head  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist. 

And  the  King  was  exceedingly  sorry  ;  yet  for  his  oath's  sake,  and  for  their 
sakes  which  sat  with  him,  he  would  not  reject  her." 


THE  FACTS  OF  THE  CENSUS. — We  do  not  know  anything  in  the  course  of 
the  history  of  the  country  more  humiliating  than  the  reflection  that  in  our  land, 
consecrated  to  equal  rights,  and  boasting  its  popular  intelligence,  an  unmanly 
crusade  has  been  gotten  up  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  disfranchising  a  frag- 
ment of  our  people,  constituting  only  twelve  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  the  whole 
population,  aud  of  persecuting  a  sect  of  Christians  numbering  less  than  one  in 
one  hundred  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  out  of  that  highest  and  most  sacred 
of  all  the  liberties  for  which  our  fathers  fought  and  shed  their  blood — the  LIB- 
ERTY OF  CONSCIENCE. 

We  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the  honest,  honorable  and  magnanimous 
people  of  Virginia  to  the  facts  of  this  humiliating  subject,  as  shown  by  the 
Census. 

1.  The  foreigners  in  Virginia  number  but  two  and  a  half  in   a  hundred  of 
her  white  population ;  and  the  foreigners  in  the   United  States  but  twelve  and 
a  half  in  a  hundred  of  the  free  population  of  the  Union. 

2.  Except  Ireland — which  the  noble  old  Whig,  HENRY  CLAY,  once  regretted 
that  some  great  convulsion  of  nature  had  not  transplated  from  the  side  of  Kng- 
land  to  the  side  of  generous  Kentucky — and  except  England,  no  single  State 
of  Europe  has  given  nativity  to  as  many  of  the   residents  of  Virginia  as  the 
Abolition  State  of  Massachusetts. 


132 

3.  The  aggregate  number  of  foreigners  in  the  Southern  slave  States  to  the 
aggregate  free   population,  is  less   than  two  in  a  hundred;  showing  that    the 
Know  Nothing   movement  is  of  Northern  origin,  and  an  ism  that  the  South 
stands  in  no  need  of — saying  nothing  of  the  pusillanimity  of  a  popular  crusade 
against  a  handful  of  strangers,  when  the  odds  are  as  one  hundred  against  two ! 

4.  The  number  of  Catholic  Churches  in  Virginia  is  but  17  in  an  aggregate 
of  2,386,  and  these  17  small  and  thinly  attended,  being  capable  of  accommo- 
dating but  7,930  persons,  while  the  Protestant  Churches  accommodate  850,156  ! 

5.  This  is  a  glaring  fact,  that  there  are  87,383  free  natives  in  Virginia  unable 
to  read  and  write;  of  whom  30,244  (or  twice  the  whole  number  of  male  for- 
eigners now  in  Virginia — 15,606)  are  native  white  males.     If  the  republican 
principle  of  equal  rights  should  be  violated  in  order  to  proscribe  15,606  foreign 
males,  many  of  them  educated  and  distinguished  for  learning,  talents,  and  pat- 
riotism, it  would  follow  that  the  principle  should  be   violated  also  in  respect  to 
twice  that  number  of  native  males  unable  to  read  and  write. 


NATIVITIES. 

1.  Virginia  (ivhites.)  Population. 
Born  in  the  State,  813,811 
Born  out  of  the  State,  but  in  the  United  States,  57,582 
Born  in  foreign  countries,  22,953 
Nativities  unknown,  454 

894,800 

2.  Other  Slates  and  Territories  (whites.)     ., 

Born  in  the  States  and  Territories,  17,279,829 

Born  in  foreign  countries,  2,240,581 

Nativities  unknown,  32,958 

19,553,068 

1.  Virginia,  Male. 
Born  in  the  State,  404,331 
Born  out  of  the  State,  but  in  the  United  States,  31,084 
Born  in  foreign  countries,  15,606 
Natives  unknown,  279 

2.  Other  States  and  Territories. 

Born  in  States  and  Territories,  8,765,347 

Born  in  foreign  countries,  1,239,464 

Nativities  unknown,  21,591 


100. 

Female. 

409,480 

26,498 

7,347 

175 


8,514,482 

1,001,117 

11,067 


The  annexed  table  shows  the  proportion  of  native  to  foreign-born  in  different 
sections  of  the  United  States,  (white  and  free  colored.)  The  first  column  rep- 
resents the  native,  including  unknown ;  the  second,  foreign-born ;  and  third, 
proportion  of  foreign  to  native,  per  cent.  : 


Eastern, 
Middle, 
Southern, 
South  Western, 
N.  West  and  Ter. 


2,421,867  306,249 

5,447,733  1,080,674 

2,342,255  43,530 

1,973,531  105,335 

5,557,529  708,860 


17,742,915         2,244,648  12.65 


133 

NUMBER    OF   CHURCHES    IN    VIRGINIA. 

Baptist,  050;  Christian,  16;  Episcopal,  173;  Free,  108;  friends,  15;  Germ. 
Ref.,  9;  Jewish,  1;  Lutheran,  50;  Mennoiiite,  6;  Melhodist,  1025;  Mora- 
vian, 8;  Presbyterian,  241;  Roman  Catholic,  17;  Swedenborgen,  1;  Tunker, 
8  ;  Univcrsulist,  1 ;  minor  sects,  5.  Total,  2,386. 

The  total  value  of  Church  Properfy  in  Virginia  is  $2,860,876 ;  of  which  the 
M'thodists  possess  8825,000;  Baptists,  $688,818;  Episcopal,  $529,450; 
Presbyterian,  $571,165;  and  Roman  Catholics,  $126,100. 

The  total  number  of  Churches  in  the  States  and  Territories  is  38,188,  of 
which  13,338  are  Methodist;  9,360  Baptist ;  4,863  Presbyterian;  1,461  Epis- 
copalian; and  1,227  Roman  Catholic. 

The  total  "  Church  Accommodations"  in  Virginia  is  858,086 ;  of  which 
323,708  is  Methodist;  257,589  Baptist;  Presbyterian,  104,125;  Episcopal, 
80,684  ;  and  Roman  Catholic,  7,930. 

The  number  of  pupils  in  the  State,  attending  school,  was  in  1850,  109,775, 
of  whom  211  were  foreign  born — ninety-two  hundredths  of  one  per  cent,  of  the 
gross  foreign  population. 

The  number  of  persons — white  and  free  colored — over  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  who  were  unable  to  read  and  write,  was  as  follows:  Native,  87,383 ;  For- 
eign, 1,138;  native  white  males,  30,244;  native  white  females,  46,761.  Total, 
88,520. 

The  per  cent,  of  native  white  and  free  colored  illiterate  to  total  native  and 
free  colored  population  in  Virginia  is  9.44;  the  per  cent,  of  foreign  do.  to  for- 
eign do.  do.  is  only  half  that,  or.  4.951 


"  FOREIGNERS  RULE  AMERICA." — We  find  the  following  table  going  the 
rounds  of  the  Whig  and  Know  Nothing  papers  of  Virginia  : 

Number  of  foreigners  and  Americans  now  holding  office  under  the  United 
States  Government  at  Washington  : 

Washington,  D.  C.  Amer.  For. 
State  Department,  12  26 
Treasury  Department,  139  278 
Department  of  the  Interior,  338  500 
Officers  and  agents  in  service  of  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, 10  40 
Post  Office  Department,  11  80 

510  914 

Ministers  and  Consuls,                                                        151  106 

Coast  Survey,                                                                         15  30 

United  States  Mint,                                                                 25  12 

Light  house  Board  Intpcctors  and  Keepers,                       31  39*2 

U.  States  Revenue  and  Marine  Service,                              35  30 

767  1484 

The  lists  of  Custom  House  officers  in  the  different  States  show — Americans, 
215  ;  Foreigners,  1837. 

It  is  printed  conspicuously  at  the  head  of  their  leading  editorial  columns,  and 
must  be  regarded,  therefore,  as  the  platform  of  principles  of  the  Fusionists  in 
the  present  canvass.  It  discloses  the  leading  passion  that  actuates  the  OUTS, 
showing  that  their  eyes  are  intently  set  upon  office,  and  that  their  minds  are 


134 

very  earnestly  exercised  with  the  statistics  of  office.  We  douht  not  the  mass 
of  them  believe  the  truth  of  the  statement,  and  that  some  wag  of  the  Order, 
seeing  the  vast  numbers  in  their  ranks  who  aut  upon  the  principles  of  the  loaves 
and  fishes,  has  played  a  trump  card  in  concocting  this  statement,  and  in  mul- 
tiplying the  real  number  of  foreigners  holding  office  in  the  land  by  ten,  fifty, 
or  a  huudred,  in  order  to  whet  the  appetite  of  the  outs,  and  prove  to  their  anx> 
ious  office  seeking  minds,  that  there  will  be  vacancies  for  all  and  some  to  spare. 
Just  for  the  sake  of  truth,  we  shall  pick  this  MUNCHAUSEN  bladder  of  the 
Fusionists  with  a  bodkin  from  the  Washington  Union,  in  the  shape  of  the  fol- 
lowing official  document. 

POST    OFFICE   DEPARTMENT. 

We  begin  with  the  appointment  in  the  Post  Office  Department  : 

Clerks,  84 

Assistant  Postmasters  General,  3 

Messenger,  1 

Assistant  Messengers,  2 

Watchmen,  3 

Laborers,  7 

Whole  number,  100 

Of  these,  88  are  of  American  birth,  and  12  of  foreign  birth. 
The  following  are  the  particulars  to  be  observed  : 

1.  John  Marron,  Third   Assistant  Postmaster  General,  appointed  May  17th, 
1830  ;  was  born  in  Ireland,  came  here  when  eight  months  old. 

2.  John  Agg,  clerk,  appointed  June  8th,  1851 ;  born  in  England,  resided 
here  for  more  than  forty  years. 

3.  N.  Holten,  clerk,  appointed  June  3,  1834;  born  in  Switzerland,  resided 
here  27  years.  9 

4.  J.  Lawrenson,  clerk,  appointed  April  7,  1834;  born  in  England,  came 
here  3  months  old,  now  fifty  years  in  this  country. 

5.  G.  A.  Schwarzman,  clerk,  appointed  June,  1848  ;  born  in  Germany,  came 
to  this  country  16  years  of  age,  served  10  years  in  the  American  army. 

6.  E.  Donelly,  clerk,  appointed  July  1,  1853  ;  born  in  Ireland,  came  to  this 
country  when  8  years  of  age,  now  32  years  in  the  country. 

7.  J.  R.  Condon,  clerk,  appointed  July  1, 1853 ;  born  in  Ireland,  came  here 
about  21  years  of  age,  now  40  years  old. 

8.  J.  E.  McMahon,  clerk,  appointed  May  2,  1853;  born  in  Ireland,   came 
here  an  infant,  now  22  years  of  age. 

9.  James  McCorrick,  clerk,  appointed  July  2,  1853  ;  born  in  Ireland,  came 
here  young,  now  45  years  old. 

10.  C.  McDonoel,  messenger,  appointed   August  10,  1853 ;  born  in  Ireland, 
resident  in  the  country  35  years. 

11.  T.  Molchon,  watchman,  appointed  May  22,  1853;»born  in  Ireland,  resi- 
dent in  this  country  many  years. 

12.  James  Orr,  clerk,  appointed  August,  1854;  born  in  Ireland,  resided  here 
14  years,  served  two  and  a  half  years  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  was  badly 
wounded. 

DEPARTMENT   OF   THE    INTERIOR. 

The  Interior  Department  shows  the  following  result : 

American.  Foreign. 

Interior  Department  proper,              -                                           16  4 

Land  Office,                  -                    -                    -                  112  12 


135 

Patent  Office,                -                    -                    -  55  4 

Indian  Bureau,                                                           -  17  2 

Pension  Office,                                                         -  52  5 
Commissioners  of  Public  Buildings,  and  watchmen,  keepers 

of  bridges,  &c.,  under  bis  control,  21 

Penitentiary,                 -                     -                     -  13  2 

Total,  286  35 

• 

THE   DEPARTMENT   OP    STATE. 

The  following  is  from  the  Department  of  State.  It  will  be  observed  that  the 
proportion  of  foreigners  holding  office  under  this  department  is  somewhat  greater 
than  usual ;  and  the  reason  obvious  :  a  number  of  the  consulates  do  not  pay  a 
living  compensation.  American  citizens  cannot  and  will  not  accept  of  such  ap- 
pointments, and  they  are  given  to  foreigners  simply  because  no  body  else  will 
take  them  : 

DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE,  August  28,  1854. 

The  following  is  a  statement  respecting  all  persons  now  employed  either  in  or 
under  the  supervision  of  the  Department  of  State : 

I. — Employed  Abroad. 

1.  Ministers,  commissioners,  secretaries  of  legation,  and  agents  connected  with 
them — whole  number,  42. 

Of  these,  4  were  born  abroad,  3  of  whom  have  been  naturalized,  and  1,  the 
United  States  despatch  agent  in  London,  has  not. 

2.  Consuls  and  commercial  agents — whole  number,  220. 

Of  these,  49  were  born  abroad,  of  whom  21  have  been  naturalized,  and  1  has 
not ;  and  1  was  born  under  the  flag  of  the  United  States  ',  the  rest,  or  26,  may 
have  been  naturalized,  but  of  this  the  department  has  no  evidence. 

II. — Employed  in   the   United   States,  or  their    Territories,  as   Governors,  or 

/Secretaries  of   Territories  and  dispatch  agents — whole  number,  16. 
Of  whom  13  were  born  in  the  United  States.     The  rest,  2  of  whom  are  dis- 
patch agents,  were  probably  so  born;  but  of  this  the  department  has  no  direct 
evidence. 

III. — Employed  in  this  department — whole  number,  40. 

Of  these,  6  were  born  abroad ;  one  of  whom  came  to  the  United  States  in  his 
third  year,  and  is  of  American  parents,  who  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  were  tem- 
porarily residing  abroad;  4  of  the  others  so  born  have  been  naturalized,  and  1 
soon  will  be  : 

Clerks.— William  Hunter,  Rhode  Island  ;  A.  French,  New  York  ;  Frs. 
Markoe,  St.  Croix,  of  American  parents;  A.  II.  Derrick,  Pennsylvania;  James 
S.  Mackie,  Ohio;  J.  P.  Polk,  Delaware  ;  R.  S.  Chilton,  New  Jersey;  II.  D.  J. 
Pratt,  Massachusetts;  G.  J.  Abbot,  New  Hampshire;  11.  S.  Chew,  Virginia; 
Wrn.  C.  Reddal,  Virginia;  Charles  V.  Gordon,  Virginia;  Edmund  Flagg, 
JVlaine  ;  George  Chipman,  George  Hill,  Connecticut;  George  Bartle,  Virginia  \ 
L.  F.  Tesistro,  Ireland ;  Edward  Stubbs,  Ireland ;  H.  D.  Johnson,  Massachu- 
setts; R.  S.  Gillett,  New  York;  C.  G.  Baylor,  Kentucky. 

Messenger. — Calvin  Ames,  Massachusetts. 

Packer. — Wm.  P.  Faherty,  Maryland. 

Watchmen. — Wm.  H.  Prentiss,  District  of  Columbia;  James  Donaldson, 
District  of  Columbia;  R.  Harrison,  England;  A.  Best,  Germany. 


136 

Laborers. — James  S.  Martin,  Maryland;  William  Lucus,  District  of  Colum- 
bia; E.  W.  Hansell,  Pennsylvania;  W.  A.  Scott,  Pennsylvania;  Thomas 
Thomas,  Virginia;  James  Williamson,  Virginia;  Charles  H.  Brown,  Maryland  ; 
John  McQuire,  Ireland. 

Recap  it u la  tion. 

21  clerks — 18  native  born;  1  born  of  American  parents,  transiently  abroad ; 
2  foreign  born.     1  messenger — native  born.     1  packer — native  born. 
2  watchmen — native  born  ;r  2  watchmen — foreign  born. 
7  laborers — native  born;  1  laborer — foreign  born. 
35  in  all — 80  of  whom  are  native  citizens;  5  of  whom  are  foreign. 

TREASURY    DEPARTMENT. 

In  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  bureaus,  including  the  of- 
fices of  the  assistant  treasurers  and  mints,  there  are  430  Americans,  26  foreign- 
ers, and  3  not  known. 

Revenue  cutter  service — Americans,  65. 

Light-house  keepers — Americans,  238  ;  foreigners  32  ;  not  known,  132.    • 
Customs — Americans,  1,845;  foreigners,  227;  not  known,  20. 
Total  number  of  persons  employed  under  the  State  Treasury,  Post  Office  and 
Interior  Departments,  is  as  follows  : 

Americans,  3,346 

Foreigners,  430 

Not  known,  830 

Whole  number  of  employed,          4,106 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  first  of  October,  1853,  there  were 
fifty-four  persons  employed — all  of  whom,  except  one,  were  Americans. 

The  statement  of  the  Fusionists  is,  therefore,  shown  to  be  the  reverse  of  truth 
in  every  particular  item  covered  by  this  document  from  the  Union  ;  and  the  in- 
ference is,  of  course,  irresistible,  that  it  is  so  in  all  its  items  : — Falsitm  in  uno 
fahum  in,  omnibus.  It  asserts  the  foreigners  employed  in  the  several  depart- 
ments to  be  two  to  one  over  natives;  while  the  fact  is  there  are  seven  to  one 
natives  over  foreigners.  It  claims  that  there  are  nine  to  one  foreigners  over  na- 
tives in  the  Custom  Houses ;  while  the  fact  is,  that  there  are  nine  to  one  natives 
over  foreigners. 

For  the  sake  of  contrast,  we  give  below  the  Munchausen  statement  on  the 
]eft  hand  and  the  official  statement  on  the  right.  It  is  amusing. 

Look  here,  upon  this  picture,  and  on  this : 

Munchausen  Statement.  Official  statement. 

Native.  For.  Native.  For. 

State  Department,                                  12  26  30  5 

Treasury  Department,                          139  278  430  26 

Dep.  of  Interior,                                   338  500  286  35 

House  of  Representatives,                     10  40  53  1 

Post  Office  Department,                         11  80  88  12 

Total  Munchausen,     510  914         Total  true,  .887  79 

Ministers  and  Consuls,  151  106  208  54 

Light-housekeepers,  31  392  238  32 

Custom  House  officers,  216         1837  1845         227 


137 

THE  ABSURDITY  or  FEARING  THE  CATHOLICS. — It  is  the  characteristic  of  all 
one-ideaisms,  that  they  are  sure  to  make  fanatics  of  their  advocates;  whatever 
degree  of  intelligence  and  elevation  of  mind  and  feeling  they  always  before 
have  possessed.  We  are  sure  that  if  there  was  a  broad  and  substantial  founda- 
tion of  merit  and  patriotism  in  the  Know  Nothing  movement,  its  intelligent 
members  would  scorn  to  appeal  to  religious  bigotry  and  prejudice  for  that  pop- 
ular sympathy  which  the  cause  would  command  without  such  unworthy  recourse. 
Out  of  about  one  mil.! ion  find  a  linlf  of  human  beings  in  Virginia,  there  is  but 
th'1  little  handful  of  7,980 — one  half  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  whole, — who  pro- 
fess and  worship  according  to  the  Catholic  faith.  What  must  be  said  of  a  party 
which  dares  not  trust  its  cause  to  reason  and  argument  in  such  a  State  as  Virgi- 
nia •  but,  to  carry  its  point,  is  obliged  to  appeal  to  the  religious  feelings,  preju- 
dices and  jealousy  of  fourteen  hundred  thousand  Protestants  against  ei'jkt  thou- 
sand Catholics,  under  the  cowardly,  mean,  malignant  and  false  pretence  that 
such  a  mnjority  is  in  danger  of  subjugation  from  such  a  handful  of  proscribed 
people.  If  there  be  real  and  imminent  danger  of  the  sort,  where  have  been 
the  sentinels  that  are  just  raising  this  sudden  alarm,  for  the  last  ten,  or  twenty, 
or  fifty  years  gone  by  ?  It  has  only  been  within  a  twelve  month  that  the  new 
party  have  monopolized  to  itself  all  the  Protestantism  and  genuine  Americanism 
of  the  country,  and  raised,  sudden  as  a  fire-bell  at  night,  the  alarm  against  the 
wolf — the  Pope — the  poor  Italian  Prince  Pio  iNlNO.  Either  the  leaders  have 
been  long  very  neglectful  of  duty  and  lukewarm  in  patriotism,  .or  they  talk 
gammon,  to  gull  the  ignorant  million  and  alarm  the  amiable  but  weak  and  easily 
terrified  spinsters  of  the  country,  when  they  cry  out  against  the  temporal  power 
of  the  Pope. 

Win.  Pitt,  while  Prime  Minister  of  England,  contemplating  an  act  of  justice 
to  the  Catholics,  solemnly  proposed  a  set  of  interrogatories  to  several  of  the 
most  celebrated  Catholic  Theological  Universities  in  Europe.  The  following 
questions  were  proposed  :  First.  Has  the  Pope,  or  have  the  Cardinals,  or  any 
body  of  men,  or  has  any  individual  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  any  civil  authority, 
power,  jurisdiction  or  pre-eminence  whatever  within  the  realm  of  England. 
Second.  (Jan  the  Pope,  or  Cardinals,  or  any  body  of  men,  or  any  individual  of 
the  Church  of  Home,  absolve  or  dispense  his  Majesty's  subjects  from  their  oath 
of  allegiance,  upon  any  pretence  whatever  ?  Third.  Is  there  any  principle  in 
the  tenets  of  the  Catholic  faith,  by  which  Catholics  are  justified  in  not  keeping 
faith  with  Heretics,  or  other  persons  differing  from  them  in  religious  opinions, 
in  (in//  fr<niit(ictioiiSj  either  of  a  public  or  private  nature  ?  To  these  questions 
the  Universities  of  Paris,  Louvain,  Alcala,  Salamanca  and  Valadolid,  after  ex- 
pressing their  astonishment  that  it  could  be  thought  necessary  at  the  close  of 
the  18th  century,  and  in  a  country  so  enlightened  as  England,  to  propose  such 
enquiries,  severally  and  unanimously  Answered:  1st.  That  the  Pope,  or  Cardi- 
nals, or  any  body  of  men,  or  any  individual  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  has  not 
and  have  not  any  civil  authority,  .power,  jurisdiction  or  pre-eminence  whatever, 
within  the  realm  of  England.  2dly.  That  the  Pope,  or  Cardinals,  or  any  body 
of  men,  or  any  individual  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  cannot  absolve  or  dispense 
his  Majesty's  subjects  from  their  oath  of  allegiance  upon  any  pretext  whatso- 
ever. And,  Bdly.  That  there  is  no  principle  in  the  tenets  of  the  Catholic  Faith, 
by  which  Catholics  are  justified  in  not  keeping  faith  with  Heretics,  or  other 
persons  differing  from  them  in  religious  opinions,  in  transactions  either  of  a 
public  or  a  private  nature.  The  Pope  himself  was  written  to  upon  the  same 
question,  and  most  solemnly  announced  that  his  See  asserted  no  such  claim. 
Surely  this  is  better  testimony  than  the  self-contradictory  declaration  of  a  Dub- 
lin Catholic  editor. 

We  do  not  rely,  however,  in  a  matter  of  this  sort,  upon  documentary  evi- 
dence, or  newspaper  asseveration.  We  take  the  ground  that  the  people  are 
themselves  sufficient  to  assert  and  maintain  their  independence  of  Popes  of  all 


138 

sorts ;  and  that  they  are  in  no  danger  of  being  deposed  from  the  sovereignty 
with  which  their  Maker  and  their  Fathers  endowed  them  in  these  States. 
Three  thousand  and  fifty  Protestant  clergy  will  in  vain  hurl  their  anathemas 
against  them  from  Yankee  pulpits,  and  one  Dublin  editor  may  impotently  pro- 
claim the  Pope's  authority  over  their  temporal  concerns,  but  while  they  have 
the  right  to  manage  their  own  affairs,  spite  of  Popes  and  of  secret  clubs,  they 
will  always  be  ready  and  a"ble  to  maintain  "and  support  that  sovereignty.  It  is 
only  an  insult  to  the  intelligence,  the  manliness  and  the  Christian  sentiment  cf 
the  Virginia  people  to  maintain  the  possibility  of  a  priestcraft  domination  over 
them  from  any  quarter  or  of  any  sort. 

But  what  are  the  historical  evidences  of  the  truth  of  this  charge,  that  Catho- 
lics are  less  attached  to  civil  governments  entitled  to  their  allegiance,  than  other 
denominations  ?  Surely  the  Catholic  subjects  of  the  British  crown  have  had 
cause  of  offence  against  that  government  in  its  persecutions  of  Catholic  Ireland. 
Surely  the  only  Catholic  province  of  that  government,  on  this  continent,  might 
have  been  excused,  while  these  persecutions  of  their  Catholic  brethren,  in  Ire- 
land, were  going  on,  for  seeking  annexation  to  the  United  States.  Surely  the 
French  Catholics  of  Canada  have  had  incentives  of  animosity  sufficient  to  shake 
their  allegiance  to  the  British  Government  in  its  numberless  and  bitter  wars 
against  Catholic  Franco.  Yet  what  is  the  present  political  status  of  Catholic, 
French,  colonial  Canada  ?  Hear  how  Lord  Nugent  refutes  this  idea  of  a  half 
allegiance  on  the  part  of  Catholics  : 

"  Your  other  colonies  revolted ;  they  called  on  a  Catholic  power  to  support 
them,  and  they  achieved  their  independence.  Catholic  Canada,  with  what  Lord 
Liverpool  would  call  her  half-alliance,  alone  stood  by  you.  She  fought  by  your 
side  against  the  interference  of  Catholic  France.  To  reward  and  encourage  her 
loyalty,  you  endowed  in  Canada  bishops  to  say  mass,  and  to  ordain  others  to 
say  mass,  whom,  at  that  very  time,  your  laws  would  have  hanged  for  saying 
mass  in  England  ;  and  Canada  is  still  yours  in  spite  of  Catholic  France,  in 
spite  of  her  spiritual  obedience  to  the  Pope,  in  spite  of  Lord  Liverpool's  argu- 
ments, and  in. spite  of  the  independence  of  all  the  States  that  surround  her. 
This  is  the  only  trial  you  have  made.  Where  you  allow  to  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics their  religion  undisturbed,  it  has  proved  itself  to  be  compatible  with  the 
most  faithful  allegiance.  It  is  only  where  you  have  placed  allegiance  and  reli- 
gion before  them  as  a  dilemma,  that  they  have  preferred  (as  who  will  say  that 
they  ought  not?)  their  religion  to  their  allegiance.  How,  then,  stands  the  im- 
putation ?  Disproved  by  history,  disproved  in  all  States,  where  both  religions 
co-exist,  and  in  both  hemispheres,  and  asserted  in  an  exposition  by  Lord  Li- 
verpool, solemnly  and  repeatedly  abjured  by  all  Catholics,  of  the  discipline  of 
their  church." — Lord  Nugent' s  Letter  to  Rev.  Sir  George  Lee,  Bart. 

Men  might  idly  dispute  till  doomsday  over  the  nice  question  in  political  ca- 
suistry of  the  extent  of  the  Papal  claim  of  temporal  power  outside  of  Rome. 
But  here  are  facts  which  illustrate  how  devoted  Catholics  may  be  and  are  in 
the  habit  of  showing  themselves  in  the  practical  matter  of  allegiance.  Yet  it 
is  due  to  candor  to  admit  that  there  are  historical  instances  in  which  Catholics 
have  refused  to  obey  the  calls  of  the  British  government.  The  Irish  Catholic 
Parliament  refused  to  furnish  taxes  to  support  the  war  against  the  American 
colonies  in  their  struggle  for  freedom.  Then,  too,  there  is  this  notable  passage 
in  BOTTA,  pp.  236-7  : 

"General  Carleton,  finding  the  Canadians  so  decided  in  their  opposition,  had 
recourse  to  the  authority  of  religion.  He  therefore  solicited  Brand,  the  Bishop 
of  Quebec,  to  publish  a  mandament,  to  be  read  from  the  pulpit,  by  the  curates, 
in  time  of  divine  service.  He  desired  the  prelate  should  exhort  the  people  to 


139 

take  arms,  nnd  second  the  soldiers  of  the  king,  in  their  enterprises  against  the 
colonies.  But  the  bishop  by  a  memorable  example,  of  piety  and  rdiywus  mod- 
eration, refused  to  lend  his  ministry  in  this  work ;  saying  that  such  conduct 
would  be  too  unworthy  the  character  of  the  pastor,  and  too  contrary  to  the  ca- 
nons of  the  lioman  church.  However,  as  in  all  professions,  there  are  individ- 
uals who  prefer  their  interest  to  their  duty,  and  the  useful  to  the  honest,  a  few 
ecclesiastics  employed  themselves  with  great  zeal  in  this  affair ;  but  all  their 
efforts  were  in  vain  :  the  Canadians  (Catholics)  persisted  in  their  principles  of 
neutrality.  The  nobility,  so  well  treated  in  the  act  of  Quebec,  felt  obligated 
in  gratitude  to  promote  in  this  occurrence  the  views  of  the  government,  and 
very  strenuously  exerted  themselves  with  that  intention,  but  without  any  better 
success." 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  when  Lord  HOWE,  the  first  British  commander 
of  the  forces  designated  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  American  war  for  the  inva- 
sion of  this  country,  was  ordered  by  the  war  department  to  prepare  for  embar- 
kation, he  wrote  that  he  could  not  trust  the  Irish  Catholic  soldiers  of  his  army, 
as  all  their  sympathies  were  with  America;  and  the  British  government  was 
forced  to  buy  Protestant  Hessians  at  the  rate  of  sixpence  a  head  from  the 
Prince  of  Hesse  Cassel.  And  the  emissaries  dispatched  to  Germany  wrote 
more  than  once  to  Lord  NORTH  complaining  bitterly  of  the  German  Catholics 
interfering  with  the  enlistment  of  soldiers  for  America. 

There  are  facts,  however,  still  later,  and,  if  possible,  still  stronger  than 
these. 

Catholic  Louisiana  fought  full  as  bravely  and  effectually  ns  Know  Nothing 
Massachusetts  against  Catholic  Mexico  in  the  war  of  1846-'47.  Louisiana  fur- 
nished seven  regiments  and  7,041  troops  to  fight  against  her  brethren  of  the 
Catholic  faith  in  that  war  of  races  and  religions  ;  altho'  Know  Nothing  Massa- 
chusetts, in  the  excess  of  her  zeal  against  the  Pope  and  his  people,  furnished 
but  one  regiment  of  930  men  to  smite  the  Mexican  priests;  and  furnished  that 
number  only  by  dint  of  most  strenuous  exertions  on  the  part  of  the  patriotic 
Democrats  in  her  borders.  If  you  ask  which  three  States  furnished  the  largest 
number  of  troops  in  that  .foreign  war  against  a  Catholic  nation  and  a  Catholic 
race,  the  archives  of  the  country  will  tell  you  that  they  were  the  Catholic  States 
of  Louisiana,  Missouri  and  Texas.  These  furnished  respectively  7,041,  6,441 
and  6,955  men,  or  an  aggregate  equal  to  the  total  number  supplied  by  all  the 
other  States  in  the  Union  !  Besides,  it  is  notorious  that  the  regular  army  of 
the  United  States  was  made  up  during  that  war  so  exclusively  of  Irish,  (Catho- 
lics) that  it  was  difficult  to  find  natives  enough  for  the  non-commissioned  offi- 
cers. 

Surely  the  geno^us  people  of  Virginia  will  consider  the  evidence  of  the 
muster  rolls  of  the  country  a  better  tablet  of  Catholic  patriotism,  under  all 
temptations  of  religious  prejudice  and  bigotry,  than  the  newspaper  columns  of 
oath-bound  editors.  Let  those  who,  for  political  purposes,  are  seeking  to  excite 
the  hatred  of  the  magnanimous  Virginia  voters  against  that  patriotic  people, 
read  these  facts  of  history,  and  blush  for  their  lack  of  generosity. 


The  following  articles  from  the  Enquirer  discussed   other  branches  of  the 
subject  in  a  most  able  and  conclusive  manner. 

KNOW-NOTHINGISM  AND  CATHOLICISM. 

Without  any  very  penetrating  research  or  profound  philosophy,  a  person  may 
discover  that  Know-Nothingisin  rests  upon  the  vicious  principles  and  practices 


140 

the  very  abominations  with  which^the  Catholic  Church  is  reproached  by  its  en- 
emies. 

It  is  true  both  in  a  logical  and  historical  sense,  that  Protestantism  was  a  re- 
volt against  the  moral  despotism  of  the  Catholic  hierarchy.  The  churcli  of 
Home,  at  first  simple  in  its  ritual,  pure  in  its  faith,  and  spiritual  in  its  aspira- 
tions, in  time  decorated  itself  with  barbaric  pomp  of  ceremonial,  and  got  cor- 
rupted by  the  worldly  passion  of  political  ambition.  The  ignorance,  the  debase- 
ment and  the  disorders  of  the  Middle  Age,  favored  the  .pretensions  of  the 
Church  ;  as  men  sought  refuge  under  its  wing  from  the  rage  of  anarchy  and  the 
oppression  of  violence.  We  speak  as  a  Protestant  when  we  affirm,  that  the  do- 
minion of  the  Church  of  Rome  in  the  dark  ages,  if  not  in  itself  legitimate  and 
compatible  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  was  a  political  contrivance  of  im- 
mense advantage  to  mankind  and  to  the  cause  of  civilization.  We  make  this 
assertion  on  the  authority  of  the  accurate  and  dispassionate  Ranke,  and  we  are 
supported  in  the  position  by.  the  facts  of  history.  The  spiritual  sway  of  Papa- 
cy mitigated  the  ferocity  of  feudal  tyranny,  and  put  a  bridle  on  the  savage  pas- 
sions of  uncultivated  man.  There  was  no  justice  but  within  the  precincts  of 
the  sanctuary,  no  religion  out  of  the  confessional,  no  learning  beyond  the  shades 
of  the  cloister.  The  hopes  of  humanity  were  preserved  from  a  deluge  more  de- 
destructive  than  that  which  swept  away  the  traces  of  antediluvian  existence,  and 
the  church  was  the  ark  in  which  the  seeds  of  civilization  were  saved  from  the 
raging  elements  of  universal  violence  and  darkness. 

For  this  great  service  Humanity  must  thank  the  Mediceval  Church.  But  the 
Church  issued  from  the  conflict  with  pride  inflated,  ambition  stimulated,  and 
with  an  immense  a  -cession  of  political  power.  Men  recognized  their  obligation 
to  the  Church,  and  from  a  feeling  of  gratitude,  as  well  as  superstitious  dread  of 
its  power,  contributed  still  farther  to  its  aggrandizement.  The  unclean  spirit 
took  possession  of  the  Church,  debased  its  holy  nature,  and  perverted  its  high 
purpose.  It  became  corrupt,  in  proportion  as  it  became  rich,  and  persecuting  as 
it  got  to  be  powerful.  It  arrogated  absolute  sovereignty  over  the  mind  and  con- 
science of  men,  and  established  the  dread  machinery  of  the  inquisition  to  en- 
force conformity  to  its  creed  and  obedience  to  its  will.  But  the  conscience  and 
the  reason  of  men  revolted  against  the  despotism  of  the  Church,  and  Martin 
Luther  raised  a  cry  for  the  LIBERTY  OF  PRIVATE  JUDGMENT.  He  asserted  the 
independence  of  the  reason  and  conscience  of  the  individual  man,  against  the 
dictation  of  councils  and  the  authority  of  the  Pope.  And  he  conquered.  Tho 
living  principles  of  Protestantism,  are,  perfect  freedom  of  conscience,  and  the 
sovereignty  of  the  individual  reason.  But  the  Catholic  Church  too  was  cleansed 
of  many  of  its  impurities  by  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation,  and  its  pride  and 
its  power  have  melted  before  the  progressive  civilization  of  the  age. 

In  every  aspect,  Know  Nothingism  is  a  preposterous  movement.  Affecting  an 
apprehension  of  hierarchical  domination,  it  assails  a  church  which  propitiates 
pity  by  its  very  weakness  and  helplessness.  Declaiming  against  an  alliance  of 
Church  and  State,  it  drags  religion  into  the  arena  of  politics,  and  promotes  the 
interests  of  party  by  inflammatory  appeals  to  the  pious  prejudices  of  Protestants. 
Denouncing  the  "  insidious  policy"  and  spiritual  despotism  of  the  Papacy,  it 
practices  expedients  of  craft  and  imposture  from  which  a  Jesuit  would  revolt, 
and  enforces  a  submissive  obedience  to  its  will  with  the  cruel  intolerance  of  an 
Inquisitor. 

Protestantism  is,  in  its  origin  and  essential  idea,  a  revolt  against  any  external 
domination  over  the  reason  and  conscience  of  the  individual  man.  Yet,  Know 
Nothingism  pretends  to  serve  the  interests  of  Protestantism,  by  an  organization 
which  usurps  absolute  sway  over  the  mind,  and  exacts  the  most  rigid  conformity 
to  the  supreme  will  of  the  Order  !  No  stronger  contrast  can  exist,  than  between 
the  liberal  spirit  of  genuine  Christianity,  which  elevates  and  ennobles  the  indi- 
vidual with  a  sense  of  infinite  responsibility  and  a  consciousness  of  absolute  con- 


.. 


141 

trol  over  his  destiny,  and  the  stern  despotism  of  an  organization,  which  strips 
its  votaries  of  their  manhood,  denies  to  them  the  prerogative  of  free  thought 
and  free  speech,  and  binds  them  to  a  passive  obedience  to  the  mandates  of  a  su- 
perior power. 

We  do  not  misconceive  the  nature  of  Know  Nothingism.  Its  essential  idea  is 
the  subjection  of  the  individual  to  the  will  of  the  Order.  Before  initiation  he 
binds  himself  by  oath,  in  all  things,  political  and  social,  to  comply  with  the  will 
of  the  Order.  After  initiation,  he  is  the  abject  slave  of  the  Order,  and  cannot 
escape  from  his  bondage  without  the  consent  of  the  Order.  This  is  the  letter 
of  its  constitution  :  the  Grand  Council  shall  have  power  to  decide  upon  all 
matters  appertaining  to  NATIONAL  POLITICS.  Thus  the  individual  member 
barters  away  his  independent  judgment,  and  in  all  matters  appertaining  to  na- 
tional politics  binds  himself  to  submit  to  the  dictation  of  the  Grand  Council. 
If  the  Grand  Council  say  the  Nebraska  bill  is  an  iniquity,  he  can  no  more  dis- 
sent from  their  decision,  than  a  good  Catholic  can  now  dispute  the  immaculate 
conception  of  the  Virgin.  The  Catholic  takes  his  religious  faith  from  Popes 
and  Councils  5  the  Know  Nothing  receives  his  political  creed  from  a  Council  too 
— not  a  council  of  men  distinguished  for  piety  and  learning,  but  an  irresponsi- 
ble conclave  of  demagogues,  without  personal  character  or  public  reputation. 

Thus  is  Know  Nothingism  obnoxious  to  the  very  charge  of  which  it  accuses 
Catholicism.  Its  indictment  against  the  Papacy  recites  its  own  crimes  against 
humanity.  The  Church  of  Home  was  never  more  intolerant,  the  Council  of  the 
Inquisition  never  more  prescriptive,  than  this  perfidious  friend  of  Protestantism, 
this  treacherous  champion  of  religious  liberty. 


THE  ASSERTED  TEMPORAL  POWER  OF  THE  POPE. 

The  Know  Nothings  of  Virginia  have  placed  themselves  in  the  most  ridicu- 
lous and  discreditable  position — they  have  shown  themselves  to  be  the  most  ar- 
rant cowards,  frightened  at  the  merest  shadow.  There  are  only  7,000  Catholics 
in  Virginia,  and  about  800,000  Protestants — and  yet  the  Know  Nothings  are 
alarmed  lest  the  7,000  should  swallow  up  the  800,000.  Truly,  as  Major  James 
Garland  remarked,  it  would  reverse  the  narrative  of  the  Bible,  for  it  would  be 
nothing  less  than  Jonah  swallowing  the  whale!  It  is  difficult  to  treat  this  sub- 
ject in  any  other  light  than  that  of  levity  and  ridicule.  But  since  the  alarming 
Catholic  influence,  and  the  overwhelming  temporal  power  of  the  Pope  of  Rome, 
have  been  made  prominent  issues  in  the  present  contest,  we  deem  it  our  duty  to 
refute  the  absurd  and  groundless  idea  by  a  few  facts  from  the  records  of  past 
and  present  Ilistorjp  We  shall  first  quote  at  length  a  declaration  of  the  Eng- 
lish Catholics  in  1789,  utterly  refuting  the  Know  Nothing  theory  on  the  subject 
of  the  temporal  power  and  influence  of  the  Pope.  When  we  see  Catholics, 
under  the  monarchical  institutions  of  England,  proclaiming  that  they  are  en- 
tirely free  from  temporal  allegiance  to  the  Pope,  is  it  not  absurd  to  witness  the 
hypocritical  alarm  rry>/r.sW  on  this  point  by  Know  Nothings  in  our  own  country, 
where  religion  is  free  and  where  Truth  i.s  left  to  combat  Error?  The  following 
we  extract  from  Roes'  Encyclopedia,  under  the  head  of  "  Papists  :" 

The  Declaration  and  Protestation  Signed  ly  (he  English    Catholics  in  1789. 

We,  whose  names  are  hereunto  subscribed,  C;»tholics  of  England,  do  freely, 
voluntarily,  and  of  our  own  accord,  make  the  following  solemn  Declaration  and 
Protestation. 

Whereas  sentiments  unfavourable  to  its,  as  citizens  and  subjects,  have  been 
entertained  by  English  Protestants,  on  account  of  principles  which,  are  asserted 


142 

to  be  maintained  by  us  and  other  Catholics,  and  which  principles  are  dangerous 
to  society,  and  totally  repugnant  to  political  and  civil  liberty ; — it  is  a  duty  that 
we,  the  English  Catholics,  owe  to  our  country  as  well  as  to  ourselves,  to  protest, 
in  a  formal  and  solemn  manner,  against  doctrines  that  we  condemn,  and  that 
constitute  no  part  whatever  of  our  principles,  religion,  or  belief. 

"We  are  the  more  anxious  to  free  ourselves  from  such  imputations,  because 
divers  Protestants,  who  profess  themselves  to  be  real  friends  to  liberty  of  con- 
science, have,  nevertheless,  avowed  themselves  hostile  to  us,  on  account  of  cer- 
tain opinions  which  we  are  supposed  to  hold.  And  we  do  not  blame  those  Pro- 
testants for  their  hostility,  if  it  proceeds  (as  we  hope  it  does)  not  from  an  intol- 
erant spirit  in  matters  of  religion,  but  from  their  being  misinformed  as  to  mat- 
ters of  fact. 

If  it  were  true,  that  we,  the  English  Catholics,  had  adopted  the  maxims  that 
are  erroneously  imputed  to  us,  we  acknowledge  that  ice  should  merit  the  re- 
proach of  being  dangerous  enemies  to  the  State;  but,  we  detest  those  unchris- 
tian-like  and  execrable  maxims :  and  ice  severally  claim,  in  common  with  men 
of  all  otfcer  religions,  as  a  matter  of  natural  justice,  that  we,  the  English  Cath- 
olics, ought. not  to  suffer  for  or  on  account  of  any  wicked  or  erroneous  doctrines 
that  may  be  held  by  any  other  Catholics,  which  doctrines  we  publicly  disclaim, 
any  more  than  British  Protestants  ought  to  be  rendered  responsible  for  any  dan- 
gerous doctrines  that  may  be  held  by  any  other  Protestants,  which  doctrines 
they,  the  British  Protestants,  disavow. 

First,  We  have  been  accused  of  holding,  as  a  principle  of  our  religion,  that 
princes,  excommunicated  by  the  Pope  and  council,  or  by  authority  of  the  See  of 
Home,  may  be  deposed  or  murdered  by  their  subjects,  or  other  persons. 

But,  so  far  is  the  move  mentioned  unchristian-like  and  abominable  position, 
from  being  a  principle  that  we  hold,  that  we  reject,  abhor,  and  detest  it,  and 
very  part  thereof,  as  execrable  and  impious :  and  we  do  solemnly  declare,  that 
neither  the  Pope,  either  with  or  without  a  general  council,  nor  any  prelate,  nor 
any  assembly  of  prelates  or  priests,  nor  any  ecclesiastical  power  whatever,  can 
absolve  the  subjects  of  this  realm,  or  any  of  them,  from  their  allegiance  to  his 
majesty  King  George  the  Third,  who  is,  by  authority  of  parliament,  the  lawful 
king  of  this  realm,  and  all  of  the  dominions  thereunto  belonging. 

Second,  We  have  also  been  accused  of  holding,  as  a  principle  of  our  religion, 
that  implicit  obedience  is  due  from  us  to  the  orders  and  decrees  of  Popes  and 
general  councils  ;  and  that  therefore  if  the  Pope,  or  any  general  council,  should, 
for  the  good  of  the  church,  command  us  to  take  up  arms  against  government,  or 
by  any  means  to  subvert  the  laws  and  liberties  of  this  country,  or  to  extermi- 
nate persons  of  a  different  persuasion  from  us,  we  (it  is  asserted  by  our  accu- 
sers) hold  ourselves  bound  to  obey  such  orders  or  decrees,  on  pain  of  eternal 
fire: 

Whereas,  we  positively  deny  that  we  owe  any  any  such  obedience  to  the  Pope 
and  general  council,  or  to  either  of  them  ;  and  we  believe  that  no  act  that  is 
in  itself  immoral  or  dishonest  can  ever  be  justified  by  or  under  color  that  it  is 
done  either  for  the  good  of  the  church,  or  in  obedience  to  any  ecclesiastical 
power  whatever.  We  acknowledge  no  infallibility  in  the  Pope  ;  and  we  neither 
apprehend  nor  believe  that  our  disobedience  to  any  such  orders  or  decrees 
[should  any  such  be  given  or  made]  could  subject  us  to  any  punishment  what- 
ever. And  we  hold  and  insist,  that  the  Catholic  church  had  no  power  that  can, 
directly  or  indirectly,  prejudice  the  rights  of  Protestants,  inasmuch  as  it  is 
strictly  confined  to  the  refusing  to  them  a  participation  in  her  sacraments  and 
other  religious  privileges  of  her  communion,  which  no  church  (as  we  conceive) 
can  be  expected  to  give  to  those  out  of  her  pale,  and  which  no  person  out  of 
her  pale,  will,  we  suppose,  ever  require. 

And  we  do  solemnly  declare,  that  no  church,  nor  any  prelate,  nor  any  priest, 
nor  any  assembly  of  prelates  or  priests,  nor  any  ecclesiastical  power  whatever, 


143 

hath,  have,  or  ought  to  have,  any  jurisdiction  or  authority  whatsoever  within 
this  realm,  than  can,  directly  or  indirectly,  affect  or  interfere  with  the  indepen- 
dence, sovereignty,  laws,  constitution,  or  government  thereof;  or  the  rights, 
liberties,  persons,  or  properties  of  the  people  of  the  said  realm,  or  any  of  them, 
save  only  and  except  by  the  authority  of  parliament;  and  that  any  such  as- 
sumption of  power  would  be  an  usurpation. 

Third,  We  have  likewise  been  accused  of  holding,  as  a  principle  of  our  re- 
ligion, that  the  Pope,  by  virtue  of  his  spiritual  power,  can  dispense  with  the 
obligations  of  any  compact  or  oath  taken  or  entered  into  by  a  Catholic ;  that 
therefore  no  oath  of  allegiance,  or  other  oath,  can  bind  us  ;  and  consequently, 
that  ice  can  give  no  security  for  our  allegiance  to  any  government. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  this  conclusion  would  be  just,  if  the  original 
proposition  upon  which  it  is  founded  were  true ;  but  ice  positively  deny  that  we 
do  hold  any  such  principle.  And  we  do  solemnly  declare,  that  neither  the  pope, 
nor  any  prelate,  nor  any  priest,  nor  any  assembly  of  prelates  or  priests,  nor 
any  ecclesiastical  power  whatever,  can  absolve  us,  or  any  of  us,  from,  or  dis- 
pense with,  the  obligations  of  any  compact  or  oath  whatsoever. 

Fourth,  We  have  also  been  accused  of  holding,  as  a  principle  of  our  religion, 
that  not  only  the  pope,  but  even  a  Catholic  priest,  has  the  power  to  pardon  the 
sins  of  Catholics  at  his  will  and  pleasure,  and,  therefore,  that  no  Catholic  can 
possibly  give  any  security  for  hi*  allegiance  to  any  government,  inasmuch  as  the 
pope,  or  a  priest,  can  pardon  perjury,  rebellion,  and  high  treason. 

We  acknowledge,  also,  the  justness  of  this  conclusion,  if  the  proposition 
upon  which  it  is  founded  were  not  totally  false.  But,  we  do  solemnly  declare, 
that,  on  the  contrary,  we  believe  that  no  siu  whatever  can  be  forgiven  at  the 
will  of  any  pope,  or  of  any  priest,  or  of  any  person  whomsoever;  but  that  a 
sincere  sorrow  for  past  sin,  a  firm  resolution  to  avoid  future  guilt,  and  every 
possible  atonement  to  God  and  the  injured  neighbor,  are  the  previous  and  indis- 
pensable requisites  to  establish  a  well-founded  expectation  of  forgiveness. 

Fifth,  And  we  have  also  been  accused  of  holding,  as  a  principle  of  our  reli- 
gion, that  no  faith  is  to  be  kept  with  heretics ;  so  that  no  government  which 
is  not  Catholic  can  have  any  security  from  us  for  our  allegiance  and  peaceable 
behaviour. 

This  doctrine,  that  l  faith  is  not  to  be  kept  with  heretics/  we  reject,  repro- 
bate and  abhor,  as  being  contrary  to  religion,  morality,  and  common  honesty  ; 
and  we  do  hold  and  solemnly  declare,  that  no  breach  of  faith  with  any  person 
whomsoever  can  ever  he  justiCed  by  reason  of  or  under  pretence  that  such  per- 
son is  an  heretic  or  an  infidel. 

And  we  further  solemnly  declare,  that  ice  do  make  this  Declaration  and  Pro- 
testation, and  every  part  thereof,  in  the  plain  and  ordinary  sense  of  the  words 
of  the  same,  without  any  evasion,  equivocation,  or  mental  reservation  whatso- 
ever. 

And  we  appeal  to  the  justice  and  candor  of  our  fellow  citizens,  whether  we, 
the  English  Catholics,  who  thus  solemnly  disclaim,  and  from  our  hearts  abhor, 
the  above  mentioned  abominable  and  unchristian-like  principles,  ought  to  be 
put  on  a  level  with  any  other  men  who  may  hold  and  profess  those  principles. 

The  above  Declaration  and  Protestation  was  signed  by  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  forty  persons,  including  several  peers,  and  two  hundred  and  forty- 
one  clergymen  of  the  Catholic  religion. 

We  come  now  to  a  later  day,  and  we  produce  proof  the  most  undoubted,  that 
the  Catholic  Church  most  emphatically  repudiates  the  doctrine  that  the  Pope  or 
the  Church  could  absolve  men  from  any  just  and  binding  obligation.  The  evi- 
dence we  find  in  a  letter  of  Michael  Doheny,  addressed  to  Henry  A.  Wise  in 
the  New  York  "  Honest  Truth."  In  1825,  the  Iri«h  Bishops  were  summoned 
before  a  committee  of  the  British  House  of  Commons.  Amongst  -themselves 


144 

they  selected  the  most  eminent  and  learned  of  their  body  to  represent  them. 
Being  apprised  of  the  subjects  of  the  enquiry,  they  had  ample  time  to  examine 
and  weigh  and  duly  consider  them.  Their  answers  are  brifly  cited : 

Doctor  Doyle  is  asked — 

"  Can  the  Pope  absolve  the  king's  subjects  from  their  allegiance  ?"     A.  "  No." 

Q.  "  Is  it  in  his  power  to  deprive  the  king  of  his  kingdom  ?"  A.  "  It  is  not, 
indeed." 

Q.  "  Can  he  by  any  means  excuse  a  Catholic  from  his  allegiance  ?" 

A.   "  Most  undoubtedly  not  ?" 

Q.  "  Is  the  claim  that  some  Popes  have  set  up  to  temporal  authority  opposed 
to  Scripture  and  tradition  ?" 

A.    "IN    MY   OPINION   IT   IS   OPPOSED   TO   BOTH." 

The  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Curtis,  Archbishop  of  Armagl  in  the  same  examination, 
and  in  answer  to  the  same  question,  says  : 

"I  do  not  think  it  is  very  conformable  to  it.  I  do  not'  say  exactly  it  is  op- 
posed to  it  j  but  certainly  he  has  received  no  such  power  from  Christ?" 

Doctor  Murray,  Archbishop  of  Dublin — • 

"  The  Pope's  authority  is  wholly  confined  to  his  spiritual  authority,  according 
to  the  words  of  our  Savour,  '  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world.'  His  spiritual 
power  does  not  allow  him  to  dethrone  kings  or  absolve  their  subjects  from  the 
allegiance  due  to  them  j  and  any  attempt  of  that  kind  I  would  consider  con- 
trarv  to  Scripture  and  tradition." 

Dr.  Kelly,  Archbishop  of  Tuam — 

"It  never  "was  admitted  as  a  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  church  that  the  Pope 
had  temporal  authority  outside  his  own  dominions." 

Mr.  Doheny  also  refers  to  the  evidence  of  the  two  most  eminent  men  who 
had  theretofore  written  on  the  subject  in  England — Doctor  Miluer  and  Father 
O'Leary — and  who  had  exposed  the  false  pretence  that  the  Pope  could  dispense 
with  the  obligations  of  an  oath.  He  next  comes  to  our  own  times  and  refers  to 
the  important  case  of  the  College  of  Maynooth  in  Ireland.  It  is  (we  quote  his 
language)  "  a  Catholic  institution,  endowed  by  the  ultra  Protestant  Government 
of  England,  and  has  been  now  for  over  half  a  century  the  teeming  cause  of  re- 
ligious acerbity.  No  wonder  that  it  should,  when  we  consider  that  by  London 
law  a  priest  was  a  "  felon,"  to  be  educated  for  the  priesthood  "felony,"  and  to 
officiate  as  a  priest  ahigh  treason."  How  there  came  to  be  a  Catholic  college 
is  explained  in  this  way  : 

"Notwithstanding  the  law,  priests  were  ordained  and  mass  was  offered,  at 
first  in  caves  and  mountain  gorges,  and  afterwards  in  out-of-the  way  places  in 
broad  day-light.  The  priests  were  educated  abroad.  France,  Spain,  Italy, 
opened  asylums  of  education  for  the  exiled  Irish  Catholics,  and  some  came  home 
as  priests,  at  the  risk  of  being  led  to  the  gallows.  Strange  things  foreshadowed 
themselves  in  the  literature  and  feeling  of  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  Eng- 
land, beginning  to  be  afraid  to  hang  the  priest,  and  apprehending  that  his 
French  education  was  Jacobinical  or  rather  Jacobite,  besought  her  of  providing 
a  home  education  for  him,  with  a  view  to  denationalize  him.  Hence  the  college 
of  Maynooth — an  "  invention  of  the  enemy."  However,  it  by  no  means  an- 
swered the  end.  The  endowment,  up  to  1845,  was  only  £  30,000  a  year.  It 
was  then  increased  to  £  50,000,  but  without,  as  it  would  seem,  becoming  any 
more  loyal.  Since  then,  bigotry,  biting  at  the  wires  of  its  cage,  which  grows 
narrower  and  narrower  daily,  has  been  nibbling  at  it,  and  notwithstanding-all 
that  has  been  said  and  sworn  to  the  contrary,  repeating  the  pretence  that  the 
Pope  claimed  the  deposing  and  absolving  power. 

"In  1852  a  committee  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  orthodoxy  of  the 
College,  who  have  just  issued  their  report.  They  examined  the  professors,  and 
asked  them  the  same  questions  the  Bishops  answered  in  1825. 


145 

"I  quote  first  from  Doctor  O'Hanlon  : 

"  With  regard  to  the  first  doctrine  of  Galilean  Liberties,  is  it  not  a  question 
in  dispute  among  Roman  Catholics  ?  It  is ;  tho'  we  may  regard  the  opinion 
which  attributes  either  direct  or  indirect  temporal  power  to  the  Pope  or  to  the 
church  as  being  almost  obsolete.  The  only  writers  who  have  attempted  to  re- 
vive it  in  modern  times  are  Dr.  Brownson,  a  recent  convert  to  Catholicity,  and 
an  editor  of  an  American  review,  and  the  famous  Lamennais,  who  has  been 
condemned  by  the  Holy  See,  for  the  extravagance  and  eccentricity  of  certain 
doctrines  which  he  held.  I  might  here  observe  that  in  a  document  addressed 
from  Rome  by  Cardinal  Antoneli,  to  the  Irish  Catholic  Prelates,  so  early  as 
1791,  it  is  expressly  affirmed  that  the  Holy  See  regards  that  man  as  a  calum- 
niator, who  imputes  to  it  the  tenet,  '  that  an  oath  to  kings  seperated  from  the 
Catholic  communion  can  be  violated,  or  that  it  is  lawful  for  the  Bishop  of  Rome 
to  invade  their  rights  and  dominions/  Pope  Gregory  XVI.,  also,  not  only  in 
his  encyclical  letter  of  1832,  but  in  his  reply  to  the  declaration  of  the  Prussian 
government  in  1838,  lays  down  principles  which  appear  to  me  to  be  irreconcila- 
ble with  the  opinion  which  invests  the  Pope  or  the  church  with  direct  or  indi- 
rect temporal  authority.  He  adopts  the  doctrine  of  Tertullian,  and  some  others 
of  the  early  fathers,  that  no  cause  whatever  can  justify  the  deposition  or  de- 
thronement of  a  king,  and  that  the  people  should  patiently  endure  every  sort  of 
tyranny  and  oppression  rather  than  have  recourse  to  so  violent  and  dangerous  a 
remedy.  The  doctrine  is  as  incompatible  with  the  deposing  power  of  the  Pope 
as  it  is  repugnant  to  the  ideas  of  political  writers  of  these^countries. 

"  I  close  with  this  quotation,  hoping  that  I  have  satisfied  you  that  in  es- 
pousing our  cause  you  have  not  committed  yourself  to  the  rant  of  men  like 
this  Brownson,  who  trade  upon  credulity  and  superstition." 

This  evidence  should  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  all  reasonable  men,  but  we  mean 
to  clinch  the  nail  and  to  show  what  Catholics  think  and  say,  here  at  our  own 
fireside?,  upon  the  soil  of  Virginia,  in  this  metropolis  of  the  Old  Dominion. 
With  this  object  in  view,  we  ask  attention  to  the  following  correspondence  be- 
tween James  Lyons,  Esq.,  and  the  Catholic  Bishop  of  Richmond.  His  frank 
replies  to  the  enquiries  addressed  to  him,  should  satisfy  all  but  besotted  anl 
bigoted  Know  Nothings,  that  the  charge  of  the  danger  to  our  institutions,  from 
the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope,  are  the  wildest  fancies,  the  most  unsubstantial 
dreams.  No  additional  word  of  comment  can  be  necessary  to  dispel  the  terrible 
alarm  which  has  been  conjured  up  by  the  patriotic  and  pious  managers  of  the 
Secret  Order,  and  their  zealous  co-laborers,  the  Know  Nothing  press  and 
orators  :  , 

"  RICHMOND,  April.  18,  1855. 
To  Bishop  Me  Gill, 

Rev.  Sir  : — Having  heard  and  read  much  declamation  against  the  Catholics, 
because  of  the  alleged  temporal  power  of  the  Pope,  I  take  the  liberty  to  inquire 
of  you  whether  the  Catholics  in  Virginia  do  acknowledge  any  temporal  alle- 
giance to  the  Pope;  and  whether,  if  this  country  could  be  and  was  assailed  or 
invaded  by  the  army  of  the  Pope,  (if  he  had  one,)  or  by  any  other  Catholic 
power,  the  Catholic  citizens  of  this  country,  no  matter  where  born,  would  not 
be  as  much  bound  to  defend  the  Flag  of  America,  her  rights  and  liberty,  as 
any  native-born  citizen  would  be;  and  whether  the  performance  of  that  duty 
would  conflict  with  any  oath,  or  vow,  or  other  obligation  of  the  Catholics  ? 

My  purpose  is,  with  your  leave,  to  make  this  note  and  your  reply  to  it 
public. 

With  high  respect,  your  friend,  &c., 

JAMES  LYONS." 
10 


146 

"  RICHMOND,  VA.,  April  19,  1855. 

Dear  Sir : — The  letter,  which  you  have  addressed  to  me,  contains  three  ques- 
tions, to  which  you  ask  an  answer,  with  a  view  to  publication. 

First  Question. — "Whether  the  Catholics  in  Virginia  do  acknowledge  any 
any  temporal  allegiance  to  the  Pope  ?" 

To  this  I  answer,  that  unless  there  be  in  Virginia  some  Italians  who  owe  al- 
legiance to  the  Pope  as  a  temporal  Prince,  because  they  were  born  in  his  States, 
and  are  not  naturalized  citizens  of  this  country,  there  are  no  Catholics  in  Vir- 
ginia who  owe  or  acknowledge  any  temporal  allegiance  to  the  Pope. 

Second  Question. — "  Whether,  if  this  country  could  be  and  was  assailed  and 
invaded  by  the  army  of  the  Pope,  (if  he  had  one,)  or  by  any  other  Catholic 
power,  the  Catholic  citizens  of  this  country,  no  matter  where  born,  would  not 
be  as  much  bound  to  defend  the  Flag  of  America,  her  rights  and  liberty,  as  any 
native-born  citizens  would  be  ?'; 

Answer :  To  me,  the  hypothesis  of  an  invasion  of  our  country  by  the  Pope, 
seems  an  absurdity;  but  should  he  come  with  armies  to  establish  temporal  do- 
minion here,  or  should  any  other  Catholic  power  make  such  an  attempt,  it  is 
my  conviction  that  all  Catholic  citizens,  no  matter  where  born,  who  enjoy  the 
benefits  and  franchises  of  the  Constitution,  would  be  conscienciously  bound, 
like  native-born  citizens,  to  defend  the  flag,  rights  and  liberties  of  the  Republic, 
and  repel  such  invasion. 

Third  Question. — "  Whether  the  performance  of  that  duty  would  conflict 
with  any  oath,  or  vow,  or  other  obligation  of  the  Catholic  ?" 

Answer:  Catholics,  reared  in  the  Church  as  such,  have  not  the  custom  of 
taking  any  oaths  or  vows,  except  the  baptismal  vows,  "  to  renounce  the  Devil, 
bis  works  and  pomps. "  Persons  converted  to  the  faith,  or  those  receiving  de- 
grees in  Theology,  may  be  required  to  take  the  oath  contained  in  the  creed  of 
Pius  IV.  of  obedience  to  the  Pope,  which,  as  far  as  I  know,  has  always  been 
understood  and  interpreted  to  signify  a  spiritual  obedience  to  him  as  head  of  the 
Church,  and  not  obedience  to  him  as  a  temporal  prince.  Bishops,  on  their  con- 
secration, also  take  an  oath  which,  in  our  country,  is  different  from  the  old  form 
used  in  Europe.  But  none  of  these  vows,  oaths,  and  no  other  obligation  of 
which  I  am  aware,  conflicts  with  the  duty  of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  to 
defend  the  flag  and  liberties  of  his  country. 

In  conclusion,  allow  me  to  state  that,  as  we  have  no  article  of  faith  teaching 
that  the  Pope,  of  divine  right,  enjoys  temporal  power  as  head  of  the  Church, 
•whatever  some  theologians  or  writers  may  have  said  on  this  point,  must,  like 
my  answers  to  your  inquiries,  be  considered  as  opinions  for  which  the  writers 
themselves  only  can  be  held  responsible. 

Yours,  very  truly,  &c. 

J.  McGILL,  Bishop  of  Richmond. 
To  JAMES  LYONS,  ESQ." 


THE  WINCHESTER  CONVENTION. 

About  five  months  after  the  Democratic  state  ticket  was  put  forth,  on  the 
14th  March,  the  Know-Nothing  party,  trying  to  imitate  as  much  as  possible 
the  Hartford  Convention,  of  Federal  blue-light  notoriety,  assembled  in  secret 
at  the  town  of  Winchester,  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  a  state  ticket. 
Never  before  in  the  history  of  Virginia  did  any  party,  for  the  purpose  named, 
assemble  in  privacy  and  secrecy  to  make  a  state  nomination.  We  suppose 


147 

that  the  famous  Gun  Powder  plot  could  not  have  been  concocted  under  more 
binding  oaths  and  cautious  secrecy.  Guy  Fawkes  himself  would  have  owned 
its  organization  as  his  handiwork.  We  have  never  seen  the  names  of  but 
three  delegates  that  were  present,  and  these  were  appended  to  the  schedule 
of  Basis  Principles  which  was  soon  promulgated  in  the  name  of  the  conven- 
tion and  to  the  correspondence  informing  the  candidates  of  their  nomination. 
Who  were  there,  and  what  was  said  and  done,  in  all  human  probability  will 
never  be  known  to  the  generation  now  in  existence.  There  could  be  nothing 
discovered  by  examining  the  registers  of  the  hotels,  for  the  delegates  used 
fictitious  names  in  recording  themselves.  What  shall  we  think  of  a  state 
convention  which  meets  and  registers  under  aliases  ?  Are  we  to  believe  that 
this  party  loves  darkness  rather  than  light  because  their  deeds  are  evil? 

The  Examiner  contained  the  following  amusing  notice  of  the  body  and  its 
actions : 

THE  WINCHESTER  CONVENTION. — After  long  and  painful  labors,  com- 
menced in  the  long  coffin-like  garret  of  Stebbins'  china-shop,  in  this  city, 
some  weeks  since,  and  adjourned  over,  for  reasons  unknown,  to  Winchester, 
a  salubrious  village  of  this  state,  the  Know-Nothings  have  made  their  anx- 
iously expected  nominations. 

A  Winchester  paper  describes  this  gathering  of  midnight  accouchers  as  a 
slim,  drearv  and  melancholy  squad  of  battered  Whigs,  the  aggregate  record 
of  whose  disappointments  and  defeats  would  fill  a  volume  considerably  ex- 
ceeding the  dimensions  of  the  doom's-day  book.  There  were  about  as  many 
Know-Nothings  in  attendance,  that  paper  says,  as  there  were  delegates  to 
the  celebrated  Hartford  Convention  ;  and,  of  that  number,  it  is  said  that 
there  was  a  solitary  Democrat,  whose  local  habitation  and  name  we  have  not 
heard.  The  rest  wN-e,  of  course,  hungry  and  famished  Whigs — ex-congress- 
men, ex-state  senators,  ex-members  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  ex-sheriffs,, 
ex-constables,  ex-magistrates,  ex-coroners  and  ex-militia  officers  of  every 
rank.  It  was  a  grand  carnival  of  political  cripples,  the  maimed,  mutilated 
remains  of  defeats  and  disappointments  without  number.  Dante,  in  his 
excursion  through  the  infernal  regions,  might  have  stumbled  upon  such  a 
conclave  of  the  political  damned,  drinking  hot  brimstone  punches,  and  toast- 
ing, at  their  leisure,  on  gridirons  and  pitchforks  ;  but  never  before  in  this 
state  was  there  such  a  lifeless  convention.  The  congressional,  senatorial  and 
muster  precincts  gave  up  their  dead,  and  we  question  whether  there  was  as 
much  vitality  in  the  whole  convention  as  there  is  in  one  healthy  Democrat. 

We  have  said  that  this  melancholy  assemblage  of  Chelsea  invalids  was 
Whig.  Its  presence  perfumed  the  little  town  of  Winchester  with  the  odor 
of  church-yard  Whiggery.  The  maimed  survivors  of  many  a  sad  and  luck- 
less fight,  with  the  gallant  Virginia  Democracy,  were  seeking  prominent 
places  in  the  council  chamber  of  tfie  Know-Nothings,  as  the  afflicted  of  scrip- 
tural times  struggled  to  be  in  the  front  rank  around  the  healing  waters  of 
Bethesda.  No  man,  we  venture  to  say,  from  what  we  have  heard  of  the 
Winchester  Convention,  could  have  been  present,  and  beheld  that  collection 
of  Whig  partisans  and  leaders,  without  denouncing  Know-Nothingism  as  the 
very  latest  and  most  vicious  invention  of  the  old  Federal  enemy,  that  turns 
up  with  a  new  name,  but  the  same  old  principles  and  vices,  every  few  years. 

There  was  nothing  Democratic  about  it.  The  shameful  spectacle  was  pre^- 
sented  to  an  intelligent  people,  of  delegates  appointed  by  secret  lodges,  bound1 
by  frightful  oaths,  pledged  upon  the  Holy  Word  of  God  to  the  work  of  pro- 
scription and  persecution,  meeting  with  closed  doors,  and  seeking  to  take 


148 

from  the  people  all  free  agency  in  the  selection  of  their  representatives.  It 
presented  the  contrast  of  Cataline's  gathering  of  disaffected  and  disappointed 
colleagues  to  that  of  the  people  of  Rome  flocking  in  the  open  air  to  listen  to 
the  fearless  eloquence  of  Cicero.  There  are  times  beyond  question — times 
when  nations,  like  individuals,  become  the  victims  of  temporary  insanity — 
when  Reason,  tired  of  sitting  on  her  throne,  vacates  it  for  a  while,  when 
Folly  "takes  the  chair,"  and  misrule  becomes  the  order  of  the  day.  Good 
and  true  men  are,  at  such  moments,  disregarded  ;  and  the  temporary  sove- 
reign appoints  befitting  courtiers.  Such  dynasties  compress  much  evil  in  the 
few  months  of  their  existence,  and  then  are  overthrown  and  become,  a  by- 
word and  reproach. 

Secret  conclaves  to  select  candidates  for  the  people,  in  a  country  where 
the  purity  of  the  elective  franchise  depends  upon  its  freedom  from  mystery 
and  concealment,  illustrate  the  inauguration  of  such  an  unfortunate  era  as  we 
have  just  referred  to.  It  is  a  new  phase  of  that  spirit  of  political  folly  and 
error  which  made  the  unreflecting  and  unprincipled  fall  down  and  worship 
log-cabins,  coon-skins,  hard  cider,  and  other  barbarous  symbols,  in  1840.  *It 
is  a  revival  of  that  incarnation  of  insincerity,  fraud  and  duplicity — "the  no 
party  movement" — by  which  the  Whig  party  skulked  into  power  in  1848, 
and  then  laughed  at  the  silly  Democratic  gulls  who  were  seduced  from  their 
party  but  to  rue  their  treason  in  sackcloth  and  ashes. 

The  Winchester  Convention,  in  spirit,  intent  and  arrangement,  was  a  new 
device — a  fresh  snare  of  Federalism  set  for  that  class  of  Democrats  who 
have  again  and  again  been  caught  and  plucked  by. a  political  adversary,  who, 
like  the  modern  Greek,  substitutes  cunning  for  boldness  and  courage.  The 
solitary  Democrat  who  is  said  to  have  formed  the  popular  element  in  this 
Convention  of,  it  is  said,  sixty-eight  delegates,  properly  represents  the  exact 
proportion  of  Democracy  in  the  Know-Nothing  party  in  Virginia.  It  is 
made  up  in  the  ratio  of  sixty-eight  parts  of  rank,  bitter  and  most  uncom- 
promising Federalism  to  one  of  bogus,  pinchbeck  Democracy.  The  Federal 
pill  is  coated,  not  with  fine  white  sugar,  but  with  a  compound  of  treacle  and 
coffee  brown,  This  new  organization  the  late  ludicrous  Convention  at  Win- 
chester has  convinced  every  body,  possesses  no  actual  strength  in  Virginia. 
The  proud,  inflexible,  consistent  Henry  Clay  Whigs  will  never  give  up  the 
banner  of  "the  old  Clay  Guard/'  torn  and  ragged  as  it  is,  to  march  under 
the  black  flag  of  a  secret  society.  The  unambitious,  intelligent  gentlemen  of 
the  Whig  party,  men  depending  upon  their  plantations,  not  upon  office  for  sup- 
port, would  sooner  die  than  exchange  pass-words,  oaths  and  grips  with  slippery 
professional  politicians  in  the  garrets  of  china  shops.  They  hold  too  sacred  the 
memory  of  their  great  leaders  to  deny  the  name  given  them  by  the  noble 
Kentuckian,  and  become  Know-Nothings.  In  spite  of  the  example  of  the 
solitary  Democrat  in  the  Winchester  Convention,  nine  hundred  and  ninety- 
nine  of  our  party  would  consider  it  a  profanation  to  abandon  the  faith  of 
their  fathers,  and  become  disciples  of  Judson,  the  convict,  Bennet,  the  out- 
law, and  Ullman,  the  Hindoo,  and  regard  such  a  solicitation  as  affording 
ample  justification  for  knocking  the  verdant  author  of  the  proposition  down. 
Know-Nothingism  may  fester  in  the  towns  and  villages,  among  Whig  shop- 
keepers, but  there  is  a  power  in  the  country,  among  the  Democratic  farmers, 
that  will  crush  it  out. 

SAM'S  UNSUCCESSFUL  AND  SUCCESSFUL  COURTSHIPS. — It  is  a  perfectly 
notorious  fact,  that  long  before  the  Winchester  Convention,  the  chief  con- 
spirators of  the  new  order  of  Jesuits,  in  this  state,  like  the  "  Father  of 
Evil,"  went  about  covertly  throwing  temptations  in  the  way  of  nearly  every 
available  and  distinguished  Democrat.  Acting  upon  the  Walpole  theory, 
that  "  every  public  man  had  his  price,"  they  essayed  to  secure  for  their  pur- 
pose a  strong,  healthy  Democrat — thus  confessing  that  theje  was  no  member 


149 

of  the  order  who  possessed  the  confidence  of  the  people — not  one  who  was 
sufficiently  strong  to  bear  the  odium  and  opprobrium  of  avowed  Know- 
Nothingism. 

At  the  very  time  when  they  were  everywhere  boasting  of  their  strength, 
they  were  seeking  for  what  they  did  not  have  in  their  organization — viz:  a 
prominent  Democrats.  We  could  name  a  dozen  Democrats  who  indignantly 
spurned  their  proposals,  and  kicked  their  bribes  out  of  doors.  They  crawled 
about  like  poor,  rejected  suitors,  hurgbly  entreating  prominent  Democrats  to 
accept  their  nominations.  But  of  the  members  of  our  party,  with  a  single 
grain  of  vitality,  not  one  would  touch  their  offer.  It  was  only  when  they 
went  down  among  the  dead  men  that  a  few  hungry  ghosts  snapped  at  their 
proposals, 

Letcher,  Holladay,  Brockenbrough,  Leake,  and  other  leading  Democrats, 
are  known  to  have  declined  the  "honor  of  the  alliance."  Never  was  an 
ugly  and  uncouth  suitor  so  unfortunate  as  was  Sam.  He  ran  the  gauntlet  of 
"kicks,"  and  became  the  by-word  and  the  laughing-stock  of  all  well-to-do 
Democrats.  His  efforts  to  "get  a  live  Democrat"  were  as  fruitless  as  were 
the  attempts  of  men  of  little  capital  and  less  credit  to  raise  their  bank  kites 
during  the  monetary  pressure  of  December.  Sam's  addresses  were  all  re- 
jected, and  his  notes  of  entreaty  protested  by  all  of  our  first  and  second 
class  Democrats.  In  the  early  days  of  his  courtship,  Sam,  like  other  unsuc- 
cessful gentlemen  of  our  acquaintance,  looked  too  high.  He  fancied  for  his 
first  loves  Democrats  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  with  good  prospects,  and  a  very 
broad  margin  between  themselves  and  a  state  of  collapsed  and  toothless  old 
fogy  ism.  He  professed  to  turn  up  his  priggish  little  Federal  nose,  (mush- 
room and  parvenu  as  he  is,)  at  the  elderly  and  neglected  maiden  and  widow- 
ladies  of  our  party,  who,  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  have  vainly  pined 
for  a  suitor,  however  uncouth  and  valueless  the  much  courted  article.  Soured 
by  a  thousand  disappointments,  left  behind,  outstripped  by  younger  and  more 
vigorous  rivals,  these  forgotten  old  Democratic  spinsters  and  mouldering 
widows,  would  have  taken  the  devil  for  a  partner,  rather  than  not  have  at 
least  one  grab  at  the  fleshpots.  When  a  hard  and  melancholy  experience 
had  taught  Sam  that  no  Democrat  who  had  anything  to  lose  by  accepting  his 
"  honorable  proposals  "  would  listen  to  them,  he,  for  the  first  time,  discover- 
ed that  there  was  a  small  but  excessively  recherche  assortment  of  verde 
antiques,  coyly  ogling  him  from  the  back  benches,  and  recalling  his  youthful 
recollections  of  the  song  about — 

Four-and-twenty  old  maids 

All  in  a  row, 

•    Dressed  in  yellow,  pink  and  red, — 
Poor  old  maids. 

With  whatever  indignation  blushing  young  misses  like  Holladay,  Letcher, 
Brockenbrough,  &c.,  &c.,  had  repelled  his  advances,  it  was  obvious  that  these 
ladies  were  of  much  easier  dispositions,  and  they  had  what  Sam  wanted  [but 
in  an  eminently  diluted  state] — to  wit:  "Democratic  blood." 

Like  the  venerable  females  of  a  certain  Italian  city,  who,  when  it  was 
sacked  by  the  French,  after  boldly  waiting  at  the  street  corners  all  day,  in 
the  midst  of  the  invaders,  without  experiencing  any  violence  at  their  hands, 
•went  home  grumbling  that  "  they  had  heard  the  French  were  wicked  fellows, 
but  that  they  had  not  found  them  so,"  these  antiquated  Democrats  had  not 

(seen  much  of  Sam's  reputed  gallantry.  Still  they  hoped  on,  and  when  Sam 
had  failed  to  get  the  young  ladies,  in  a  fit  of  desperation  he  put  the  whole 
battalion  of  "  venerable  and  unrecognized  merit"  in  a  flutter  by  seeking  a 
consort  from  their  midst.  "  Really,"  said  Miss  Madison  Monroe  Flexible,  to 


150 

her  aged  friend,  Miss  Jefferson  Giles  Castaway,  "this  fellow  Sam  is  a  very 
nice  young  man,"  and  she  flirted  with  the  aforesaid  Sam  after  a  very  spa- 
vined and  octagenarian  fashion.  And  let  us  not  be  understood  as  blaming 
any  of  these  venerable  spinsters  and  matrons  for  their  choice.  Let  no  Dem- 
ocrat, in  the  flush  and  vigor  of  early  youth,  sit  too  harshly  in  judgment  up- 
on those  who,  after  pining,  neglected  and  disregarded,  for  half  a  centu- 
ry, waiting  for  an  eligible  Democratic  offer,  in  despair  accepts  even  Sam. 
Pity  the  sorrows  of  our  venerable  friend*,  recollect  their  long,  dismal  years 
of  dreary  waiting,  youth  sobering  into  middle  age,  middle  age  turning  into 
the  sear  and  yellow  leaf  of  old  age — and  Sam  the  first  offer.  Ye  young,  ad- 
mired and  vigorous  Holladays,  Letcher?,  Leakes,  &c.,  rejoicing  in  a  pleni- 
tude of  eager  beaux,  think  kindly  and  sorrowingly  of  the  forlorn  and  bereaved 
widow  Beale,  whose  cheerless  and  neglected  fireside  in  the  far  west  Sam  has 
gladdened  by  his  refreshing  presence.  Recollect  the  long  and  involuntary 
solitariness  of  that  estimable  person,  and  drop  a  tear  rather  than  a  curse 
upon  the  sin  of  disappointed  old  age. 

For  when  time  and  disappointments  have  sapped  the  best  of  us — when  we 
have  waited  long  and  waited  vainty  for  the  expected  bridegroom,  and  he 
overstays  his  time,  we  may  at  a  weak  moment  pounce  upon  the  first  substi- 
tute that  turneth  providentially  up.  For  there  cannot  be  much  love  between 
Sam  and  his  new  brides.  He  took,  we  incline  to  the  opinion,  the  venerable 
Beale  and  the  flexible  Patton,  because  the  fresh,  the  young,  the  vigorous  of 
our  party  refused  him,  and  they,  heaven  forgive  their  old  souls,  took  Sarn 
because  it  was  obvious  that  no  Democratic  suitor  would  ever  claim  their 
hands.  It  will  be  a  barren  union,  and  we  predict  a  speedy  divorce  a  mnculo 
matrimonii.  They  may  not  live  long  enough  to  repent  of  their  marriage  vrith 
a  fellow  of  low  degree,  but  Sam  will  find  that  his  Democratic  consorts  will 
bring  him  nothing  but  the  recollections  of  their  early  loves  and  disappoint- 
ments, and  that  he  will  stand  forth  in  the  list  of  Beale's  lovers,  and  alas  for 
his  prospect  for  domestic  happiness  !  Mr.  Patton  treasures  tender  souvenirs 
of  more  political  loves  than  did  the  scandalous  Don  Giovanni  of  affairs  of 
the  heart. 

Nor,  if  the  character  of  Sam's  Democratic  conquests  are  understood  by 
the  public,  will  they  allow  him  much  peace  upon  their  slender  jointures  of 
respective!}'  fifteen  hundred  and  seven  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  wrhilst 
the  Whig  wife  of  his  bosom,  the  lucky  and  fascinating  Flournoy,  wrill  get 
five  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  a  house  besides.  Whether  successful  or 
unsuccessful,  he  is  destined  to  have  no  peace  in  his  polygamous  household. 
If  Brigham  Sam  comes  home  ladened  with  the  opima  spolia  of  Democracy, 
the  disinterested  Beale  will  flare  up  when  she  looks  up  from  behind  her 
official  wash-tub  and  contrasts  her  homely  attire  and  seVen  hundred  dollars 
per  annum,  with  the  costly  outfit  and  plentiful  pocket  money  of  Mrs.  "Sam" 
Flournoy.  Nor  will  the  generous  and  impulsive  Patton  regard  the  trifle  of 
one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  per  annum  a  sufficient  recompense  for  his 
having  given  his  talents  and  respectability  to  a  plebean  like  Sam.  Indeed, 
much  to  the  discredit  of  Sam,  it  is  rumored  that  the'  haughty  Patton,  whilst 
requiring  the  most  ardent  manifestations  of  affection  from  Sam,  gives  him 
nothing  but  the  Platonic  power  of  a  name,  and  treats]  his  warm-hearted  ad- 
vances with  marked  coolness. 

It  is  idle  for  any  rational  man  to  suppose  that  antiquated  but  aristocratic 
political  dowagers,  like  Sam's  legal  consorts,  when  they  bestow  the  odds  and 
ends  of  worn  out  political  affections  upon  such  a  mushroom,  ever  bring  with 
them  a  large  dowry  of  love.  The  idea  of  such  a  thing  is  laughable.  Those 
who,  in  the  enthusiastic  and  disinterested  desertion  of  early  blushing  love, 
gave  their  hearts  to  the  gallant  Jackson,  then  transferred  their  more  expe- 
rienced and  matured  affections  upon  the  irresistible  Clay,  and  then  distributed 


151 

the  small  residuum  of  middle  aged  esteem  among  such  men  as  Polk,  Cass 
and  Pierce,  hnve  nothing  that  is  worth  bestowing  upon  Sam.  We  regret  to 
disturb  his  polygamous  bliss  by  croaking  predictions  of  unhappiness — but  the 
truth  must  be  told. 


THE  WINCHESTER  TICKET. 

i 

The  result  of  this  notable  gathering  was  the  nomination  of  the  following 
gubernatorial  ticket,  viz  : 

For  Governor— THOMAS   S.  FLOURNOY,  of  Halifax. 

For  Lt.  Governor— JAMES  M.  H.  BEALE,  of  Mason. 

For  Attorney  General— JOHN  M.  PATTON,  of  Richmond. 
The  country  had  been  led  to  expect  that  none  but  new  men,  tmcontami- 
nated  by  party  and  undistinguished  as  partizans,  would  have  been  presented 
by  an  organization  which  eschewed  all  partisan  prejudices  and  disavowed 
all  partisan  affiliations  and  objects.  We  shall  discover,  in  the  comments  of 
the  Democratic  press  upon  these  nominations,  whether  these  anticipations 
were  realized.  The  Examiner  received  the  announcement  of  the  nomina- 
tions in  the  following  strain  of  ridicule  and  narrative : 

THE  WINCHESTER  TICKET.— The  elements  of  the  Know-Nothing  ticket 
present  a  laughable  illustration  of  Sam's  utter  disregard  of  his  solemn 
pledges.  The  chief*  object  we  have  heard  for  months  past  of  this  new  organ- 
ization was  the  killing  off  of  old  and  decayed  politicians,  and  the  promotion 
of  fresh,  talented  and  accomplished  men,  able  and  ambitious,  yet  bearing 
about  them  the  marks  of  no  disappointments  and  defeats.  We  expected 
that  the  Know-Nothings  would  not  be  mere  political  resurrectionists,  and  that 
they  would  at  least  refrain  from  giving  the  people  of  Virginia  the  dry  bones 
of  the  forgotten  dead. 

We  had  been  led  to  believe  that  their  nominees  would  possess  all  the  fresh- 
ness, youth  and  virgin  purity  of  the  early  spring  flowers  that  so  sweetly  and 
modestly  peep  out  of  the  bosom  of  mother  earth  about  the  Ides  of  March. 
Indeed,  like  a  gallant  young  fellow,  we  all  expected  Sam's  Winchester  nom- 
inees to  be  a  charming  bouquet  of  early  spring  flowers — not  a  hortus  siccus 
of  badly  preserved  specimens.  Is  there  any  of  the  violet's  freshness  about 
Flournoy,  or  of  the  lily's  virginity  about  Beale,  or  of  the  daisy's  simplicity 
about  Mr.  Patton  ?  We  have  a,  ticket  made  up  of  the  survivors  of  past  hon- 
ors and  offices — from  the  head  to  the  tail  of  the  ticket  we  have  "  ex-honora- 
bles,"  all  of  whom  had  to  be  exhumed  for  their  new  missions.  They  were 
dug  up,  for  there  was  no  germinating  or  sprouting  elements  in  them.  As  far 
as  Messrs.  Patton  and  Beale  were  concerned — we  speak  knowingly  when  we 
say  that,  as  far  as  their  political  prospects  in  the  Democratic  party  were  con- 
cerned— they  were  as  dead  as  any  ancient  Theban  that  Gliddon  ever  un- 
rolled. A  close  examination  of  the  ticket  will  convince  our  readers  of  the 
truth  of  what  we  say. 

THE  NECROLOGY  AND  RESURRECTION  OF  THOMAS  STANHOPE  FLOURNOY. 
It  must  have  struck  every  one  very  forcibly  when  the  Winchester  ticket  was 
announced,  that  it  was  constructed  precisely  like  that  famous  animal,  the 
Kangaroo,  with  all  of  its  strength  in  its  hind  legs  and  tail,  for,  by  some  sin- 
gular freak,  Mr.  Patton,  a  man  of  distinction  and  decided  talents,  but  of 


152 

flexible  back-bone,  was  put  at  the  tail,  and  Mr.  Flournoy  at  the  head  of  the 
ticket.  The  Kangaroo  illustration  will,  however,  help  us  to  an  explanation, 
for,  as  in  the  case  of  that  animal,  whilst  the  hind  legs  and  tail  perform  all  the 
hard  work,  the  weak  and  idle  fore  paws,  being  nearest  the  mouth,  secure  all 
the  food. 

This  interesting  fact  explains  the  construction  of  the  ticket. 

The  majority  of  Whig  Know-Nothings  who  effected  the  Winchester  nomi- 
nations were  too  keen  for  the  spoils  to  give  the  executive  chief  office  to  the 
political' friends  of  the  minority  of  Democratic  Know-Nothings. 

The  spoils  department  of  the  hybrid  triumvirate  is,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
in  the  hands  of  a  bitter,  uncompromising  Whig.  Flournoy  takes  the  oyster, 
and  the  two  shells  are  divided  with  the  most  refreshing  generosity  between 
Patton  and  Beale,  or  rather  Beale  and  Patton,  for  they  appear  to  have  put 
poor  Mr.  Patton  to  the  foot  of  the  table — even  Beale  taking  precedence.  To 
give  the  remnants  of  the  Federal  party  in  this  state  a  chance  at  the  flesh- 
pots  of  the  state  offices,  the  Federal  Know-Nothings  put  one  of  their  owrn 
men  at  the  head  of  the  distributing  department.  They  had  an  eye,  every 
one  of  them,  doubtless,  to  the  fish,  flour,  guano,  tobacco,  and  lumber  interests 
of  the  Old  Dominion.  Hence  they  have  put  Lepidus  in  the  chair,  and  An- 
thony and  Augustus  at  very  humble  side  tables. 

If  the  ticket  triumphs,  Lepidus  gets  five  thousand  dollars,  a  ha'ndsomely 
furnished  house,  and  control  over  the  much  coveted  flour,  guano,  lumber, 
tar,  and  tobacco,  whilst  Anthony  gets  what  will  be  equivalent  to  an  overseer's 
wages  every  other  year,  and  Augustus  receives  the  salary  of  a  tide  waiter  in 
the  custom-house.  Standing  in  front  of  his  palace  with  a  plate  of  broken 
victuals,  Lepidus  will  whistle,  and  a  huge  flock  of  starving  Whig  cormorants 
will  flutter  around  him,  each  of  whom  will  receive  more  than  either  of  the 
other  members  of  the  triumvirate. 

We  shall  make  no  excuse  for  briefly  attempting  to  explain  to  our  readers 
who  Mr.  Flournoy  is !  He  is,  in  the  first  place,  a  gentleman  by  birth  and 
education,  and  like  Mr.  Patton,  (and  for  aught  we  know  to  the  contrary,  Mr. 
Beale,)  a  man  upon  whose  private  character  there  is  not  a  spot  or  blemish. 
In  chivalry  and  integrity  he  is  every  way  the  equal  of  Mr.  Wise,  or  of  any 
other  Democrat  or  Whig  in  Virginia.  But  he  is  the  very  embodiment  of 
Whiggery,  a  man,  we  believe,  in  whose  veins  there  flows  as  much  Federal 
blood  as  in  those  of  any  man  in  the  commonwealth.  He  hates  and  loathes 
Democracy  as  he  does  a  mean  action,  or  even  the  Pope  or  an  Irishman.  His 
Federalism  has  been  of  the  most  consistent  character,  and  his  comparative 
obscurity  alone  prevents  every  Democrat  from  associating  his  name  with 
bank,  tariff,  distribution,  and  the  rest  of  the  Federal  abominations  now  dead 
and  buried. 

In  that  section  of  Virginia  in  which  Mr.  Flournoy  once  figured  as  a  poli- 
tician, his  memory  is  cherished  through  the  broad  expanse  of  several  muster 
precincts,  by  the  shattered  remains  of  his  party.  For  Mr.  Flournoy's  polit- 
ical life  was  of  insect  duration,  and  it  was  as  brief  as  the  constitution 
allowed.  A  valorous  Democratic  lion  and  chivalrous  unicorn  of  the  same 
political  family  wrere  seven  years  ago  fighting  for  a  seat  in  Congress  from  the 
strong  Democratic  Halifax  district ;  Mr.  Flournoy  slipped  in  and  transferred, 
for  the  brief  period  of  two  years,  his  obscurity  from  the  county  courts  of 
Halifax  and  Charlotte  to  the  halls  of  Congress.  Our  memory  retains  no 
vivid  or  distinct  recollection  of  what  he  did  during  his  two  years  of  public 
life. 

Like  most  lucky  men  who  have  crept  into  office  through  a  split  or  cleft  in 
the  Democratic  partv,  Mr.  Flournoy  tried  to  repeat  the  experiment  a  second 
time,  but  "  the  party"  closed  upon  him  with  the  grip  and  snap  of  a  first  rate 
steel  trap,  and  after  a  few  convulsive  jerks  and  wiggles,  Flournoy  died.  Po- 


153 

litically  he  was  declared,  by  competent  judges,  "a  beautiful  corpse,"  which, 
no  doubt,  he  was. 

His  intended  victim,  but  actual  conqueror,  that  old  and  honored  Democrat, 
Averett,  thinking  that  the  rash  young  man  was  dead  as  Julius  Caesar,  extri- 
cated him  from  the  trap  which  had  closed  with  such  fatal  force  upon  him, 
buried  him  with  pious  and  affectionate  care,  heaped  up  the  dirt,  and  patted 
the  mound  as  smoothly  as  possible,  and  wiping  a  tear  from  his  eccentric- 
looking  spectacles,  went  his  way  to  Washington.  It  may  be  well  to  make  a 
note  of  the  fact,  that  the  ever  true  and  faithful  Powell  acted  the  sexton  to 
Goggin  that  same  year,  but  had  to  keep  his  purturbed  ghost  still  with  a  cedar 
stake.  Although  as  decently  interred  as  man  could  have  been,  and  killed, 
to  boot,  by  a  regular  old  school  physician,  Flournoy  would  not  lie  still  and 
let  the  worms  have  their  due,  and  the'  time  which  Averett  spent,  much  to 
the  benefit  of  his  constituents  as  a  true  southern  representative,  in  Washing- 
ton, the  restless  Flournoy  spent  in  scratching  out  of  his  narrow  red-land  ten- 
ement. And  when  the  estimable  doctor  once  more  started  upon  a  grand 
tour  through  his  district,  the  ghost  of  Flournoy,  "thin  and  shadowy,  traveled 
by  his  side."  "Averett,  does  murder  sleep?"  shrieked  the  ghost  of  Flour- 
noy ;  and  the  dead  man  followed  the  living  one,  going  through  all  the  motions 
of  a  candidate  for  Congress,  in  a  most  shocking  and  heart-rending  manner. 

But  the  people  were  so  much  shocked  at  the  apparition  of  their  beloved 
and  lamented  Flournoy,  flitting  about  from  court-house  to  court-house,  and 
shrieking  its  sepulchral  notes  from  stump  and  hustings,  that  they  determined, 
from  feelings  of  humanity,  to  dispel  the  delusion  under  which  the  apparition 
labored,  by  electing  Averett  a  second  time.  They  did  so,  and  the  troubled 
ghost,  exorcised  of  the  ugly  demon  of  ambition,  sunk  with  a  sigh  into  its 
grave,  and  Averett  again  heaped  up  the  clay,  and  left  the  now  quiet  dead  for 
a  second  visit  to  Washington.  There  was  something  so  amiable,  refined  and 
respectable  in  the  appearance  of  Flournoy's  ghost,  that  Averett  treated  it 
with  a  mildness  which,  in  the  parallel  case  of  Goggin,  Powell  could  not  con- 
sistently with  his  own  welfare  employ. 

Thus  terminated  the  brief  and  troubled  career  of  the  politician  Flournoy. 
He  came  upon  the  stage  when  his  favorite  federal  measures  were  tottering  to 
their  fall,  and  he  went  down  with  them,  involved  in  the  common  ruin  of  his 
party.  Several  times  since  his  death  there  have  been  ugly  splits  in  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  in  Flournoy's  old  district,  but  there  was  no  Flournoy  to  slip 
into  Congress.  Nothing  short  of  the  trumpet  of  the  Know-Nothing  "  Ga- 
briel" could  have  aroused  him  from  his  long  sleep.  For  years  ambition  came 
not  near  the  grave  of  Flournoy.  All  of  him  that  was  political,  his  friends 
said,  was  dead,  very  dead,  and  in  the  counties  of  the  Halifax  district  the  legal 
Thomas  Stanhope  Flournoy  practiced  his  profession,  we  have  heard,  in  a 
quiet,  but  most  orderly  and  respectable  manner.  All  political  dress  having 
been  cast  out  of  him,  his  explorations  in  the  technical  jungles  of  the  Code, 
and  his  struggles  in  the  quagmires  of  Mayo's  Guide,  are  said  to  have  been 
most  creditable. 

Honest  and  industrious  in  the  plain  and  unornamented  details  of  his  pro- 
fession, he  is  said  to  have  secured  the  confidence  of  Whigs  and  Democrats. 

The  fates,  as  we  have  seen,  had  decreed,  however,  that  at  the  dead  hour  of 
midnight,  the  Know-Nothings  should  dig  up  the  political  remains  of  Flournoy, 
and  thus  end  his  career  of  usefulness  as  an  attorney,  without  imparting  over 
two  months  and  a  half  of  galvanic  political  vitality  to  the  bones  of  the  de- 
ceased. 

From  the  thousand  rumors  which  have  found  their  way  to  the  public,  from 
the  secret  councils  of  the  Know-Nothing  Convention,  we  entertain  no  doubt 
of  its  hav?ing  resolved  itself  into  a  committee  of  resurrectioni.-ts,  surgeons 
and  practical  anatomists,  to  overhaul,  compare  and  examine  the  remains  of 


154 

every  Whig  politician  in  Virginia  of  the  least  note  or  notoriety.  It  is  sus- 
pected that,  knowing  the  character  of  the  subject  with  which  they  had  to 
deal,  the  delegates  were  well  provided  with  all  the  implements  for  body- 
snatching,  and  with  dark  lanterns,  chloride  of  lime,  galvanic  batteries  and 
volatile  salts.  Each  delegation,  it  is  supposed,  brought  its  local  dead,  and  a 
sweet  set  they  must  have  been.  Phew  !  Winchester  will  smell  of  them  as 
long  as  Hartford  will  be  fragrant  with  the  odor  of  the  old  blue  light  Federal- 
ists. And  what  a  set  of  mummies  must  have  been  then  and  there  unrolled! 
What  a  charnel-house  ;  what  a  rich  rare  and  varied  assortment  of  "Whig  ex- 
honorables"  in  every  stage  of  decay.  The  catacombs  of  Paris,  the  pyramids 
of  Egyptian  Cheops,  must  hereafter  hide  their  diminished  heads.  The  ana- 
tomical museums  have  been  all  eclipsed.  To  catalogue  and  systematically 
arrange  this  strange  collection  of  relics  of  mortality,  would  be  a  task  beyond 
our  capacities.  A  second  Tamerlane  could  scarcely  make  a  decent  pyramid 
of  those  battered  skulls. 

The  purpose  and  design  of  the  collection  was  to  ascertain  whether  there 
could  be  found,  within  the  limits  of  the  commonwealth,  the  remains  of  a 
single  Whig  sufficiently  well  preserved  to  respond,  by  a  few  muscular  jerks, 
to  the  strongest  charge  af  a  Know-Nothing  battery.  Long  and  vain  is  said 
to  have  been  their  labors.  Down  among  the  dead  men  they  worked  long  and 
sadly.  There  was  hardly  a  semblance  of  life  in  the  whole  collection.  They 
were  as  dead  as  if  the  ball  of  a  Minie  rifle  had  passed  through  the  skull  of 
each  of  them.  They  were  of  the  earth,  earthy. 

The  Valley  delegation,  it  is  said,  brought,  wrapped  up  in  one  of  poor  Fill- 
more's  castaway  suits,  the  gigantic  bones  of  the  once  lively  and  ever  astute 
Stuart,  but  the  electric  shock  called  into  play  no  tough  muscle  still  clinging 
to  its  appropriate  bone.  The  canvass  for  the  Reform  Convention  had  left 
nothing  in  those  remains  for  a  battery  to  get  a  muscular  jerk  out  of. 

The  Red  Land  district,  it  is  surmised,  respectfully  submitted  a  petition  in 
forma panperis  for  an  examination  of  Goggin's  coffin,  but  a  few  broken  bones 
and  a  little  dust  alone  remained  of  that  gallant  Whig. 

The  faithful  delegation  from  ever  loyal  Screamerville  pressed  proudly  for- 
ward with  the  sarcophagus  of  the  terrible  Botts,  exclaiming,  "  Hare's  a  man 
buried,  but  not  dead — he'll  kick  and  jump  for  you  without  touching  him  up 
with  your  infernal  machine — he's  alive,  we  tell  you,  don't  you  hear  how  he 
kicks  and  bellows  to  get  out."  But  the  whole  college  of  surgeons,  holding 
up  their  hands  and  screwing  down  the  corners  of  iheit  hypocritical  mouths, 
said :  "  Oh,  you  are  mistaken  ;  Botts  has  been  dead  these  many  years — 
that's  an  evil  spirit  you  hear  kicking  up  that  muss  in  his  coffin,  and,  to  keep 
it  from  getting  out,  drive  in  a  few  more  nails!"  And,  as  the  indignant  and 
sorrowing  Screamervillians  tottered  off  with  the  vivacious  Botts,  the  chief 
doctor,  placing  his  finger  to  the  side  of  his  proboscis,  said  sotto  voce,  writh  a 
wink,  "  Botts  aint  dead,  but  he's  dangerous,"  and  the  sixty-eight  Whigs  and 
the  solitary  Democrat  said,  "Amen  !"  And,  if  street  rumors  are  to  be  cre- 
dited, 'the  neglected  Botts,  although  his  sarcophagus  was  not  opened,  or  the 
galvanic  battery  of  the  resurrectionists  applied,  is  keeping  up  an  awful  shindy 
on  his  own  hook,  and  frightening  the  secret  order  more  than  he  did  when  he 
smashed  their  crockery  over  the  china  shop  of  Stebbins  of  Shockoe  Hill. 

And  thus  the  convention  proceeded  in  its  melancholy  work,  passing  on 
from  Pendleton  to  Strother,  from  Strother  to  Rives,  and  with  no  success. 
The  mystery  of  Flournoy's  nomination  has  not  leaked  out,  but  it  is  supposed 
that  some  desperate  individual  threatened  that  if  they  did  not  make  a  selec- 
tion, he  would  uncork  that  powerful  narcotic,  "the  extract  of  ShefFey,"  and 
the  whole  college,  with  a  shriek  of  horror,  declared  that  the  remains  of  the 
next  of  the  Whig  defuncts  should  be  honored  with  their  choice,  and  Flour- 
noy's coffin  was  the  next  in  order. 


155 

THE  APOTHEOSIS  OF  BEALE. — The  nomination  of  J.  M.  H.  Beale,  of  Ma- 
son, was  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world.  They  could  not  do  without  a 
man  from  the  portion  of  the  State  in  which  he  lives,  and  Beale  caught  their 
eye,  having  fallen  from  grace  in  the  Democratic  party  and  kicked  up  a  little 
filibustering  campaign  in  his  Congressional  district,  which  had  at  the  last 
accounts  resulted  in  the  partial  defection  of  Mr.  J.  M.  H.  Beale.  A  gentle- 
man perfectly  familiar  with  that  section  of  Virginia  from  which  Mr.  Beale 
hails,  tells  us,  that  after  a  long  and  arduous  canvass,  Mr.  Beale  may  emerge 
the  triumphant  leader  of  from  five  to  twenty  followers.  Although  a  very 
well  disposed  person,  and  we  hear,  of  good  moral  character,  he  is  not  a  man 
whose  most  intimate  friends  have  ever  suspected  of  the  smallest  scintilla  of 
talent.  And  when,  in  addition  to  this,  we  tell  our  readers  what  everybody 
in  his  Congressional  district  knows,  that  he  is  a  worn  out,  broken  down  poli- 
tician, turned  out  to  graze  by  his  party,  they  can  form  some  idea  of  his 
strength  in  the  West.  It  is  the  strength  of  a  cob-web  to  hold  an  eagle,  or  of 
a  child  to  check  a  locomotive. 

The  only  recommendation  of  Mr.  Beale  was,  we  imagine,  that  he  was  out 
on  his  own  hook — solitary  and  alone — for  Congress.  Or  it  may  have  been 
a  delicate  compliment  to  the  lone  Democrat  of  the  Winchester  Convention, 
that  led  that  body  to  nominate  Beale.  That  poor  delegate  having  seen  half 
a  hundred  Whig  coffins  opened,  his  associates  may  have,  in  compliment  to 
his  fortitude,  exhumed  Beale.  But  if  they  thought  to  weaken  the  Demo- 
cratic, party  in  the  West  by  nominating  Mr.  J.  M.  H.  Beale,  that  particular 
mistake  may  be  put  down  as  the  richest  in  the  whole  Winchester  comedy  of 
errors.  We  can  almost,  in  imagination,  hear  the  peals  of  inextinguishable 
"merriment  with  which  the  unflinching  Democracy  of  the  Trans-Alleghany 
country  will  greet  Sam's  expedient  of  seducing  them  by  the  blandishments 
of  the  complimentary  Beale. 

We  heard,  some  years  ago,  of  a  young  gentleman's  essaying  to  turn  over 
the  Natural  Bridge  with  a  crowbar,  but  that  young  man's  verdancy  was  not 
equal  to  that  of  the  Winchester  Convention  in  using  Mr.  Beale  for  turning 
over  to  Know-Nothingism  the  ever  faithful  West.  We  can  see  the  hardy 
Democracy  of  that  section  of  the  state  pulling  down  the  lower -eyelid,  and 
revolving  the  four  digitals,  with  the  thumb  resting' on  the  proboscis  for  an 
axis,  and  asking  the  unlucky  Beale  "  if  he  sees  anything  green."  What- 
ever may  be  his  idea  of  colors,  the  unseduced  Democracy  of  Western  Vir- 
ginia will  make  him  feel  very  blue  before  they  are  done  with  him.  But 
enough  of  Mr.  Beale.  We  should,  perhaps,  for  the  sake  of  our  readers, 
have,  before  saying  a  word  about  him,  recollected  that  "  de  minimis  lex  non 
cur  at."  Perhaps,  however,  the  space  devoted  to  him  will  be  pardoned  by 
those  who,  unlike  the  people  of  his  own  section  of  country,  do  not  know 
what  a  harmless  old  gentleman  he  is. 

HON.  JOHN  M.  PATTON,  THE  NNOW-NOTHING  CANDIDATE  FOR  ATTORNEY 
GENERAL. — The  offence  of  Beale,  in  accepting  the  nomination  of  a  secret 
Whig  organization,  is  a  very  small  matter.  It  is  one  of  those  trivial,  harm- 
less misdemeanors  over  which  the  mayor  exercises  jurisdiction,  a  case 
for  the  local  reporters  of  the  daily  papers,  deserving  a  record  in  "  Howison's 
Calendar  of  Crimes,"  and  nothing  more. 

But  acceptance  of  a  nomination  from  such  a  party  by  a  Democratic 
gentleman  of  Mr.  Patton's  ability,  position,  education,  and  antecedents,  is 
an  offence  calling  for  harsh  comment  and  the  strongest  language  of  reproba- 
tion. From  what  we  have  heard  of  Mr.  Beale,  we  suppose  that  he  does  not 
understand  the  bearing  of  his  defection  if  his  example  should  be  followed. 
But  a  man  of  Mr.  Patton's  sagacity  must  have  long  since  discovered  that 
Know-Nothingism,  North,  South,  East  and  West,  is  a  dangerous  conspiracy, 


156 

having  for  its  object  the  overthrow  of  the  National  Democratic  party.  Thus 
far  that  secret  organization  to  which  he  has  lent  the  influence  of  an  honored 
name,  has  been  the  deadliest  and  most  cruel  foe  to  slavery  and  the  Union. 
At  midnight,  and  stealthily  as  a  serpent,  it  has  sought  to  undermine  that 
great  temple,  dedicated  to  religious  liberty,  which  Jefferson  and  Madison 
reared  with  such  anxious  and  patriotic  care.  He  has  seen  it,  like  some 
frightful  reptile,  creeping  South,  everywhere  crushing  in  its  folds  the  Na- 
tional Democracy.  He  has  seen  that  it  has  everywhere  availed  itself,  in  the 
free  States,  of  the  temporary  unpopularity  of  the  Democratic  party — an  un- 
popularity growing  wholly  out  of  that  party's  devotion  to  the  South.  One, 
by  one  he  has  seen  the  firm  friends  of  the  South  defeated  by  the  most  reck- 
less and  unprincipled  of  fanatical  Abolition  agitators.  He  has  seen  the  se- 
cret and  stealthy  foe  drag  down  the  flag  of  our  party  in  New  Hampshire, 
upon  whose  granite  hills  it  had  floated  for  more  than  half  a  century.  He 
has  seen  that  no  political  services,  however  eminent,  have  saved  the  friends 
of  the  South  from  the  deadly  hate  of  Knovv-Nothingism. 

He  has  heard  its  proud  and  insolent  boasts,  that  in  Virginia,  yes,  that  the 
enemy  of  religious  liberty  will  wrest  the  land  of  Jefferson  from  his  followers 
and  his  disciples.  The  infidels  are  to  climb"  over  the  walls  of  the  sacred 
city,  and  desecrate  the  memory  and  destroy  the  principles  for  which  the 
illustrious  dead  of  our  own  state  struggled  through  evil  and  good  report.  He 
knows  that  if  the  Democratic  garrison  stands  firm,  we  can  "laugh  a  siege  to 
scorn" — but  that  if  that  noble  party  gives  way  in  Virginia,  all  is  lost — yes, 
all  is  lost;  and  that  the  National  Democratic  party  falls  beneath  the  feet  of 
a  secret  political  inquisition.  At  such  a  moment,  when  the  election  in  Vir- 
ginia is  to  decide  the  fate  of  Democracy  and  the  Union,  Mr.  Patton  has  lent j 
the  influence  of  his  name  to  the  secret  foe. 

Is  it  strange  that  this  monstrous  and  unprovoked  defection  should  excite 
the  surprise,  the  grief,  the  pity,  the  indignation  of  those  brave  and  loyal 
Democrats  who,  at  this  crisis  in  the  history  of  our  party,  expected,  as  in 
times  gone  by,  to  have  heard  Mr.  Patton  fighting  for  the  principles,  the 
altars,  the  household  gods  of  Democracy. 

When  in  the  midst  of  a  battle,  with  a  powerful  and  dangerous  foe,  we 
have  expected  prodigies  of  valor  from  a  favorite  General,  and  the  startling 
news  of  his  desertion  is  reported,  is  it  strange  that  w«  should  pity  a  man  so 
dead  to  the  good  opinions  of  the  world  as  to  desert  at  such  a  time. 

We  envy  not  the  notoriety  of  that  unfortunate  human  being  wh'o  shall,  by 
binding  himself  to  this  Know-Nothing  movement,  defeat  the  Democratic 
party  in  Virginia.  Men  have,  by  the  magnitude  of  their  offences,  been  oc- 
casionally hanged  in  chains  by  history,  for  the  edification  and  amazement  of 
posterity — but  the  Democrat  who  lets  the  enemy  into  this  old  citadel,  will 
hang  higher  than  any  historical  character  of  our  acquaintance,  either  of 
ancient  or  modern  times. 

It  is  useless  for  the  apologists  of  Mr.  Patton  to  say  that  he  is  "not  a  Know- 
Nothing,  and  that  the  office  of  Attorney  General  is  not  a  political  office." 
He  is  on  the  same  ticket  with  Flournoy  and  JBeale ;  his  and  their  fortunes 
are  idissolubly  connected,  and  if  the  opposition  ticket  to  the  regular  Demo- 
cratic ticket  triumphs,  Mr.  Patton  triumphs.  And  if  he  is  not  a  Know- 
Nothing,  we  cannot  commend  that  caution  which  induces  him  to  accept  the 
aid  of  the  party  without  incurring  the  odium  of  membership.  We  intend  to 
indulge  in  no  abuse  of  Mr.  Patton,  for  respectability  and  talent  entitle  him  to 
some  esteem,  even  in  the  unhappy  position  which  he  now  occupies. 

If  over  the  ruins  of  the  proud  old  Democratic  party  of  Virginia,  he  is 
willing  to  walk  into  the  office  of  Attorney  General,  and  become  the  recipient 
of  the  magnificent  salary  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  a  year,  let  him,  let  him 
do  so. 


157 

ft 

But  the  future  of  a  man,  in  his  position,  cannot  be  enviable,  whether  suc- 
cessful or  not.  On  the  contrary,  the  rankness  of  his  offence  will  be  the 
same.  For  the  secret  organization,  under  whose  black  wing  he  rests,  must 
run  its  career,  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  in  a  few  short  yeari.  Antago- 
nistic parties  and  associations,  to  the  National  Democratic  party  of  this  coun- 
try, have  sprouted  up  and  rotted  down  again  and  again.  These  short  cuts 
to  preferment,  end  invariably  in  quagmires,  as  the  examples  of  Wilmot, 
Foote,  Sec.  &c.,  sufficiently  demonstrate.  It  is,  perhaps,  fortunate  that  the 
tastes  of  men  differ;  but,  for  one,  we  would  not,  for'the  Presidency  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  per  annum  for  life,  be  pointed  at  whilst  living,  and  remem- 
bered when  dead,  as  the  Democrat  who  broke  down  the  Democratic  party  in 
Virginia,  and  held  office  during  the  reign  of  the  Know-Nothings.  Of  such 
living,  as  well  as  posthumous  honors  and  fame,  we  are  (thank  God)  not 
covetous. 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  TEN. 

The  following  able  discussion  of  the  dangers  of  the  Know-Nothing  plan  of 
organization  was  republished  with  great  effect  in  Virginia,  from  a  New 
Hampshire  journal : 

[From  the  New  Hampshire  Patriot.] 

About  five  hundred  years  ago  a  fearful  and  mysterious  tribunal,  bearing  this 
name,  was  established  in  the  republic  of  Venice.  It  gradually  acquired  des- 
potic control  over  the  government  and  the  people.  Its  deliberations  and  its 
actions  were  alike  enveloped  in  the  profoundest  secrecy.  Its  meetings  were 
held  in  secret ;  it  received  denunciations  against  the  most  virtuous  and  patri- 
otic citizens  in  secret,  and  in  secret  it  conducted  its  victims,  in  silence  and  in 
gloom,  to  a  sudden  and  mysterious  death.  It  inquired,  sentenced,  and  pun- 
ished according  to  what  is  called  "reasons  of  state."  The  public  eye  never 
penetrated  its  mysteries ;  the  accused  was  rarely  heard ;  he  was  never  con- 
fronted with  witnesses  ;  the  condemnation  was  secret  as  the  inquiry,  and  the 
punishment  undivulged  like  both.  This  tribunal  gradually  acquired  control 
of  every  branch  of  the  government,  and  exercised  despotic  power  over  every 
question.  It  annulled  at  pleasure  all  decrees,  degraded  members  from  their 
offices,  and  even  deposed  and  put  to  death  the  chief  magistrate.  It  was  an 
object  alike  of  terror  and  detestation  to  those  whom  it  oppressed  under  the 
pretext  of  protecting  their  rights.  And  yet  its  diabolical  cunning  prolonged 
its  existence  until  the  genius  of  Napoleon  prostrated  it  in  the  dust,  with  so 
many  other  relics  of  cruelty  and  intolerance. 

People  of  New  Hampshire  !  there  exists  at  this  moment  among  you  a 
Council  of  Ten,  as  fearful  and  as  pregnant  with  danger  to  your  liberties  as 
was  that  of  Venice  to  her  oppressed  citizens.  You  have  been  accustomed, 
in  the  bounty  of  your  hearts,  to  look  upon  this  republic  as  beyond  danger. 
In  company  with  your  fellow-citizens  of  other  states,  you  have  successfully 
resisted  foreign  intervention,  and  repelled  with  triumph  the  conquering 
legions  of  the  most  arrogant  nation  on  the  earth.  You  have  advanced  your 
triumphant  banners  to  that  proud  city  which  Cortez  gloried  in  adding  to  the 
Spanish  empire.  You  have  scattered  the  seeds  of  civilization  throughout 
realms  before  untrodden  by  any  human  footsteps  but  those  of  the  Indian. 
You  have  seen  your  population  advancing,  your  wealth  increasing,  and  your 
countrv  teeming  with  the  fruits  of  physical  and  intellectual  labor.  And  you 
fondly~think  that  you  are  safe;  that  each  of  you  and  your  children  are,  for 


158 

i0 

long  years,  to  have  a  share  in  a  government  the  very  breath  of  whose  nos- 
trils is  freedom  of  opinion — one  of  whose  cardinal  doctrines  is  an  open  and 
fearless  avowal  of  principles;  and  you  are  proud  that  you  live  under  a  con- 
stitution which  permits  you  to  reward  intelligence  and  uprightness  by  select- 
ing for  your  public  trusts  those  among  you  who  are  marked  by  such  qualities. 

But  be  not  deceived  !  The  sceptre  is  even  now  passing  from  your  grasp, 
and  will  be  irrevocably  lost  unless  you  trample  in  the  dust  the  traitors  who 
are  clutching  at  it  with  all  the  despair  of  disappointed  ambition.  An  unholy 
cabal  of  fifth  rate  pettifogging  lawyers,  mouldy  political  hacks,  and  Mammon- 
seeking  parsons,  is  seeking  to  wind  the  coils  of  the  serpent  around  you,  and 
to  strangle  you  in  its  embrace.  The  grand  council  of  Know-Nothings  have 
sworn  by  the  only  God  they  worship — that  is,  themselves — undying  hatred 
to  political  freedom  and  popular  supremacy.  These  decayed  aristocrats,  these 
shameless  bigots,  these  ravening  political  banditti,  these  utterly  desperate 
traitors  to  the  country  that  gave  them  birth,  are  organizing  a  scheme  whose 
details  would  strike  terror  into  your  hearts  if  fully  disclosed.  They  have 
combined  to  destroy  every  institution  that  stands  in  their  wny,  and  to  pros- 
trate every  man  who  will  not  do  their  bidding.  Every  town  has  its  branch 
of  the  conspiracy.  Secret  signs  and  pass-words  and  mummeries  are  used  to 
impress  the  imagination,  and  unlawful  oaths  are  administered'  binding  the 
unhappy  members  to  subject  themselves  like  slaves  and  vassals  to  the  dicta- 
tion of 'this  terrible  oligarchy.  Meanwhile  the  Council  of  Ten,  the  control- 
ing  power  of  this  infamous  conspiracy,  squats  in  its  noisome  retreat  like  a 
toad  sweltering  in  its  own  venom,  or  a  bloated  spider  spinning  its  web  over 
the  state.  It  sends  forth  its  decrees  to  its  bond  slaves.  "  Prostrate,"  it  says, 
"this  man,  for  he  has  too  much  education!  Destroy  that  one;  he  is  too 
intelligent!  Ruin  your  best  friend,  for  he  has  too  much  independence!" 
And  with  the  spectacle  before  it  of  triumphant  tyranny  and  bigotry  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, it  confidently  expects  a  like  victory  over  the  freemen  of  New 
Hampshire  !  But  you  had  better  write  your  names  in  characters  of  blood 
upon  your  thresholds,  and  escape  with  your  wife  and  children  to  some  far 
country  by  the  light  of  your  burning  houses,  than  crouch  to  this  insolent 
oligarchy!  Why  would  you  live  here  when  life  has  lost  all  that  is  worth 
living  for?  when  you  maybe  stabbed  by  an  assassin  in  the  back,  or  slain 
by  an  unseen  arrow  from  him  you  supposed  your  dearest  friend?  Are  you 
content  to  crawl  out  at  twilight  like  birds  of  evil  omen,  to  creep  into  blind 
alleys,  to  hover  around  the  back  "slums"  of  your  cities  and  villages,  to  start 
at  every  passing  tread  lest  some  honest  man  should  see  you,  to  move  with 
muffled  face  and  stealthy  step,  and  double  upon  your  tracks  as  if  you  were  a 
thief  with  the  officers  of  justice  in  pursuit  of  you,  and  with  this  sickening 
consciousness  of  shame  to  group  your  way  to  the  den  where  such  animals 
herd,  and  with  trembling  hand  give  the  mystic  signal  which  admits  you  into 
this  community  of  sin?  And  when  you  are  admitted,  and  the  door  of  the 
pandemonium  is  closed,  are  you  content  to  leave  all  hope  behind  you,  and 
renew  before  God  the  oath  you  have  taken  to  do  the  bidding  of  your  disrepu- 
table tyrants?  It  is  incredible  that  any  one  worthy  of  the  name  and  rights 
of  a  freeman  can  do  this.  You  will  not  cast  this  disgrace  upon  the  mothers 
who  bore  you,  and  whose  veins  are  filled  with  the  blood  of  '76.  You  will 
not  thus  bastardize  your  descent  from  the  men  of  the  revolution  !  No,  leave 
that  to  the  abolitionists,  who,  with  philanthropy  upon  their  tongues,  have 
treason  and  murder  in  their  hearts  !  Leave  it  to  the  traitors  who  prayed  that 
the  Mexicans  would  welcome  your  fellow-citizens  "  wiih  bloody  hands  to 
hospitable  graves." 

Is  it  supposed  that  this  language  is  too  strong,  and  that  these  are  unwar- 
rantable charges?  Depend  upon  it,  the  half  is  not  yet  told.  No  faction  in 
the  history  of  our  country  has  ever  struggled  through  its  vicious  life  that  has 


159 

been  one-half  so  dangerous  as  this  secret  organization.  Its  only  avowed 
bond  of  union  is  a  shame  and  disgrace.  It  is  a  standing  libel  upon  all  that 
has  made  America  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed.  By  it  every  man  is  pro- 
scribed who  is  either  a  Catholic  himself  or  whose  wife  is  a  Catholic.  This 
includes  the  patriotic  Gaston  of  North  Carolina,  the  venerable  Charles  Car- 
roll of  CaiTolIton,  and  other  signers  of  the  immortal  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, as  well  as  the  present  admirable  and  learned  chief  justice  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  and  many  others  as  pure  and  patriotic  men  as  can  be  found  in  the 
country.  And  every  man  is  to  be  proscribed,  no  matter  how  honest  and 
intelligent,  who  came  to  this  country  at  the  age  of  twenty,  until  he  is  forty- 
one  years  old !  What  shall  we  say,  then,  of  the  devoted  Lafayette,  the  gal- 
lant Sterling,  the  chivalrous  Montgomery — of  Pulaski,  the  brave  and  gene- 
TOUS — of  the  statesman  Gallatin  ? — of  the  thousands  of  noble  souls  who  shed 
their  blood  for  us,  and  counselled  with  our  fathers  in  the  stormy  days  of  the 
republic  ?  But  no!  "America  for  the  Americans,"  and  the  "Americans  for 
the  Know-Nothings  !"  Thisjs  the  secret  spur — this  is  the  "  exceeding  great 
reward,"  that  they  shall  lay  the  rod  on  the  backs  of  the  people,  and  the  peo- 
ple shall  kiss  it,  and  smile  and  beg  them,  if  it  is  not  too  much  trouble,  to  lay 
it  on  a  little  harder!  This  they  anticipate,  and  this  they  are  determined  to 
accomplish,  though  all  the  rights  of  humanity,  the  constitution,  the  laws, 
every  public  right,  every  private  right,  should  stand  in  their  way.  The  pal- 
triest pettifogger — the  shabbiest  political  hack — is  of  more  value  than  every 
man  among  us  who  ever  breathed  the  air  of  Europe,  in  the  eyes  of  this  ruth- 
less and  intolerant  Council  of  Ten. 

Hereafter,  when  thiis  wretched  faction  fills  a  dishonorable  grave,  and  its 
carcass  reeks  with  political  corruption,  how  can  any  man  stand  up  before  the 
world  without  hiding  his  face,  when  it  is  cast  up  to  him  that  he  has  labored 
to  introduce  that  worse  than  Egyptian  slavery,  when  a  free  citizen  dare  not 
vote  as  he  desires,  but  obeys  the  insolent  orders  of  this  tyrannical  Council  of 
Ten  ?  What  will  become  of  American  honor,  at  home  and  abroad,  when  a 
mob  of  despotic  adventurers  shall  make  the  laws?  The  follies  and  absurdi- 
ties of  Jacobinism  in  France  were  so  extreme  that  it  was  said  of  it  that  "  it 
would  have  been  a  farce  if  it  had  not  been  for  murder."  And  so  with  this 
faction  ;  its  silly  pass-words,  its  ridiculous  ceremonies,  its  contemptible  bal- 
derdash, would  make  it  only  a  laughing  stock,  if  all  this  nonsense  did  not 
conceal  a  deep-laid  conspiracy  against  freedom.  Compared  with  their  intol- 
erant proscription,  Austrian  tyranny  is  endurable,  and  police  spies  become 
respectable.  But,  thank  God,  there  is  life  and  vitality  in  American  freedom 
yet.  Altered,  indeed,  radically  changed,  must  we  be  from  the  principles  of 
our  glorious  ancestors,  if  our  political  liberties  are  to  be  delivered,  bound  and 
unresihting,  into  the  custody  of  such  a  set  of  political  jailors.  There  are 
despotisms  maintained  by  such  genius  and  adorned  by  such  brilliancy  that 
the  imagination  is  led  a.stray  and  the  mind  bows  to  a  superior  intellect.  But 
what  honor  can  there  be,  what  redeeming  considerations  can  there  be,  in 
subjection  to  a  political  mob  which  shamelessly  disavows  all  political  princi- 
ples, whose  only  rallying  cry  is  proscription,  whose  candidates  for  office  are 
selected  not  because  they  are  men  of  education,  or  talent,  or  sagacity,  or  in- 
tegrity, but  because  they  are  destitute  of  all  these?  Among  the  rabble  of 
the  Boston  delegation  to  the  Massachusetts  legislature  we  look  in  vain  for  one 
man  of  character,  one  man  of  intelligence,  one  man  of  experience,  one  man 
possessing  anything  like  the  proper  fitness  for  a  representative  of  a  great 
city.  Did  the  city  of  Boston,  did  the  commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  ever, 
of  their  own  free  will,  elect  such  a  legislature  as  that  about  to  assemble 
there,  or  can  we  conceive  of  their  doing  so,  except  at  the  irresponsible  dic- 
tation of  this  modern  Council  of  Ten  ? 

People  of  New  Hampshire !     To  each  and  all  of  you  we  say,  "  touch  not 


160 

this  accursed  thing!"  It  will  one  day,  should  you  do  so,  cause  you  to  cover 
your  heads  with  shame.  Like  a  bubble  of  deleterious  gas,  it  will  explode, 
leaving  behind  it  nothing  but  a  pestilential  odor.  The  finger  of  Providence 
has  pointed  out  this  country  as  the  place  where  Catholicism  may  be  purged 
of  its  abuses,  and  absorbed  without  harm  into  the  system.  Millions  of  poor 
and  humble  men  in  Europe  are  looking  hitherward  as  the  place  where  they 
and  their  children  may  enjoy  those  privileges  of  freedom  denied  them  at 
home.  But  if  you  are  content  to  kiss  the  rod  that  smites  you,  to  place  your 
republican  freedom  at  the  feet  of  a  tyrannical  oligarchy,  if  you  can  forget 
that  there  is  scarcely  a  hill  or  a  valley  in  New  England  but  tells  of  some 
struggle  of  your  fathers  against  religious  and  political  intolerance,  then  is 
this  such  a  country,  then  are  you  such  a  people,  as  will  entirely  suit  the  pur- 
poses of  this  obscure,  shameless,  and  persecuting  Council  of  Ten. 

•  To  the  same  purport  was  the  following  article  which  appeared  in  the  Rich- 
mond Examiner : 

SECRET  SOCIETIES  AND  REPUBLICAN  INSTITUTIONS — THE  THIRTY  TY- 
RANTS OF  ATHENS — THE  COUNCIL  OF  TEN  OF  VENICE — THE  SUPREME 
KNOW-NOTHING  COUNCIL  OF  THIRTEEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. — The  in- 
troduction of  Secret  Societies  into  the  bosom  of  free  communities,  for  the 
attainment  of  political  ends,  is  the  first  symptom  of  the  decay  of  free  insti- 
tutions, and  the  chief  instrument  in  their  corruption  and  overthrow.  We 
are  not  left  to  conjecture:  we  are  not  condemned  to  perform  the  whole  ex- 
periment of  Know-Nothingism  in  order  to  ascertain  its  effects.  We  are  not 
sentenced  to  submit  to  the  manipulations  of  that  hidden  band  of  political 
jugglers  in  order  to  learn  the  results  of  their  skill.  The  testimony  of  his- 
tory, the  experience  of  other  nations,  furnish  all  necessary  instructions  on 
this  point.  It  might  almost  be  asserted  that  in  almost  every  republic  which 
the  world  has  yet  seen,  the  first  sign  and  chief  agency  of  the  decay  of  free- 
dom was  the  prevalence  of  secret  associations  for  the  attainment  of  political 
purposes — chiefly  for  the  acquisition  of  political  offices.  In  Athens,  in 
Rome,  perhaps  in  Carthage,  in  Milan,  Florence,  and  Venice,  Secret  Socie- 
ties first  introduced  disorder,  dissension,  disorganization,  and  civil  war  into 
the  republic,  and  then  inaugurated  despotism,  either  by  their  own  acts,  or 
by  the  consequences  of  their  acts. 

It  must  necessarily  be  so.  As  long  as  Republican  institutions  flourish,  as 
long  as  they  are  acceptable  to  the  people,  the  regular  and  constitutional 
modes  of  procedure,  in  the  election  to  offices  as  well  as  in  all  other  respects, 
are  followed  with  reverence  and  acquiescence.  It  is  only  when  those  con- 
stitutional methods  cease  to  be  respected  by  a  portion  of  the  people  that 
they  are  rejected,  and  the  invention  of  secret  machinery  for  election  is  ap- 
plied. This  is  at  once  an  innovation  at  variance  with  free  government, 
destructive  of  it,  and  adopted  in  a  spirit  of  conscious  or  unconscious  hostility 
to  it.  It  is  the  substitution  of  new  and  unconstitutional  modes  of  election, 
(or  nomination,  which  is  in  spirit,  if  not  always  in  effect,  the  same  thing,) 
and  of  legislation  for  the  republican  practices  previously  in  force.  It  is  an 
attempt  to  arrest  the  legitimate  development  of  free  institutions  by  secret 
and  underhand  practices — and  the  moment  that  fidelity  to  a  secret  league  or 
bond  is  regarded  as  paramount  to  the  fidelity  due  to  the  Constitution  and 
State,  patriotism  is  at  an  end  and  the  bonds  of  political  organization  is  snapped 
like  rotten  flax.  The  Constitution  ceases  to  be  to  each  man  the  supreme 
authority,  and  the  object  of  supreme  attachment.  His  allegiance  has  been, 
transferred  to  a  secret  league — the  secrecy  of  whose  deliberations,  measures, 
and  action,  places  them  equally  beyond  responsibility  and  the  reach  of  pub- 
lic sentiment.  If  the  secret  association  is  able  to  control  the  elections,  the 


161 

secresy  of  their  action  disfranchises  to  all  intents  and  purposes  all  who  are 
not  affiliated  with  them,  and  prescribes  all  political  action  and  legislation 
without  other  restraint  than  the  ineffectual  opposition  which  may  be  offered 
in  secret  conclave.  To  maintain  secrecy,  and  secure  efficiency  of  procedure, 
the  numbers  who  have  the  direct  control  in  determining  nominations,  and  in 
regulating  the  policy  to  be  pursued,  must  be  limited.  The  tendency  of  either 
success  or  defeat  will  be  to  restrict  more  and  more  the  members  of  the  di- 
recting council. 

Thus  the  ultimate  effect  is  to  substitute  a  hidden  oligarchy,  like  the 
Council  of  Ten  at  Venice,  for  the  regular  executive  authorities  and  the 
republican  organization.  If  the  secret  association  is  not  able  to  control  the 
elections,  it  introduces  factious  oppositions,  jealousies,  unexplained  and 
therefore  irremediable  dissensions,  into  the  bosom  of  the  community.  And, 
after  the  first  step  of  secret  operation  has  been  taken,  the  other  steps  of 
illegal  practices,  fraudulent  misrepresentations,  and  criminal  resistance,  fol- 
low naturally  and  unsuspiciously,  and  are  taken  before  the  members  of  the 
secret  society  are  aware  themselves  of  the  tendency  of  their  course.  Thus 
secret  political  societies,  commencing  in  the  distrust  and  repudiation  of  con- 
stitutional authority  and  constitutional  procedure,  first  disorganize  the  soci- 
ety in  which  they  occur,  undermine  its  free  institutions,  cashier  its  open, 
candid  publicity  of  action,  and  finally  eventuate  in  an  oligarchy,  which 
sometimes  continues  dominant,  but  more  frequently  transfers  its  power  into 
the  hands  of  a  despot. 

This  was  the  course  of  affairs  at  Athens,  and  in  many  other  States  of 
Greece,  from  the  time  of  Pericles  to  the  ascendancy  of  the  Thirty  Tyrants, 
directly  put  in  power  and  sustained  by  the  Hetcerice  or  secret  political  asso- 
ciations of  Athens.  This  was  the  progress  of  events  at  Rome  from  Cincin- 
natus  to  Julius  Caesar.  And  similar  was  the  history  of  Venice  before  the  In- 
quisition, of  Milan  before  the  Visconti,  and  of  Florence  before  the  ascendancy 
of  the  second  house  of  the  Medici.  In  every  instance  secret  societies — ori- 
ginating among  professed  conservatives,  or  mainly  sustained  by  them — pro- 
voking the  establishment  of  other  secret  societies — opposing  the  regular 
constitutional  action  of  the  ancient  republican  institutions — sapping  these 
institutions — allying  themselves  with  foreign  enemies  for  the  attainment  of 
party  ends  and  the  conquest  of  the  offices — abhorring  the  freedom  and  the 
Constitution  of  their  country — sheltering  or  instigating  crime — corrupting 
juries  and  coercing  false  verdicts — were  the  instruments  in  introducing  at 
last  the  despotism  of  a  few,  after  having  ruined  both  the  morals  of  the  citi- 
zens and  the  prosperity  of  the  state  by  intestine  broils  and  commotions. 

This  is  the  clear  and  distinct  testimony  of  the  past.  It  is  only  necessary 
to  read  the  detailed  histories  of  Greece,  Rome,  and  the  Italian  Republics,  in 
order  to  see  the  course  and  tendency  of  Know-Nothingism — if  not  crushed 
like  a  young  crocodile  in  the  egg.  The  option  presented  to  the  American 
people — and  now  more  particularly  to  the  people  of  Virginia — is  simply  a 
choice  between  discord  and  anarchy  under  Know-Nothing  impulses  result- 
ing in  the  abrogation  of  the  Constitution  and  the  establishment  of  an  oligar- 
chy (more  terrible  in  the  exercise  of  its  unlimited  powers,  because  the  Se»- 
cret  Council  may  be  unknown)  and  the  maintenance  of  the  Republican 
government,  the  free  constitution,  and  the  liberal  principles  conquered  by 
the  blood  of  patriots  and  martyrs. 

This  is  the  only  choice.  If  Know-Nothingism  is  sustained,  farewell  to 
the  liberties  of  America.  The  two  things  are  absolutely  and  essentially  in" 
compatible.  They  can  no  more  co-exist  than  fire  and  water.  The  Know- 
Nothings  among  many  other  things  which  they  do  not  know,  do  not  know 
this.  The  heat,  fanaticism,  and  mingled  credulity  of  partisans  may  prevent 
many  from  recognizing  it,  who  would  otherwise  apprehend  it  at  once.  But 


162 

history,  experience,  philosophy,  reason,  assert  that  there  is  no  other  alterna- 
tive. If  Know-Nothingism  is  perpetuated,  Republicanism  is  at  an  end.  If 
Republicanism  is  to  be  preserved,  Know-Nothingism  must  be  promptly  and 
effectually  crushed.  The'  evidences  which  it  has  furnished  in  its  brief  ca- 
reer, are  sufficient  to  illustrate  and  confirm  these  allegations,  though  they 
might  not  have  been  sufficient  to  suggest  them  without  the  testimony  of  his- 
tory. What  constitutional  provision — what  Republican  principle — what  polit- 
ical or  social  interest — what  obligation  between  man  and  man  has  been  re- 
spected, when  it  interfered  with  the  purposes  of  the  secret  rulers  of  this 
secret  organization  ? 

These  remarks  are  made  not  in  the  spirit  of  party — not  as  a  mere  Demo- 
cratic utterance,  but  as  the  plain,  indubitable  warnings  derived  from  the 
lessons  of  other  free  states,  which  have  declined  from  the  influence  of  such 
a  society  as  the  Know-Nothings  in  their  midst. 


In  a  second  notice,  the  Examiner  dwelt  more  upon  the  details  of  the  antece- 
dents of  the  Winchester  ticket.  We  append  also  two  notices  of  the  ticket  from 
the  Enquirer  and  Lynchburg  Republican  : 

SOME  OF  THE  ANTECEDENTS  OF  THE  KANGAROO  TICKET. 

The  people  wore  promised  a  ticket  of  fresh  names  by  the  Know  Nothings. 
They  were  to  be  allowed  to  vote  for  men  who  had  never  been  contaminated  in 
the  slightest  degree  by  party  politics,  or  implicated  by  the  remotest  participa- 
tion in  the  struggles  of  the  old  organizations  for  place,  plunder  and  patronage. 
But  these  brave  promises  have  been  forfeited  in  a  manner  as  unblushing  as 
amusing.  Instead  of  a  ticket  as  fresh  and  pure  as  butter  just  from  the  churn, 
we  hnve  the  most  rancid  platter  of  long  packed  away  and  accidentally  raked  up 
stuff  that  was  ever  offered  in. the  political  market. 

Mr.  FLOURNOY  is  discovered  to  be  one  of  the  oldest  and  lamest  Whig  stagers 
in  the  State.  In  1837  he  sought  to  represent  Halifax  county  in  the  House  of 
Delegates ;  and  failed  of  election  by  the  small  poll  of  206  in  more  than  800 
votes  cast.  The  next  year  he  ran  the  same  race  again,  and  the  result  was  still 
worse,  the  vote  being:  For  EDMUNDS,  (Dem.,)  553;  for  TAYLOR,  (Dem.,) 
533;  for  SIMMS,  (Whig,)  310;  for  FLOURNOY,  (Whig,)  295;  the  spavined 
FLOURNOY  being  the  very  hindmost  nag.  Set  back  by  a  hint  of  this  emphatic 
description  from  the  people  and  his  immediate  neighbors,  he  remained  ijuiet  for 
several  years,  until  a  split  in  the  Democratic  ranks  of  the  Halifax  Congressional 
district  tempted  him  once  more  into  the  field,  when  he  was  accidentally  elected 
by  a  beggarly  majority  of  tw.o  or  three  votes — which  made  the  first  and  last  of 
his  successes  in  his  own  bailiwick.  This  irresistible  and  invincible  tried  it  a 
second  time  for  Congress  in  1949,  and  Dr.  AVERETT  beat  him  9  votes.  He 
tried  it  again  in  1851,  and  the  Doctor  smashed  him  to  the  tune  of  300  majority. 
From  this  statement  it  will  be  perceived  that  FLOURNOY'S  mission  ou  this 
naughty  earth,  is  to  be  beaten  to  a  jelly  by  the  great  Democratic  party,  and  he 
has  not  yet  fulfilled  his  mission.  Yet  his  present,  is  drolly  advertised  as  his 
"  first  appearance  on  the  stage."  His  want  of  strength  at  home  has  kept  him 
in  a  state  of  pickled  and  rancid  obscurity  so  long  that  the  public  has  forgotten 
his  existence  altogether;  and  the  burning  zeal  which  the  braggarts  and  trumpe- 
ters who  do  the  boasting  for  the  new  party,  represent  that  his  nomination  hag 
elicited  throughout  the  world  and  among  the  rest  of  mankind,  when  tested  by 
these  domestic  facts,  turns  out  to  be  a  fox-fire  commodity. 


163 

Mr.  PATTON  is  an  old  stager  still  more  unlucky  in  bis  destitution  of  the 
quality  of  freshness,  than  the  Napoleon  of  minorites  in  Halifax.  Of  which  of 
the  "  old  and  broken  down  parties,"  which  are  the  so  great  abhorrence  of  Know 
Nothings,  has  he  not  been  part  and  parcel  in  his  tortuous  partisan  career  ?  He 
has  tried  all  parties,  and  carried  off,  as  he  successively  left  them,  some  of  the 
mud  and  contamination  of  all.  The  colored  chart  of  his  political  history  is  as 
variegated  as  JOSEPH'S  coat  of  many  colors;  or  as  the  chameleon  phases  of 
Know  Nothingism  in  the  several  States  of  the  Union — by  virtue  of  which  fa- 
cile adaptation  to  the  prevailing  local  prejudice  and  passion,  it  sweeps  the  tho- 
rough Abolition  State  of  Massachusetts  with  as  overwhelming  a  majority  as  it 
boasts  its  ability  to  carry  the  staunch  slave  State  of  Virginia.  The  idea  of  Mr. 
PATTON'S  being  unsoiled  by  the  dust,  and  unsophisticated  in  the  wiles  of  party 
strife,  is  droll  enough.  Why,  it  was  only  since  the  abolition  of  the  executive 
Council,  and  the  old  Constitution,  that  he  ceased  to  hold  office;  and,  as  late  as 
1850,  in  the  great  movement  for  reform,  which  even  dashed  its  refreshing  waves 
over  starched  and  conservative  Richmond,  he  ran  and  was  beaten  on  the  fogy 
ticket — under  the  flag -that  he  still  flaunts  and  swears  by — of  UNEQUAL  RIGHTS 
and  PARTIAL  SUFFRAGE  among  the  grown  up  white  men  of  Virginia. 

But  BEALE  is  the  very  Koh-i-noor  in  this  cabinet  of  fossil  remains.  Where 
will  you  find — what  is  a  broken-down,  worn-out  politician,  if  BEALE  is  not  a 
genuine  specimen  ?  While  in  the  Valley,  he  rode  the  Democratic  party  as  the 
Old  Man  of  the  SSa  rode  SINBAD.  He  stuck  to  it  like  sponge  to  the  ocean 
rock,  and  sucked  it  like  the  daughter  of  the  horse  leech.  They  choked  him  off 
finally  in  the  Valley,  and  he  sought  new  victims  farther  west.  He  forced  him- 
self on  the  party,  in  the  Kanawha  district,  without  a  call  or  a  Convention,  at 
the  instant  ROBERT  A.  THOMPSON  started  for  the  West,  and  gained  his  election 
at  last  by  a  promise  to  give  way  to  men  acceptable  to  the  Democracy  for  the  fu- 
ture. He  went  before  the  Democratic  Sectional  Convention,  in  1852,  for  the 
Board  of  Public  Works  in  Col.  ARMSTRONG'S  district,  but  was  thrust  out  of  it 
with  as  little  ceremony  as  FALLSTAFF  was  turned  hissing-hot  into  the  Thames. 
Since  that  occurrence,  he  has  been  as  discontented  and  restless  as  a  bear  with  a 
sore  head ;  and,  despairing  of  further  favor  among  the  Democracy,  has  been 
bountiful  of  blandishments,  smirks  and  smiles  for  the  Know  Nothings.  They 
have  caught  at  the  bait,  and  put  BEALE,  the  worn-out,  cast-off,  and  broken- 
down,  number  two  on  their  ticket  of  fresh  men.  They  are  welcome  to  BEALE. 
Such  is  the  ticket  that  was  to  be  free  from  all  party  taint,  from  fleshpot  odor, 

nd  from  loaf-and-fish  contamination  ?     If  such  a  ticket  should  sweep  Virginia, 

nder  Know  Nothing  auspices,  then  it  may  indeed  be  time  to  return  to  Mr. 

•'ATTON'S  old  doctrine  of  UNEQUAL  RIGHTS  und  LIMITED  SUFFRAGE,  and  to 
ake  a  man's  poverty  and  want  of  education,  as  well  as  his  alienage,  a  disqual- 

ication  for  suffrage  and  for  office. 

Those  who  are  curious  in  regard  to  the  metamorphoses  of  fossil  politicians  are 
likely  to  have  their  curiosity  abundantly  gratified  with  the  relics  of  Mr.  PAT- 
TON'S  early  opinions  of  politics  and  politicians,  that  will  be  recovered  from  an- 
tiquity during  this  canvass.  Here  is  a  specimen  of  his  satire  in  1848  against 
the  prospective  Know  Nothing  party,  its  "Delphic  oracles,''  and  "Sybilline 
leaves."  Here  is  his  funeral  oration  over  the  great  Whig  party  "  quietly  in- 
urned  in  the  tomb  of  all  the  Capulets,"  and  his  requiem  over  their  "defunct 
and  buried  principles."  Here  are  the  words  in  which  he  expressed  his  witty 
abhorrence  of  the  trick  of  the  Whig  party,  in  1848,  in  practicing  the  deception 
of  the  cat  in  the  fable,  and  "  hiding  itself  in  the  meal  tub"  of  no  partyism. 
Here  is  his  prophetic  denunciation,  in  advance,  of  Know  Nothingism,  in  boast- 
ing itself  to  be  a  great  and  prodigious  "  conservative"  party,  but  "  without  po- 
litical principles,"  and  therein  so  unlike  the  "  little  conservative  party  with  prin- 
ciples" of  which  himself  was  so  bright  and  shining  a  light.  Here  is  his  biting 
sarcasm  upon  the  "  blind  man's  buff"  party,  then  rejoicing  in  the  character  of 


164 

mo.partyism  and  now  relapsed  into  the  darker  mystery  of  Know  Nothingism. 
Here  is  Mr.  PATTON'S  pungent  jeer  of  the  Whig  party  for  accepting  in  Gen- 
eral TAYLOR  a  candidate  who  "  took  especial  pains  to  declare  that  he  could  not 
bo  the  exponent  of  their  doctrines," — a  fact  in  politics  that  never  had  its  coun- 
terpart until  Mr.  PATTON,  disclaiming  Know  Nothingism  and  all  affiliation  with 
it,  coolly  consents  to  be  their  passive  nominee,  and  to  be  elected  if  they  have 
votes  enough  to  make  him  Attorney  General.  And  more  than  all,  here  is  Mr. 
PATTON'S  eloquent,  but,  as  it  turns  out,  empty  exhortation  to  the  Democracy 
not  to  abandon  their  principles,  seeing  that  "  one  defeat,  ivhile  standing  by  their 
principles  and  never  surrendering  their  principlss,  is  worth  more  than  a  thousand 
victories  achieved  by  the  abandonment  of  them  all." 

Mr.  PATTON  said,  in  1848,  in  addressing  a  Democratic  meeting  in  Richmond  • 

"  We  come  to  proclaim  our  unchanged  and  unchangeable  adherence  to  those 
great  principles  of  Republican  government,  of  practical  expediency,  and  of 
constitutional  construction,  of  which  he  (President  Polk)  has  been  for  the  last 
three  years  the  exponent — principles  which  we  deem  essential  to  the  perpetuity 
of  Republican  government,  and  to  the  union  of  the  States.  (Cheers.)  We 
have  no  disputes  to  settle — no  conflicting  claims  of  rival  candidates  for  the 
Presidency  to  decide — no  Delphic  oracles  to  expound — (laughter)  and  no  Sybil- 
line  leaves  to  interpret.  (Laughter.)  I  presume  we  shall  have  no  thunder 
(laughter)  to  shake  our  nerves,  (laughter)  and  no  flashes  of  lightning  to  be- 
wilder our  senses.  (Laughter.)  There  are  no  dark  and  portentous  clouds  low- 
ering over  us  which  require  a  thunder-storm  to  dispel.  (Cheers.)  The  only- 
clouds  we  have  are  light  and  floating  vapors,  far  above  our  heads,  which  may 
make  it  doubtful  with  those  that  are  not  weatherwise  whether  the  day  is  to  be 
clear  or  cloudy,  but  which  the  first  rays  of  a  Democratic  San  will  dissipate, 
and  show  that  the  skies  are  bright,  and  brightening.  (Cheers. )" 

The  Whig  Convention  had  "  quietly  laid  the  great  embodiment  of  Whig 
principles  on  the  shelf/'  and  had  "  solemnly  announced  as  their  favorite  candi- 
date a  gentleman  who,  with  the  frank  and  honest  plainness  of  a  gallant  soldier, 
takes  especial  pains  to  declare  that  he  will  not  be  their  candidate  [laughter] — 
that  he  will  not  be  the  exponent  of  their  doctrines,  [laughter]  and  that  bis  life 
has  been  hitherto  so  much  spent  in  the  field  that  he  has  not  had  time  to  *  con- 
sider or  investigate  great  plitical  questions/  nor  has  he  attempted  to  do  so. 
Notwithstanding  this,  they  proclaim  Gen.  Taylor  as  their  first  choice.  To  this 
complexion  the  principles  of  the  great  Whig  party  have  come  at  last  !  [Laugh- 
ter.] Thus  ends  the  great  chapter  of  Whig  principles,  [laughter]  quietly  l  iu- 
urned  in  the  tomb  of  all  the  Capulets'  by  its  own  friends,  and  their  embodiment 
quietly  laid  on  the  shelf !  [Laughter.]  I  think  we  may  say  of  these  defunct 
and  buried  principles — 

'  Great  Caesar  dead  and  turned  from  clay, 
May  stop  a  hole  to  keep  the  wind  away.* 

*'!But,  gentlemep,  it  becomes  us  more  steadily  to  maintain  our  own  principles. 
Since  JEsop's  Fables,  having  been  quoted  by  Gen.  Taylor,  are  likely  to  become 
a  political  text-book,  I  think  we  may  draw  a  lesson  of  instruction  from  that  re- 
nowned writer  on  civil  government.  [Laughter.]  We  are  told  in  a  notorious 
fable  of  ^Esop,  of  an  animal  more  dangerous  while  hid  in  a  meal  tub  than  when, 
running  about  with  a  bell  around  its  neck.  [Laughter.]  Timeo  Danaos  et 
dona  ferentes.  I  am  afraid  our  political  opponents,  dead,  though  their  present 
principles  be,  may  rise  up  again  under  their  present,  or  in,  some  other  jorm. 


party  with  principles,  but  object  decidedly  to  a  great  big  one  without  political 


165 

principles.  [Laughter.]  But,  inasmuch  as  they  ma<y  be  indisposed  to  take 
either  of  these  names,  they  may  adopt  the  suggestion  of  another  distinguished 
champion  of  the  late  '  indomitable  Whigs/  and  take  the  cognomen  of  the 
"  blind  man's  buff."  Therefore,  gentlemen,  it  is  not  the  less  necessary  that  .wo 
should  maintain,  proclaim  and  stand  by  our  principles — that  we  should  adopt 
the  means  necessary  to  concentrate  public  opinion  upon  a  man  available  to  sus- 
tain our  principles,  and  to  take  care  not  to  abandon  our  principles  in  order  to 
get  an  available  man.  We  should  not  have  a  man  who  has  formed  no  opinions, 
but  one  who  has  formed  opinions,  is  ready  to  avow  them,  and  has  proclaimed 
them  in  his  past  actions,  in  the  public  councils.  [Cheers.]  To  such  a  man  let 
us  give  our  support,  fearless  of  defeat,  but  prepared  for  either  fortune.  If  we 
are  destined  to  triumph,  it  will  then  be  our  proud  boast,  that  it  is  a  triumph  of 
principle — and,  if  destined  to  defeat,  we  shall  still  have  the  proud  boast,  and 
the  consolation,  too,  that  one  defeat,  WHILE  STANDING  BY  OUR  FLAG,  AND  NE- 
VER SURRENDERING  OUR  PRINCIPLES,  IS  WOttTH  MORE  THAN  A  THOUSAND 
VICTORIES  ACHIEVED  BY  THE  ABANDONMENT  OF  THEM  ALL. — [Long  continued 

cheering.]" 

THE  HYBRID  TICKET. 

The  Know  Nothing  nominations  have  provoked  from  the  Democratic  press 
just  such  a  display  of  defiant  opposition  as  we  anticipated.  The  device  of  an 
amalgamation  ticket,  while  it  has  offended  the  pride  and  repelled  the  sympathies 
of  intelligent  and  independent  Whigs,  has  not  conciliated  the  least  favor  with 
the  Democratic  party.  The  association  of  Beale  and  Patton  with  a  malignant 
Whig  was  not  only  a  crime  in  morals  but  an  egregious  blunder  in  policy.  It  is 
not  only  a  violation  of  principle  and  a  mockery  of  every  idea  of  political  honesty, 
but  it  is  a  refinement  of  artifice,  which,  instead  of  damaging  the  party  against 
whom  it  is  directed,  will  wound  and  embarrass  the  cause  it  is  designed  to  pro- 
mote. What  must  be  the  feeling  of  every  honest  Whig  to  whom  this  hybrid 
ticket  is  presented  ?  Will  he  not  reject  it  with  an  indignant  protest  against 
so  shameless  a  barter  of  principles  for  spoils?  He  is  not  so* smitten  with  a  lust 
for  plunder  as  to  sacrifice  the  convictions  of  his  judgment  and  the  pure  affections 
of  his  heart,  to  any  expedient  which  hungry  politicians  may  think  essential  to 
the  acquisition  of  power.  There  are  Whigs  in  Virginia  who  have  caught  some- 
thing of  the  chivalrous  character  of  Clay.  There  are  Whigs  in  Virginia  who 
will  never  betray  a  cause  in  a  crisis  of  peril,  nor  confederate  with  an  obnoxious 
party  on  a  promise  of  a  division  of  the  spoils.  These  gentlemen  see  much  dis- 
grace but  discover  no  advantage  in  the  coalition  with  Know  Nothingism.  "But 
stay,"  whispers  a  Whig  politician  ;  "it  is  true  we  claim  no  principle  and  avow 
no  party  purpose,  but  we  play  a  game  of  profound  policy.  Observe  a  staunch 
Whig  at  the  head  of  the  ticket,  and  a  couple  of  fishy  Democrats  at  the  tail. 
Flournoy  will  engross  all  the  power  and  patronage  of  the  State,  while  Beale  and 
Patton,  like  the  prodigal  son  who  deserted  his  father's  house,  are  feeding  on 
husks  and  herding  with  the  harlots  of  our  party,  without  the  dignity  of  respec- 
table association  or  the  luxury  of  a  liberal  reward.  As  we  deny  them  any  po- 
litical power,  so  have  we  effectually  robbed  them  of  the  influence  of  personal 
character,  by  bribing  them  to  perform  this  venal  service.  They  are  the  help- 
less instruments  of.our  pleasure,  and  if  they  choose,  have  not  the  ability  to  op- 
pose any  resistance  to  the  execution  of  our  grand  scheme  OF  EXPELLING  THE 
GOTHS  AND  VANDALS,  AND  RESTORING  THE  ASCENDANCY  OF  WHIG  MEASURES 
AND  WHIG  POLICY."  To  this  development  the  honest  Whig  will  reply  :  "  That 
he  scorns  to  perpetrate  a  fraud  upon  the  people ;  thnt  if  his  principles  have  not 
enough  of  wisdom  to  command  the  public  confidence,  he  will  not  seek  to  impose 
them  upon  the  Stato  by  the  secret  agency  of  a  corrupt  conspiracy ;  that  he  will 
not  disgrace  himself  and  his  cause,  by  the  false  pretences  of  a  perfidious  policy ; 


166 

that  he  is  resolved,  at  least,  to  save  his  honor  if  his  party  must  sustain  defeat." 
This  is  the  feeling  and  this  the  resolution  of  the  independent  and  incorruptible 
Whigs  of  Virginia.  They  will  not  degrade  themselves  by  the  support  of  the 
Know  Nothing  nominees. 

Oa  the  other  hand,  the  Democracy  feel  the  indignity  of  the  proffered  bride, 
and  instead  of  being  propitiated  by  the  Democratic  tail  of  the  Know  Nothing 
ticket,  they  are  excited  to  greater  energy  and  enthusiasm  in  support  of  their 
own  candidates  and  cause.  In  every  quarter  of  the  State  curses  loud  and  deep 
are  muttered  against  Beale  and  Patton,  and  vows  of  vengeance  on  their  despica- 
ble treachery.  The  Democratic  papers  of  the  State  manifest  a  zeal  and  ability 
in  their  assaults  on  the  mongrel  ticket,  which  betoken  the  pervading  discontent 
of  the  popular  mind.  We  have  distinguished  many  of  their  stirring  articles  for 
publication  in  this  paper,  but  are  compelled  to  suspend  our  purpose  in  conse- 
quence of  the  pressure  on  our  columns.  We  can  assure  our  friends  that  the 
Opposition  will  reap  no  advantage  from  the  expedient  of  a  hybrid  ticket. — 
Richmond  Enquirer. 

THE  MERMAID  TICKET. 

Since  the  publication  of  the  Know  Nothing  ticket,  we  have  been  vexing  our 
curiosity  to  find  some  prototype  to  it  in  the  physical,  animal,  or  mineral  king- 
dom. We  have  found  one  after  much  agony  of  brain.  It  is  the  mermaid. 
This  animal  has  a  doubtful  existence.  So  has  the  Know  Nothing  ticket — its 
paternity  being  a  matter  of  speculation.  The  mermaid  is  a  sea  animal,  repre- 
sented to  have  the  head  and  body  of  a  woman  with  the  tail  of  a  fish.  This 
Know  Nothing  ticket  has  the  head  of  a  Whig,  while  its  tail  is  certainly  com- 
posed of  fishy  Democrats.  Nor  does  the  analogy  cease  here.  The  mermaid  is 
associated  with  that  public  imposter  and  general  circulator  of  impositions, 
Phineas  T.  Barnum.  This  mermaid  ticket  is  presented  to  the  world  under  the 
auspices  of  a  set  of  politicians  whose  experiments  upon  popular  curiosity  and 
credulity  have  been  as  numerous  as  those  of  Barnum.  It  is  like  the  mermaid 
in  another  light.  One  of  the  amusements  of  this  half  woman  and  half  fish  is 
to  attract  persons  to  its  embrace  by  singings  of  the  sweetest  melody,  and  when 
its  fated  admirers  tome  within  reach  of  its  scaly  tail,  to  coil  it  round  them,  and 
dive  with  them  to  the  depths  of  the  sea,  and  there  feed  upon  the  bodies  of  the 
deluded  victims.  So  it  is  with  this  political  mermaid  ticket.  It  too  sings 
songs  of  American  melody,  but  woe  to  the  deluded  wretch  who  listens  to  their 
treacherous  music.  Once  within  their  slimy  embrace,  it  will  sink  with  them 
into  the  slime  of  Ocean's  bed,  and  their  gorge  at  leisure  upon  their  unfortunate 
victims.  We  might  run  out  this  and  other  analogies,  but  the  present  is  suffi- 
cient for  to-day. — Lyncliburg  Republican. 


The  Enquirer,  in  a  subsequent  article,  discussed  Mr.  Flournoy's  antecedents, 
as  follows  : 

HISTORICAL  RESEARCHES  OF  THE  HON.  THOMAS  S.  FLOURNOY. 

Silence  is  at  length  broken.  Know  Nothingism  speaks  through  its  avowed 
organ.  Its  recognized  candidate  "  endorses,  fully,  the  basis  of  principles  of  the 
American  party/'  and  adopts  them  as  his  own.  Nay,  more,  he  expounds  and 
enforces  them,  and  invokes  i*i  their  behalf  the  "  teachings  of  all  history."  We 
design  for  the  present  merely  to  explore  the  depths  of  his  historical  researches. 
Hereafter  we  may  work  still  further  the  rich  mine  revealed  in  his  letter  of  ac- 
ceptance. 


167 

After  advocating  an  exercise  of  Federal  power  for  the  purpose  of  checking 
foreign  immigration,  and  thus  conceding  that  the  Federal  Government  may  use 
its  power  to  increase  or  diminish  at  pleasure  the  population  of  a  State,  he  con- 
tinues in  this  fashion  : 

"  Intimately  connected  with  this  question  of  foreign  immigration,  is  the 
growth  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  our  country.  Despotic,  prescriptive 
and  intolerant,  its  ascendancy,  as  all  history  teaches,  has  ever  been  destructive 
of  freedom  of  opinion ;  while  I  would  uncompromisingly  oppose  any  interfer- 
ence with  the  rights  of  its  members  as  citizens  by  any  legislative  enactment, 
yet  by  a  full  and  independent  exercise  of  the  right  of  suffrage  and  the  appoint- 
ing power  they  should  be  excluded  from  the  offices  of  the  Government  in  all  its 
departments." 

Analyze  this  paragraph  and  we  get  the  following  result.  All  history  teaches 
that  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  has  ever  been  destructive  of  freedom  of  opi- 
nion, and  therefore,  "  that  its  members  should  be  excluded  from  the  offices  of 
the  Government  in  all  its  departments."  In  other  words,  a  due  regard  for  pub- 
lic safety  requires  the  total  exclusion  of  Roman  Catholics  from  all  participation 
in  the  Government  of  the  country. 

Before  proceeding  to  notice  this  most  extraordinary  dogma,  we  protest  against 
a  misconstruction  of  our  design.  "We  are  not,  and  never  can  be,  the  apologists 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion.  We  are  essentially  Protestant,  reared  under 
Protestant  influences  and  bound  by  the  strongest  ties  of  affection  and  reason  to 
Protestantism.  But  we  detest  the  rank  injustice  to  Roman  Catholics,  daily  and 
hourly  perpetrated  by  the  Know  Nothing  party,  and  now  officially  promulgated 
by  its  representative. 

History  does  not  teach  that  free  institutions  are  incompatible  with  the  pre- 
dominance of  Roman  Catholicism,  as  the  Hon.  Thomas  Stanhope  Flouruoy 
maintains. 

Indeed,  the  contrary  is  so  notorious  as  to  excite  suspicion  that  history  was 
not  one  "  of  the  quiet  pursuits  of  private  life"  from  which  he  "  was  unwilling 
to  have  his  attention  withdrawn."  We  fear  that  his  attention  was  directed 
more  to  the  new  Code  and  Mayo's  Guide,  than  to  the  teachings  of  Hume  and 
Ilallam.  We  shall,  therefore,  take  leave  to  give  him  an  elementary  lesson  iu 
history.  , 

Nothing  is  more  distinctly  taught  by  history  than  the  inability  of  the  Ro- 
mish Church  to  cope  with  free  principles,  supposing  them,  for  argument  sake,  to 
be  hostile.  And  that  Roman  Catholics  themselves  have  waged  the  war  in  be- 
half of  freedom  against  the  head  of  their  Church. 

To  prove  this,  we  shall  select  the  history  of  a  period  beginning  three  hundred 
years  before  the  advent  of  Protestantism,  when  the  Romish  Church  was  in  the 
plenitude  of  its  power,  spiritual  and  temporal ;  and  we  shall  take  the  country 
whose  history  is  best  known  to  us. 

Wo  maintain,  in  opposition  to  the  historical  theory  of  the  ex*honorable  can- 
didate, that  nearly  all,  if  not  quite  all,  of  the  essential  principles  of  our  Repub- 
lican institutions  originated  among  Catholics,  and  were  developed  by  them. 
We  take  it  that  freedom  of  person,  and  security  of  property,  stand  foremost  in 
the  catalogue  of  these  principles  if  they  do  not  constitute  their  sum  total.  Ac- 
cording to  Hallam,  a  Protestant  and  the  most  impartial  of  historians,  these  two 
principles  were  recognized  and  secured  by  Magna  Charta,  three  centuries  before 
the  reformation.  He  says,  that  "the  essential  clauses  of  Magna  Charta,  are 
those  which  protect  the  personal  liberty  and  property  of  all  freemen  by  giving 
security  from  arbitrary  imprisonment  and  arbitrary  spoliation."  (Hullam's 
Middle  Ages,  page  342.)  He  then  quotes  from  the  Charter  of  Henry  III. 
substantially  the  same  with  Magna  Charter,  this  passage  :  "  No  freeman  shall 
be  taken  or  imprisoned,  or  be  disseized  of  his  freehold,  or  liberties,  or  free  cus- 


168 

toms,  or  be  outlawed,  or  exiled,  or  any  otherwise  destroyed;  nor  will  we  pass 
upon  him,  nor  send  upon  him,  but  by  the  lawful  judgment  of  his  peers,  or  by 
the  law  of  the  land."  "  It  is  obvious,  (says  Hallam,)  that  these  words,  inter- 
preted by  any  honest  court  of  law,  convey  an  ample  security  for  the  two  main 
rights  of  civil  society.  From  the  era,  therefore,  of  King  John's  Charter,  it 
must  hare  been  a  clear  principle  of  our  constitution,  that  no  man  can  be  de- 
tained in  prison  without  a  trial.  Whether  Courts  of  Justice  framed  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  in  conformity  to  the  spirit  of  this  clause  or  found  it  already  in 
their  register,  it  became  from  that  era  the  right  of  the  subject  to  demand  it." 
"  That  writ  is  the  principal  bulwark  of  English  liberty."  Thus  it  seems,  ac- 
cording to  this  Protestant  historian,  that  the  principal  bulwark  of  English  lib- 
erty was  erected  by  the  hands  of  Roman  Catholics.  Other  clauses  of  the. 
Charter  protected  the  subject  from  absolute  spoliation  and  excessive  fines,  and 
"fourscore  years  afterwards  (says  Hallam)  the  great  principle  of  parliamentary 
taxation  was  explicitly  and  absolutely  recognized." 

The  principle  which  caused  the  American  Revolution,  and  is  justly  regarded 
as  the  corner  stone  of  our  present  institutions,  was  explicitly  declared  and  ab- 
solutely recognized  by  Roman  Catholics  two  centuries  before  Protestantism  was 
born. 

Nor  was  this  passion  for  liberty,  a  passing  flame,  but  a  deep,  unwavering, 
permanent  attachment.  Recurring  again  to  Hallam,  page  343,  we  find  it  stated 
that  "  the  Great  Charter  was  always  considered  as  a  fundamental  law.  But  yet, 
it  was  supposed  to  acquire  additional  security  by  frequent  confirmation."  And 
what  part  did  the  Catholic  Clergy  act,  with  regard  to  it.  The  historian  says 
"from  the  great  difficulty  of  compelling  the  King  (Henry  III.)  to  observe  the 
boundaries  of  law,  the  English  Clergy,  (Catholic  of  course,)  to  whom  we  are 
much  indebted  for  their  zeal  in  behalf  of  liberty  daring  this  reign,  devised 
means  of  binding  his  conscience,  and  terrifying  his  imagination  by  religious 
sanctions.  The  solemn  excommunication,  accompanied  with  the  most  awful 
threats  pronounced  against  the  violators  of  Magna  Charta,  is  well  known  from 
our  common  histories." 

Not  so.  Mr.  Flournoy  never  heard  of  it  or  dreamt  of  it,  else  he  would 
not  have  maintained  from  the  "teachings  of  history/'  that  no  Roman  Catholic 
should  be  permitted  to  hold  office. 

A  cursory  glance  over  the  succeeding  pages  of  the  same  historian,  shows  the 
progressive  developement  of  free  principles.  The  admission  of  the  Commons 
to  Parliament,  the  incorporation  of  Towns  with  exemptions  from  arbitrary  con- 
trol ;  the  division  of  Parliament  into  two  houses — the  illegality  of  raising 
money  without  consent  of  Parliament — the  necessity  that  the  two  houses  should 
concur  for  any  alterations  in  the  law,  and  the  right  of  the  Commons  to  enquire 
into  public  abuses,  and  to  impeach  public  counsellors;  all  of  these  principles 
were  established  upon  a  firm  footing  by  the  close  of  Edward  III.'s  reign;  or 
about  150  years  before  the  refoprnation. 

Hallam  closes  the  history  of  the  Plantagenets  with  this  remarkable  declara- 
tion, written  as  if  to  rebuke  prophetically,  the  false  and  fanatical  charges 
against  the  Catholics  now  in  vogue  : 

"  It  were  a  strange  misrepresentation  of  history  to  assert  that  the  constitution 
had  attained  anything  like  a  perfect  state  in  the  15th  century ;  but  I  know  not 
whether  there  are  any  essential  privileges  of  our  countrymen,  any  fundamental 
securities  against  arbitrary  power,  so  far  as  they  depend  upon  positive  institu- 
tions, which  may  not  be  traced  to  the  time  when  the  house  of  Plantagenet 
tilled  the  English  throne."  (page  450.) 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  last  of  the  Plantagenets  fell  on  the  field  of 
battle,  on  the  22d  day  of  August,  1485,  more  than  forty  years  before  the  re- 
formation in  England,  it  will  be  seen  that  Hallam' a  statement  is  equivalent  to  a 


169 

• 

declaration  that  all  the  essential  privileges  of  Englishmen,  and  all  their  funda- 
mental securities  against  arbitrary  power  were  established  by  Roman  Catholics 
and  secured  by  constitutional  guarantees. 

The  answer  which  will  probably  be  made,  strengthens  our  argument.  It 
•will  be  said  that  these  institutions  were  founded  in  spite  of  the  Popo  and  that 
Innocent  formerly  annulled  Manna  Oharta.  Granted,  but  this  only  proves  the 
utter  inability  of  the  Pope  to  suppress  free  principles  among  his  undisputed 
subjects;  and  when,  in  the  utmost  plenitude  of  his  power,  spiritual  and  tempo- 
ral, he  was  powerless  against  Catholics,  would  he  be  stronger  against  a  mixed 
population  like  our  own  ?  But  why  recur  to  history  for  a  demonstration  of  the 
impotcney  of  the  Romish  Church  against  free  principles?  Have  we  not  seen  it 
dethroned  in  the  very  seat  of  its  power,  and  is  it  not  now  upheld  by  French 
bayonets  ?  Could  it  suppress  free  institutions  in  the  Kingdom  of  Sardinia,  or 
Switzerland,  or  prevent  the  present  revolution  in  Spain?  How  absurd  to  sup- 
pose that  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  in  danger  from  a  power  too  feeble 
in  its  strongholds  to  effect  the  purposes  ascribed  to  it.  How  absurd  to  fear  in- 
juries from  a  decayed  institution  which  it  could  not  inflict  in  the  height  of  its 
power.  How  wicked  to  pretend  such  fear  for  the  purpose  of  producing  section- 
al hate  and  riding  into  power  on  a  predominant  faction  ? 

History  teaches  that  England  when  wholly  Catholic,  gave  birth  to  and  reared 
free  government  in  spite  of  the  Pope.  Therefore,  Virginia,  containing  49 
Protestants  to  1  Catholic,  is  in  danger  from  the  Papal  power  !  This  is  the 
premise  and  this  the  argument  of  Know-Nothingism. 


MR.  FLOURNOY'S  ACCEPTANCE. 

Mr.  Flournoy  signified  his  acceptance  of  the  Winchester  nomination  in  the 
following  letter.  This  document  derives  greater  significance  from  the  fact,  that 
it  was  the  only  expression  of  opinion  in  any  form  which  Mr.  F.  vouchsafed  in 
the  paper  during  the  whole  canvass  : 

[CORRESPONDENCE.  ] 

WINCEI  ESTER,  March  14th,  1855. 
To  the  Hon.  Thos.  S.  Flournoy : 

DEAR  SIR  : — The  undersigned,  a  committee  appointed  for  the  purpose,  take 
pleasure  in  informing  you  of  your  unanimous  nomination,  by  the  Convention 
of  the  American  Party  of  Virginia,  which  met  on  yesterday  at  this  place,  as 
"the  American  candidate  for  the  office  of  Governor  of  this  State  j"  and  request 
your  acceptance  of  the  nomination. 

Very  respectfully,  &c. 

ANDREW  E.  KENNEDY,  ^) 
GEORGE  D.  GRAY,  [  Committee. 

JOSIAH  DABBS,  j 

HALIFAX  C.  H.,  March  22d,  1855. 
Messrs.  Andrew  E.  Kennedy,  George  D.  Gray  and  Josiali  Dablts  : 

GENTLEMEN — I  have  just  received  your  letter  of  the  14th,  informing  me  of 
my  nomination  by  the  Convention  at  Winchester,  for  the  office  of  Governor  of 
this  State,  and  requesting  my  acceptance. 


170 

It  was  well  known  to  all  who  communicated  with  me  upon  the  subject,  that 
for  reasons  entirely  personal  to  myself,  I  had  no  desire  to  occupy  such  a  position. 
As  far  as  it  is  above  any  merit  which  I  possess,  and  as  worthy  as  it  is  of  the 
ambition  of  any  man,  I  was  unwilling  to  have  my  attention  withdrawn  from  the 
quiet  pursuits  of  private  life,  and  earnestly  hoped  that  the  Convention  would 
have  selected  some  one  more  suitable  in  every  respect  than  myself  to  represent 
the  American  party.  But  my  entire  confidence  in  and  earnest  desire  for  the 
success  of  the  principles  of  that  party,  upon  which,  in  my  humble  judgment, 
depend  the  protection  of  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  the  preservation  of  the 
Union,  induce  me  to  accept  the  nomination. 

In  doing  so,  it  is  proper  that  I  shall  express  my  opinions  upon  the  subjects 
which  most  interest  the  people  of  the  State. 

I  am  in  favor  of  a  general  system  of  popular  education. 

I  am  in  favor  of  completing  the  leading  lines  of  internal  improvement,  now 
under  prosecution,  with  as  much  dispatch  as  the  financial  condition  of  the  State 
will  justify,  keeping  always  in  view  the  preservation  of  her  faith  and  credit. 

I  endorse  fully  the  Basis  of  Principles  of  the  American  party,  believing  them 
to  be  the  most  conservative  presented  to  the  consideration  of  the  country  since 
the  establishment  of  our  independence. 

The  rapid  increase  of  Foreign  immigration  is  well  calculated  to  excite  alarm, 
and  the  power  of  the  Government,  both  State  and  Federal,  should  be  exerted 
to  check  it.  It  seems  almost  impossible  to  doubt  that  the  influx  of  between 
four  and  five  hundred  thousand  Foreigners  into  our  country  annually,  will  ulti- 
mately be  subversive  of  our  Republican  institutions.  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Madison  and  Jackson  gave  early  warning  to  the  country  of  the  danger  to  be 
apprehended  from  foreign  influence.  The  naturalization  laws  should  either  be 
repealed  or  so  modified,  and  such  restrictions  imposed  as  to  avert  the  evil. 

The  South  is  especially  and  deeply  interested  in  this  question.  This  im- 
mense annual  addition  to  our  population  settle  in  the  non-slaveholding  States 
and  the  extensive  territories  of  the  West  and  North-west,  out  of  which  Free 
States  will,  in  consequence,  be  more  speedily  formed,  increasing  with  fearful 
rapidity  the  balance  of  power  against  us. 

Intimately  connected  witfh  this  question  of  foreign  immigration,  is  the  growth 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  our  country.  Despotic,  prescriptive  and  in- 
tolerant, its  ascendancy,  as  all  history  teaches,  has  ever  been  destructive  of  free- 
dom of  opinion,  and  while  I  would  uncompromisingly  oppose  any  interference 
with  the  rights  of  its  members  as  citizens,  by  any  legislative  enactment,  yet  by 
a  full  and  independent  exercise  of  the  right  of  suffrage  and  the  appointing 
power,  they  should  be  excluded  from  the  offices  of  the  Government  in  all  its 
departments. 

It  may  be  said  that  there  are  comparatively  but  few  Foreigners  and  Roman 
Catholics  in  Virginia.  She  is  not  acting  for  herself  alone.  She  is  a  leading 
member  of  this  great  sisterhood  of  States,  and  her  action  will  be  felt  for  weal 
or  woe,  by  them  all.  Her  destiny  is  identified  with  theirs,  and  she  cannot  look 
with  indifference  to  the  fact,  that  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  watered  by 
twenty  thousand  miles  of  navigable  rivers,  and  the  immense  and  fertile  Territo- 
ries, stretching  beyond  to  the  Pacific,  capable  of  sustaining  a  population  of  one 
hundred  millions,  are  rapidly  filling  up  with  this  class  of  people. 

I  will  advert  particularly  to  one  other  principle  of  the  American  party — the 
"  non-intervention  of  the  Federal  and  State  government  with  the  municipal 
affairs  of  each  other.'7  The  strict  observance  of  this  principle  will  make  the 
union  of  the  States  perpetual. 

I  shall  not  have  it  in  my  power  to  meet  the  people  of  the  State  and  discuss 
these  questions  with  them  face  to  face.  It  is  now  but  about  sixty  days  to  the 
election,  and  if  I  were  to  devote  every  day  to  the  canvass,  I  should  not  be  able 
to  visit  much  more  than  a  third  of  the  counties.  An  additional,  and  with  me 


171 

an  important  reason,  is,  that  I  shall  be  fully  occupied  in  preparation  for,  and  at- 
tendance upon  the  Courts  in  which  I  practice,  until  the  election  shall  have 
passed. 

If  with  these  opinions,  and  this  position,  the  people  of.  Virginia  shall  elect 
me  to  the  distinguished  office  of  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth,  I  will  dis- 
charge its  duties  with  fidelity,  and  what  ability  I  possess.  I  will  endeavor  to  ad- 
vance the  prosperity,  guard  the  honor,  and  protect  the  interests  and  institutions 
of  Virginia,  by  all  the  power  vested  in  me,  and  I  shall  do  all  that  I  can  consis- 
tently with  her  interest  and  honor  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

Very  respectfully,  your  ob't  serv't, 

THOS.  S.  FLOURNOY. 


The  editor  of  the  Examiner  criticised,  in  the  following  searching  and  scathing 
manner,  Mr.  Flournoy's  letter  on  its  publication : 

THE  STATESMANSHIP  OF  MR.  FLOURNOY. 

We  have  expressed  our  respect  for  the  personal  character  of  Mr.  Flournoy. 
That  he  is  a  man  of  integrity,  intelligence,  talents,  a  genial  temperament  and 
an  honorable  reputation,  we  desire  at  all  times  to  be  understood  as  cheerfully 
conceding ;  and  we  trust  that  nothing  we  are  about  to  say,  or  shall  utter  during 
Ihe  present  canvass,  (which  promises  to  be  the  most  acrimonious  ever  known  in 
Virginia)  shall  be  construed  as,  in  the  least  degree,  retracting  or  qualifying  this 
concession. 

Entertaining  these  sentiments  of  personal  esteem  for  Mr.  Flournoy,  we  can- 
not but  express  our  surprise  at  the  production,  printed  in  another  column,  pur- 
porting to  be  from  his  pen,  and  addressed  to  three  persons  understood  to  be  cor- 
responding secretaries  of  the  Know  Nothing  Convention  of  Winchester. 

It  is  a  palpably  just  and  a  very  lenient  criticism  of  Mr.  Flournoy's  letter 
accepting  the  nomination  of  the  Winchester  Convention,  to  say  that  it  is  weak 
in  tenor  and  shallow  in  statesmanship.  Indeed,  it  would  be  beneath  especial 
notice  but  for  the  position  of  its  author.  That  single  circumstance  alone,  en- 
titles it  to  the  searching  examination  which  we  shall  give  it.  It  gives  us  pain 
to  use  this  bluntness  in  regard  to  a  letter  emanating  from  one  who  aspires  to  bo 
the  Governor  of  Virginia.  We  had  hoped,  for  the  credit  of  the  State,  that  at 
a  time  when  the  eyes  of  the  whole  Union  are  riveted  anxiously  upon  Virginia, 
when  the  entire  American  people  are  eagerly  scanning  the  men  aspiring  to  fill 
the  distinguished  office  in  this  Commonwealth  which  has  been  illustrated  by 
Henry,  Jefferson  and  Giles,  and  in  a  canvass  that  is  national,  not  only  in  the 
intense  and  far-pervading  interest  it  has  excited,  but  in  the  great  principles  of 
representative  government  it  involves,  we  should  have  bad  some  other  response, 
from  a  leader  of  one  of  the  contending  organizations,  than  a  letter  abounding 
in  the  shallowest  partisan  politics,  and  announcing  sentiments  which,  if  gravely 
propounded  twelve  months  ago  in  Virginia,  before  fanaticism  had  taken  partial 
possession  of  the  public  mind,  would  have  branded  him  as  an  idiot,  a  maniac,  or 
a  monster. 

>» 
lie  Adopts  the  Low  Doymas  of  the  Know  Nothings. 

Mr.  Flournoy  declines  to  discuss  the  momentous  questions  at  issue  in  this  can- 
vass, "face  to  face"  with  the  people,  on  the  miserable,  hackneyed  plea,  that  a 
load  of  nisi prius  practice  presses  upon  his  shoulders.  What  is  this  practice — 
what  are  the  few  fees  he  may  earn  by  pursuing  it,  to  the  stem  obligation  he  is 


172 

under  as  a  republican  citizen,  an  honest  man,  and  a  professing  Christian,  to 
justify  to  the  people  of  Virginia  the  felonious  blows  and  stealthy  assaults  by 
which  his  secret  clubs  and  midnight  accomplices  are  attacking  the  vital  princi- 
ples of  religious  freedom  and  representative  government  ?  Heralded  as  a  Pres- 
byterian, as  a  member  of  a  denomination  illustrious  for  its  services  in  the  cause 
of  religious  toleration,  he  owes  it  to  his  own  church — nay,  he  owes  it  to  all 
Protestantdom  to  explain  why  he  repudiates  a  principle  which  they  claim  as  their 
own  peculiar  gift  to  freedom,  and  why  he  accepts,  to  the  shame  of  his  religion, 
from  church  burning  ANGEL  GABRIELS,  NED  BUNTLINES  and  BILL  POOLES,  of 
the  North,  the  barbarous  doctrines  of  proscription  and  intolerance  which  he 
shamelessly  avows  in  his  letter.  He  owes  this  justification  to  the  people  of  Vir- 
ginia :  for  when  has  a  candidate  for  her  most  distinguished  honor  ever  insulted 
them  before  by  invoking  the  low  passions  of  intolerance  and  bigotry  to  aid  his 
partisan  pretensions  ?  When  did  WASHINGTON,  or  JEFFERSON,  or  RANDOLPH,  or 
any  honorable  name  that  graces  the  annals  of  our  State,  ever  descend  to  denounce 
in  a  campaign  circular,  even  the  Catholics,  for  the  sake  of  securing  public  of- 
fice, and  winning  the  suffrages  of  the  generous  Virginia  people  ?  We  know 
that  midnight  clubs  are  in  the  habit  of  lashing  themselves  into  fury,  and  that 
partisan  demagogues  of  the  cross-roads  and  the  campaign  journals  delight  to 
bellow  and  rant  themselves  into  notoriety,  over  this  newly  vamped  Catholic 
question;  but  that  a  man  of  elevated  character  and  liberal  scholarship,  esteemed 
fit  to  fill  an  exalted  office  of  Virginia,  should  stoop  to  lay  his  tongue  and  drag- 
gle his  reputation  in  such  filthy  mire,  is  a  shame  that  we  trusted  would  be 
spared  to  our  State. 

He  Assails  the  Freedom  of  Religion. 

He  maintains  that  Roman  Catholics  "  should  be  excluded  from  the  office  of 
the  government  in.  all  its  departments,"  and  promises  fidelity  and  vigilance  in 
this  brave  work.  That  any  sect  of  Christians  should  be  proscribed  for  their  re- 
ligious faith,  is  a  sentiment  which  wo  thought  had  been  scouted  out  of  our 
country  as  long  ago  as  the  establishment  of  our  free  institutions,  which  even 
England  is  become  ashamed  of  and  restive  under,  and  of  which  the  only  re- 
maining stronghold,  home  and  sanctuary  at  the  present  day  is  God-forsaken 
Spain  and  her  sister  despotisms  of  Europe.  The  present  is  the  first  occasion, 
in  Virginia,  for  a  century,  in  which  a  person  holding  an  honorable  position  in 
society,  above  the  level  of  the  JACK  CADES  and  Z.  JUDSONS  of  the  mob,  has 
stooped  to  appropriate  it  as  a  political  hobby,  and  to  claim  it  as  a  partisan  shib- 
boleth. 

He  Declares  for  the  Perpetual  Agitation  of  a  Bigoted  Sentiment, 

Mr.  FLOURNOY'S  mode  of  effecting  this  shameful  proscription  is  as  unstates- 
manlike  as  it  is  unmanly.  He  would  accomplish  his  object  by  incessant  dema- 
gogue agitation ;  but  would  "  uncompromisingly  oppose"  effectuating  it  by 
the  direct  and  honorable  means  of  "  legal  enactment."  What  is  worthy  of 
being  done  at  all,  is  worthy  of  being  done  well ;  and  it  is  sufficient  to  damn  any 
scheme  of  public  policy,  that  it  is  too  vicious,  unjust,  and  unrighteous  to  be 
carried  into  a  law.  And  how  pitiable  and  unmanly  is  the  statesmanship  which 
propounds  a  measure  of  reform,  but  skulks  from  the. only  bold,  honorable  and 
efficient  means  of  carrying  it  into  effect !  That  he  shrinks  from  carrying  his 
scheme  of  politics  out  into  practical  legislation,  proves  that  it  is  agitated  for 
anything  else  but  the  public  good,  that  it  is  agitated  exclusively  for  the  ends  of 
demagogues.  In  the  benignancy  of  his  statesmanship  he  would  sow  the  ele- 
ments of  discord  and  strife  broadcast  over  the  community,  and  make  it  the 
leading  effort  of  his  diplomacy  to  keep  the  flames  thus  enkindled  ever  burning 


173 

and  exploding.  He  would  not  execute  the  victims  of  his  proscription  by  a 
single  blow  of  the  axe  or  the  guillotine,  but  roast  them  leisurely  upon  the  slow 
fires  of  the  rack,  that  he  might  continue  to  gloat  over  their  tortures  !  Consum- 
mate is  that  afufeamaiM&tjp  which  studies  to  supply  a  perpetual  incentive  to 
strife,  hatred  and  mob-violence  between  class  and  class,  sect  and  sect,  race  and 
race,  in  the  bosom  of  the  same  comraun'ty  !  We  know  of  no  better  definition 
of  demagOffOfttfOJ  than  it  is  agitation  for  the  mere  purpose  of  fermenting  ill- 
blood  and  strife  between  class  and  sects,  as  the  means  of  elevating  the  agitators 
to  office.  It  is  a  sort  of  politics  that  might  be  tolerated  in  irresponsible  clubs 
convened  in  secret,  and  in  vapid  partizaris  of  low  degree ;  but  that  a  man  of 
education,  aspiring  to  the  control  of  public  affairs,  should  have  proposed  it  in  a 
public  letter  over  his  own  name,  is  an  event  that  shocks  the  moral  sentiment 
and  patriotic  composure  of  all  conservative  citizens.  We  are  sorry  that  a  man 
has  been  thought  worthy  of  grave  public  responsibilities  in  Virginia  whose 
moral  obliquity  is  such  that  he  plumes  himself  upon  advocating  the  very  plan 
of  politics  which  he  vaunts  it  as  a  virtue  that  he  "  uncompromisingly  opposes 
making  the  subject  of  legal  enactment," — because,  of  course,  it  is  too  intolerant, 
despotic,  prescriptive  and  bigoted  to  deserve  place  upon  the  statute  book  ! 

He  Propounds  an  Abolition  Scheme  of  Politics. 

Mr.  FLOURNOY'S  positions  on  the  subject  of  immigration  are  ridiculously 
weak,  absurd,  and  untenable.  Borrowing  the  idea  of  Governor  Smith,  he 
says  : 

"  The  South  is  especially  and  deeply  interested  in  this  question  ;  this  immense 
and  annual  addition  to  our  population  settle  in  the  non-slaveholding  States  and 
the  extensive  territories  of  the  West  and  North-West,  out  of  which  Free 
States  will,  in  consequence,  be  more  speedily  formed,  increasing  with  fearful 
rapidity  the  balance  of  power  against  us." 

In  a  previous  paragraph  he  "  endorses  fully"  the  "  Basis  of  Principles  of  the 
American  party,"  one  of  which  runs  thus  : 

"No  obstacle  should  be  interposed  to  the  immigration  of  all  foreigners  of 
honest  and  industrious  habits  ;" 

which  language  is  coupled  with  a  clause  excepting  "  paupers  and  criminals" 
from  the  privilege. 

Excepting  paupers  and  criminals,  which  men  of  all  classes  and  parties  in  the 
Union  would  join  him  in  excluding  from  our  shores,  Mr.  FLOURNOY  would  let 
foreigners  ink)  the  country  ad  libitum.  What  then  is  his  position  ?  Conceding 
that  immigration  goes  almost  altogether  to  the  North,  and  that  little  of  it  comes 
to  the  South,  his  masterly  statesmanship  proposes  to  agitate  in  Virginia  a  sub- 
ject peculiarly  northern  and  domestic,  and  strictly  within  the  scope  of  State  and 
police  regulation — a  doctrine  of  abolition  invention  and  utterly  abhorrent  to  all 
Southern  ideas  of  State  sovereignty.  He  would  prosecute  this  mad  policy  un- 
der the  pretext,  and  in  the  dog-in-the-manger  spirit,  of  checking  a  more  "  rapid 
Increase  of  political  power  in  the  North"  than  in  the  South.  It  is  humiliatingly 
En  conflict  with  the  chivalrous  temper  of  the  South  to  resist  a  movement,  right, 
Jmd  worthy  of  "full  endorsement"  in  itself,  from  the  mean  motive  of  jealousy; 
but  such  is  Mr.  FLOURNOY'S  statesmanship  and  Virginian  manliness ! 

But  is  Mr.  FLOURNOY  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  so  long  as  honest  and  indus- 
trious foreigners  arc  let  into  the  North  ad  libitum,  which  he  approves,  the  mere 
denial  to  them  of  the  right  of  suffrage  and  official  position  cannot  prevent  that 
augmentation  of  Northern  representation  in  Congress,  of  which  he  complains? 
Is  this  Governor  of  Virginia,  expectant,  ignorant  of  the  notorious  constitutional 
fact  that  it  is  population  and  not  suffrage  which  determines  the  ratio  of  rep- 


174 

reservation  in  Congress  ?  Has  he  not  yet  learned  in  the  horn-book  of  consti- 
tutional law,  that  five  slaves  even,  count  as  many  as  three  whites  in  determining 
Southern  representation  in  Congress;  and  that  immigrants  once  landed  at  the 
North,  without  naturalization,  count  as  much  in  augmenting  Northern  repre- 
sentation in  Congress  as  if  each  could  vote  for  every  office  in  the  country  ?  We 
all  know  that  the  Know  Nothing  party  belie  by  their  action  every  principle 
avowed  in  their  BASIS,  and  that  plausible  schedule,  chiefly  of  truisms  that  no- 
body will  dispute,  is  put  out  as  a  decoy  for  the  shallow  and  unthinking  ;  but  we 
really  did  not  think  that  Mr.  FLOURNOY  would  commit  himself  in  black  and 
white  to  a  pretext  so  transparent  and  disreputable,  as  that  a  denial  of  office  and 
suffrage  to  immigrants  could  swell  the  rapid  increase  of  the  Northern  balance 
of  power.  The  Basis  principle  which  he  "  fully  endorses  "  admits  all  honest 
and  industrious  immigrants,  and  itself  permits  to  be  accomplished  the  very  evil 
;  of  which  he  complains,  whether  the  immigrant  ever  afterwards  secures  a  vote 
a.nd  office  or  not. 

lie  Sorrows  a  Bad  Argument  from  Governor  Smith. 

But  imitators  and  quacks  are  prone  to  get  swamped  in  quagmires.  Mr. 
FLOURNOY  borrowed  Governor  SMITH'S  idea  without  having  the  sagacity  to 
perceive  the  necessity  of  borrowing  also  the  limitation  which  that  gentleman 
coupled  with  the  stolen  article.  Governor  SMITH  did  not,  like  his  imitator, 
"  endorse  fully  "  the  Basis  Principles  of  the  new  party,  but  only  approved  some 
of  them.  He  goes  a  bow-shot  beyond  the  decoy  doctrine,  and,  so  far  from  pro- 
testing that  "  no  obstacle  should  be  interposed  to  foreign  immigration/'  &c., 
"deprecates  immigration  as  a  great  calamity,"  declaring  it  to  be  "  our  highest 
duty  to  arrest  the  importation  of  foreigners"  Poor  Mr.  FLOURNOY  appro- 
priates Governor  SMITH'S  argument  of  unduly  augmented  Northern  representa- 
tion in  Congress,  but  stumbles  and  fractures  his  skin  over  the  "  no  obstacle  " 
clause  in  his  own  Baais  Principles. 

He  and  Gov.  Smith  both  Tumble  into  an  Abolition  Heresy. 

It  is  an  easy  but  unpleasant  task,  to  show  that  Gov.  SMITH,  in  taking  this 
position  on  the  immigrant  question,  bids  farewell  to  State  Rights  politics.  It 
is  monstrous  for  a  Southern  man  to  propound  a  doctrine  requiring  the  Virginia 
people  to  interfere  with  a  strictly  domestic  question  of  the  North,  upon  the 
whining  plea — of  envy  and  jealousy,  that  the  North  is  outstripping  us  in  the 
march  to  empire.  It  is  calling  upon  the  South  to  violate  a  principle  of  politics 
which  she  has  considered  of  vital  importance  to  her  safety,  and  that,  from  the 
meanest  and  most  pusilanimous  of  all  motives.  With  what  indignation  would 
we  ourselves  resist  the  like  doctrine,  if  brought  to  bear  by  the  North  against 
our  own  physical  development?  What  if  Virginia,  as  is  not  unlikely,  should 
herself  take  steps  to  import  miners,  artificers,  manufacturers  and  laborers  from 
overstocked  Europe,  for  the  development  of  her  own  latent  wealth  ; — and  if  the 
Abolitionists  of  the  North,  borrowing  the  policy  of  George  III.,  should  demand 
cf  Congress  to  exclude  this  foreign  immigration,  on  the  Smith-Flournoy-Know 
Nothing  Ground,  that  it  would  unduly  augment  Southern  representation  in 
Congress?  Would  Virginia  tamely  submit  to  the  insolent  demand  and  gratui- 
tous insult  ?  H  >w  has  she  not  resented  the  conduct  of  the  Abolitionists,  bot- 
tomed on  the  similar  plea  of  checking  the  extension  of  slave  power,  in  impos- 
ing the  Missouri  Compromise  upon  us,  in  urging  the  Wilmot  Proviso  almost  to 
the  disruption  of  the  Union,  in  resisting  the  purchase  of  Florida  and  Louisiana, 
the  annexation  of  Texas,  and  the  conquest  of  Mexico,  and  in  now  attempting  to 
thwart  in  advance  the  honorable  purchase  and  acquisition  of  Cuba  ? 


175 

He  Borrows  a  Mean  Sentiment  from  the  Abolitionists. 

The  strength  of  tho  Sourthern  cause  has  heretofore  consisted  much  in  the 
meanness  of  the  motive  with  which  our  progress  has  been  resisted  by  the  Aboli- 
tionists. Let  us  not  permit  DELILAH  to  shear  us  of  our  strength.  Let  us  not 
borrow  the  meanness,  the  politics  and  the  policy  of  Abolitionism,  by  shameless- 
ly avowing  our  jealousy  of  Northern  progress  and  prosperity,  and  by  interfering 
with  their  domestic  concerns,  professedly  but  to  cripple  them,  and  not  to  bene- 
fit ourselves.  Foreign  immigration  is  a  subject  strictly  of  State  economy,  and 
no  Northern  State  will  or  Southern  State  should  consent  to  surrender  the  su- 
preme control  of  it.  When  Massachusetts,  through  Congress,  shall  dictate  to 
Virginia  to  what  classes  of  people  her  pdrts  shall  be  opened,  what  races  of  men 
shall  vote  and  shall  hold  office,  what  shade  of  opinions  shall  disqualify  for  enjoy- 
ing the  rights,  privileges,  and  franchises  of  citizenship,  Virginia  will  have  sur- 
rendered to  the  last  demand  of  abolitionism,  and  been  despoiled  of  the  last  attri- 
bute of  State  sovereignty. 

He  Invites  the  North  to  Stop  Prospering,  in   Order  to  Appease  the  Jealousy 

of    Virginia. 

But,  instead  of  ?uch  a  rotten  doctrine,  does  our  model  State  Rights  Gover- 
nor, expectant,  mean  to  maintain  that,  agitating  this  question  here  in  Virginia 
is  calculated  to  bring  about  the  exclusion  of  immigrants  from  the  North  by 
voluntary  legislation  on  the  part  of  Northern  Stales  ?  If  so,  in  what  a  con- 
temptible attitude  does  the  proposition  stand?  He  raises  a  huge  clamor  in 
Virginia  about  the  rapid  increase  of  political  power  in  the  North  from  immigra- 
tion, for  the  purpose  of  inducing  those  people  themselves  to  destroy  the  main 
agent  of  their  own  growth  and  progress  !  He  agitates  here  to  induce  them  to 
cease  to  grow  and  prosper,  in  order  to  gratify  Mr.  FLOURNOY'S  puerile  states- 
manship, and  to  sooth  Virginia's  dog-in-the-manger  spirit.  Of  all  the  absurd 
and  stupid  propositions  we  ever  heard,  it  is  this  of  Mr.  FLUORNOY,  borrowed 
from  Governor  SMITH,  that  by  agitating  and  raising  a  hello — hello  here  in 
Virginia  about  the  great  augmentation  of  northern  power  from  immigration, 
we  shall  induce  them  to  lay  a  suicidal  axe  at  the  roots  of  their  own  amazing 
prosperity ! 

And  yet  he  turns  up  at  last  a  State  Rights  Man  ! 

After  announcing  these  rank  and  fanatical  doctrines  of  Federal  interference 
and  inter-State  interference,  it  is  a  mockery  of  State-Rights  politics,  and  an  in- 
sult to  popular  intelligence — only  equaled  by  the  late  similar  profession  of 
WILSON  of  Massachusetts — for  Mr.  FLOURNOY  to  declare  : 

"  I  will  advert  particularly  to  one  other  principle  of  the  American  party — 
the  l  non-intervention  of  the  Federal  and  State  government  with  the  municipal 
affairs  of  each  other/  The  strict  observance  of  this  principle  will  make  the 
union  of  the  States  perpetual. " 

The  force  of  impertinence  could  no  further  go  ! 

He  Desires  Virginia  to  Scour  the  Great  West  on  a  Tour  of  Proscription. 


Mr.  FLOURNOY  takes  still  further  pains  to  proclaim  this  rotten  Abolition 
doctrine  of  interference  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  other  States.  The  following 
ambitious,  sophomeric  sentences  have  a  prominent  place  in  his  remarkable  let- 
ter : 

"  It  may  be  said  that  there  are  comparatively  but  few  foreigners  and  Roman 
Catholics  in  Virginia.  She  is  not  acting  for  herself  alone.  She  is  a  leading 


176 

member  of  this  great  sisterhood  of  States,  and  her  action  will  be  felt  for  weal 
or  woe,  by  them  all.  Her  destiny  is  identified  with  theirs,  and  she  cannot  look 
with  indifference  to  the  fact,  that  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  watered  by 
twenty  thousand  miles  of  navigable  rivers,  and  the  immense  and  fertile  Territo- 
ries, stretching  beyond  to  the  Pacific,  capable  of  sustaining  a  population  of  one 
hundred  millions,  are  rapidly  filling  up  with  this  class  of  people/' 

So,  then,  our  chivalrous  Commonwealth,  under  the  guidance  of  his  resplen- 
dent statesmanship,  is  to  assume  the  honorable  office  qf  common  scold  and  in- 
termeddler,  and  to  go  forth  into  the  West  and  North-west,  berating  Catholics 
and  shoo-shooing  foreigners — like  depredating  poultry — out  of  their  gardens  and 
potato  patches  !  A  fit  Governor  for  such  a  Commonwealth,  would  be  amiable 
Mr.  FLOURNOY — -the  statesman. 

Virginia  is  to  go  out  into  the  West  and  North-west,  a  jealous,  scolding  Juno, 
attended  by  her  Know  Nothing  Argus  of  an  hundred  eyes,  threading  their 
twenty  thousand  miles  of  navigable  rivers,  expelling  "  foreigners"  from  a  land 
they  may  have  held  since  De  Soto  and  La  Salle,  and  "  excluding  Catholics  from 
the  offices  of  government  in  all  its  departments."  We  pity  the  spirit  of  narrow 
jealousy  and  intolerance  which  dictates  such  a  policy  as  much  as  the  ignorance 
it  betrays.  Mr  Flournoy  will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  there  is  scarcely  a 
square  inch  of  the  countries  here  mentioned  in  which  the  Catholic  citizen  is 
not  protected  and  guaranteed  in  all  the  rights,  immunities  and  privileges,  poli- 
tical and  religious,  of  the  most  favored  citizens  of  the  United  States,  by  express 
compacts,  sacred,  inviolable,  irrepealable  and  perpetual. 

He  is  taught  a  Lesson  of  Some  Importance  to  a  Statesman  from  the  Archives  of 

the  Country. 

We  shall  first  apprise  our  Governor  expectant  of  the  existence  of  a  clause  in 
the  celebrated  ordinance  of  1787,  "  for  the  government  of  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  north-west  of  the  Ohio  river"  in  the  nature  of  a  perpetual  com- 
pact, framed  by  some  of  the  best  men  and  purest  patriots  with  whom  God  ever 
blessed  the  earth.  The  first — first  article  of  that  venerable  statute  runs  thus  : 

"Art.  I.  No  person,  demeaning  himself  in  a  peaceable  and  orderly  manner, 
shall  EVER  be  molested  on  account  of  his  mode  of  worship  or  religious  senti- 
ments, in  the  said  territory." 

We  trust  that  no  demagogue  will  interpose  here,  the  shallow  quibble,  that 
to  insult  a  citizen,  with  the  declaration  that  his  religious  sentiments  render  him 
an  unsafe  depositary  of  official  reponsibility,  is  not  molesting  him  on  account  of 
his  religion. 

Again,  that  vast  territory,  acquired  by  the  Louisiana  purchase,  stretching 
from  the  Pacific  to  the  Mississippi,  embracing  Oregon,  Texas  Missouri  and  all 
the  intermediate  domain,  which  was  ceded  by  France,  and  was  first  settled,  as 
was  the  northwest  country  just  mentioned,  by  Catholics,  is  subject  to  the  fol- 
lowing solemn  stipulation,  being  the  third  article  in  the  Louisiana  Treaty  of  the 
30th  April  1803  : 

"Art.  3.  The  inhabitants  of  ceded  territory  shall  be  incorporated  in  the 
Union  of  the  United  States,  and  admitted  as  soon  as  possible,  according  to  the 
principles  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  to  the  enjoyment  of  ALL  the  rights, 
advantages  and  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States ;  and,  in  the  mean- 
time, they  shall  be  maintained  and  protected  in  the  free  enjoyment  of  their 
liberty,  property,  and  the  religion  which  they  profess." 

Instead  of  maintaining  and  protecting  them,  according  to  the  spirit  of  this 
solemn  compact,  in  this  religion,  Mr.  FLOURNOY  proposes,  on  account  of  itt 


177 

to  proscribe  them  from  office  and  degrade  them  from  the  rank  of  sovereign 
citizens. 

Proceeding  farther  in  this  interesting  historical  enquiry,  we  find  another  por- 
tion of  the  Union,  watered  in  part  by  the  Mississippi,  consecrated  perpetually 
to  religious  toleration.  The  Treaty  of  Feb.  22,  1819,  with  Spain,  under 
which  we  acquire  Florida  and  a  large  adjacent  territory,  contains  these  two 
articles : 

"  Art.  5.  The  inhabitants  of  the  ceded  territories  shall  be  secured  in  the  free 
exercise  of  their  religion,  without  ANY  restriction  ;  and  all  those  who  may  de- 
sire to  remove  to  the  Spanish  dominions  shall  be  permitted  to  sell  or  export  their 
effects  at  any  time  whatever,  without  being  subject,  in  either  case,  to  duties." 

"  Art.  G.  The  inhabitants  of  the  territories  which  His  Catholic  Majesty  cedes 
to  the  United  States,  by  this  Treaty,  shall  be  incorporated  in  the  Union  of  the 
United  States,  as  soon  as  may  be  consistent  with  the  principles  of  the  Federal 
Constitution,  and  admitted  to  the  enjoyment  of  ALL  the  privileges,  rights,  and 
immunities  of  the  CITIZENS  of  the  United  States." 

And  coming  still  further  down,  even  to  our  own  time,  we  find  that  our  vast 
acquisition  from  Mexico,  an  empire,  itself,  in  the  magnitude  of  its  area,  its 
population  and  wealth,  to  be  indelibly  stamped  with  an  holy  canon  of  religious 
toleration.  In  the  Treaty  of  May  30,  1848,  with  the  Mexican  Republic,  under 
which,  auriferous  California  became  a  part  of  our  Union,  occurs  the  following 
golden  provision  : 

"  Art.  9.  Mexicans  who,  in  the  territories  aforesaid,  shall  not  preserve  the 
character  of  citizens  of  the  Mexican  Republic  [but  shall  elect  under  the  pre- 
ceding clause  to  be  citizens  of  the  United  States,]  *  *  *  shall  be  incorporated 
into  the  Union  of  the  United  States,  and  be  admitted  at  the  proper  time  (to  be 
judged  of  by  the  Congress  of  tho  United  States)  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  the 
rights  of  citizens  of  the  United  States ;  according  to  the  principles  of  the  Con- 
stitution ;  and,  in  the  meantime,  shall  be  maintained  and  protected  in  the  free 
enjoyment  of  their  liberty  and  property,  and  SECURED  IN  THE  FREE  EXERCISE 
oj  their  religion  without  restriction" 

As  reference  is  repeatedly  made  in  these  documents  to  the  rights,  privileges 
and  immunities,  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  as  guaranteed  by  the  Con- 
stitution thereof,  it  is  a  fitting  conclusion  to  such  solemn  stipulations  to  support 
them  by  the  provisions  on  this  subject  of  that  palladium  of  liberty  and  compact 
of  fraternal  Union  between  the  States.  The  sixth  article  of  that  instrument 
declares — 

"  Art.  VI.  No  religious  test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any 
office  of  public  trust  under  this  government." 

And  the  very  first  article  among  the  amendments  which  were  added  to  the  in- 
strument, out  of  the  abundant  caution  and  jealousy  of  our  fathers,  which  had 
special  reference  to  such  intolerant  movements  as  that  of  the  latter  day  Know 
Nothings,  places  religious  freedom  first  in  its  enumeration  of  the  inviolable 
franchises  of  a  free  people  : 

"  Art.  I.  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion, 
or  the  FREE  EXERCISE  THEREOF  ;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the 
press  ;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  gov- 
ernment for  a  redress  of  grievances." 

Thus  it  seems  that  every  foot  of  territory  in  this  broad  and  glorious  confede- 
racy is  consecrated  by  the  most  solemn  and  holy  compacts  to  the  LIBERTY  of 
CONSCIENCE.  Thus  it  is  apparent  that  Mr.  FLOURNOY'S  mushroom  part  of 
religious  intolerance,  though  boasting  its  NATIONALITY,  has  not  a  spot  of  the 
consecrated  soil  of  the  American  Union  on  which  to  plant  its  flag-staff. 


178 

Mr.  FLOURNOY  will  now  perceive,  that  it  would  have  been  the  more  prudent 
part  for  him  to  have  pursued  the  policy  of  Mr.  PATTON,  and,  if  accepting  the  dis- 
reputable nomination  at  all,  to  have  held  his  silence  in  regard  to  the  principles 
of  proscription  and  tyranny  that  are  coupled  with  it,  upon  which  the  lathers  of 
his  country  so  solemnly  pronounced  their  anathema  maranatha.  Even  if  Mr. 
FLOURNOY  should  have  deceived  himself  into  a  declaration  that  he  did  not  de- 
sire this  nomination  for  the  office  for  which  he  is  named,  can  any  one  else  be- 
lieve that  so  intelligent  a  person  as  himself  could  be  sincere  in  such  a  profes- 
sion, while  consenting,  for  the  sake  of  securing  the  position,  to  endorse  the  in- 
famous and  damnable  doctrines  to  which  he  has  now  set  his  name,  and  which 
•will  stigmatize  that  honorable  name  long  after  his  body  shall  have  returned  to 
the  dust  from  which  it  came  ? 

He  Goes  to  Sea  on  a  Frail  Raft   of  Rotten  Logs. 

Mr.  Flournoy  borrows  his  principles  of  State  policy  from  Mr.  Wise,  making 
up  no  issue  on  State  questions,  and  standing  exclusively,  in  this  canvass,  on  the 
Know  Nothing  principles  of 

Religious   Intolerance, 
Unequal  Rights, 
Secret  Politics. 


MR.  PATTON'S  SPEECH  AT  RICHMOND,  ACCEPTING  THE 

NOMINATION. 

This  oration  is  remarkable  as  the  only  one  delivered  by  any  of  the  Win- 
chester candidates  during  the  progress  of  the  canvass,  if  we  except  one  or 
two  other  speeches  of  Mr.  PATTON,  delivered  on  the  very  eve  of  the  elec- 
tion. It  therefore  merits  a  conspicuous  place  in  this  compilation,  and  we 
lay  it  before  our  readers  in  extenso,  following  it  up  by  a  very  searching  re- 
view of  it  from  the  Richmond  Examiner. 

Fellow-citizens — fellow-citizens  of  the  American  party  and  of  all  parties: 
I  regret  that,  upon  this  first  occasion  of  the  assembling  of  the  American 
party,  and  of  the  great  body  who  are  sympathizing  with  the  American  party, 
that  it  is  my  lot  to  be  the  only  one  of  the  nominees  of  the  Winchester  Con- 
vention present  to  receive  your  greetings  on  this  occasion.  I  should  have 
been  much  better  pleased,  and  especially  gratified,  if  the  distinguished 
leader,  who  has  been  chosen  as  your  political  standard-bearer  in  the  present 
canvass,  had  been  present  to  address  you  ;  a  gentleman  so  much  more  able 
to  address  you  than  I  am,  so  as  to  do  justice  to  your  views,  and  so  much 
better  qualified  to  gratify  the  expectations  of  this  large  and  crowded  assem- 
bly, by  an  address  worthy  of  the  meeting,  and  worthy  of  the  great  subject. 

I  came  here,  gentlemen,  rather  for  the  purpose  of  vindicating  myself  for 
assuming  the  position  which  I  have  assumed,  and  of  vindicating  you  for  hav- 
ing placed  me  in  that  position.  My  nomination  by  the  Winchester  Conven- 
tion, as  a  candidate  for  the  suffrages  of  the  people  of  Virginia,  was  as  unex- 
pected as  it  was  unsought  by  me,  withdrawn  as  1  had  been  for  several  years 
— for  two  or  three  years  at  least — from  any  active  participation  in  the  po- 
litical controversies  of  the  country.  Absorbed  in  the  laborious,  overwhelm- 
ing and  almnst  crushing  duties  of  an  arduous  profession,  I  had  paid  very  little 
attention  to  the  progress  of  political  events.  I  knew  scarcely  anything  of 


179 

the  issues  which  were  about  to  arise,  and  which  were  likely  to  guide  the 
people  in  the  coming  election.  In  that  position  I  sought  no  office,  and  ex- 
pected none  from  any  party,  or  a  nomination  from  any  party.  I  held  out  no 
inducements  to  those  who,  in  behalf  of  this  new  American  party,  called  upon 
me  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  I  would  accept  this  office  of  at- 
torney-general. I  sincerely  and  most  frankly  discouraged  the  idea,  and  told 
them  very  frankly  that  I  had  not  even  read  the  Basis  Principles  which  they 
had  put  forth  as  containing  the  objects  for  which  this  organization  was 
formed,  and  which  they  were  endeavoring  to  accomplish.  I  was  told  that 
this  great  organization  desired,  or  at  least  a  portion  of  the  members  of  the 
Convention  at  Winchester,  and  probably  the  whole  body,  would  de.-ire  to 
confer  this  nomination  on  me,  if  I  was  willing  to  accept  the  office,  without 
any  regard  to  my  political  opinion  or  my  political  course  ;  that  it  was  an  of- 
fice wholly  disconnected  with  political  controversy,  in  reference  to  the  dis- 
charge of  the'peculiar  duties  which  devolved  upon  it:  that  it  was  an  office 
which  had  no  patronage  connected  with  it,  and  that,  estimating  very  highly 
(much  more  highty  than  I  had  vanity  to  aspire  to)  my  qualifications  and  fit- 
ness for  the  office,  they  desired  to  confer  it  upon  me,  in  reference  to  their 
estimate  of  my  qualifications  and  fitness  for  it,  without  reference  at  all  to  any 
political  object.  I  told  them  that  if,  under  these  circumstances,  as  it  was  an 
office  in  the  line  of  my  profession — an  office  which,  although  I  had  no  par- 
ticular desife  to  obtain,  it  would  yet  not  be  unacceptable  to  me — if  the  Con- 
vention chose  to  confer  upon  me  the  nomination,  I  would  accept  it,  assuring 
them  at  the  same  time  that  it  would  be  incompatible  with  my  business  to  en- 
gage in  the  political  canvass  in  the  way  of  discussion,  and  that,  in  my  esti- 
mate, it  was  not  desirable  or  proper  that  a  candidate  for  an  office  of  that  sort 
should  be  mixed  up  in  the  angry  political  strife  of  parties.  I  most  sincerely 
desired  to  occupy  that  position  absolutely  and  entirely.  It  has  not  seemed 
good  to  the  leaders  and  mouth-pieces  of  the  party  on  the  other  side  that  I 
shall  be  permitted  to  occupy  that  po.sition.  I  have  been  assailed  with  a 
fierceness  of  denunciation,  and  with  a  virulence  of  invective,  and  coarseness 
and  illiberality  of  abuse,  that  has  never  been  surpassed,  if  indeed  it  has  ever 
been  equaled.  My  motives  traduced — eagerness  for  office  imputed  to  me 
— ambitious  aspirations — suffering  humiliation  in  consenting  to  take  an  infe- 
rior office  with  a  tide-waiter's  salary,  to  serve  under  another  leader  with  the 
high  and  important  and  splendid  office  of  governor  of  Virginia,  with  a  vast 
munificent  pecuniary  compensation. 

You  have  seen  what  eagerness  I  displayed  to  get  the  nomination  of  attor- 
ney-general. And  now  let  me  bring  to  the  notice  of  this  vast  assembly,  and 
to  those  who  have  been  disposed  to  impute  to  me  ambitious  motives  and 
eagerness  for  high  office,  one  or  two  papers,  which  is  all  the  answer  I  mean 
to  give  to  those  charges. 

I  received,  on  the  evening  of  the  13th  March,  from  Winchester,  the  fol- 
lowing telegraphic  dispatch  from  a  friend  of  mine,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
body : 

"Will  you  accept  the  nomination  for  governor?  Reply  immediately  to 
this." 

I  immediately  sent  the  following  by  telegraph: 

"  I  would  not  accept  the  office  of  governor  if  every  man  in  Virginia  were 
to  vote  for  me." 

By  an  ingenious  perversity  of  accusation,  it  might  still  be  said  that  I  was 
like  Coesar,  rejecting  the  crown  because  I  knew  I  could  not  get  it. 

On  the  same  evening,  not  very  long  after  I  had  received  the  telegraphic 
dispatch  which  I  have  just  read,  I  received  this  note  from  a  gentleman  in 
Richmond : 


180 

11 1  have  just  received  a  dispatch  by  telegraph  that  you  were  nominated 
for  governor,  and  requested  to  communicate  it  directly." 

As  soon  as  I  received  this  note,  instantly,  for  the  purpose  of  preventing 
any  inconvenience  to  the  Winchester  Convention,  such  as  would  result  from 
their  making  a  nomination  which  would  not  be  accepted,  probably  causing 
them  to  assemble  again  there  or  somewhere  else  to  make  another  nomina- 
tion, I  sent  the  following  reply  : 

"I  regret  the  information  your  note  contains.  Several  times  during  the 
last  fifteen  years  I  have  declined  being  a  candidate  for  governor  when  my 
friends  thought  I  could  be  elected.  I  will  not  accept  the  office  of  governor 
under  any  circumstances,  and  though  every  man  in  the  state  were  to  vote 
for  me.  Excuse  the  apparent  peremptoriness  of  this  note." 

These  are  my  aspirations  for  the  office  of  governor,  and  you  can  now  well 
form  a  notion  how  great  was  my  mortification  at  being  passed  over  for  this 
high  office  and  offered  the  humble  office  of  attorney-general.  It  is  proper  to 
state  that  the  information  that  I  was  nominated  for  governor  was  a  mistake, 
which  of  course  I  did  not  know  until  the  following  day.  There  was,  as  I 
understand,  no  such  nomination,  and  the  distinguished  gentleman  who  has 
been  nominated,  and  is  so  worthy  to  receive  the  suffrages  of  the  American 
party,  was  the  decided  choice  of  the  Convention  at  all  times.  I  do  not  know 
that  there  was, a  single  man  who  was  favorable  to  my  nomination,  except  the 
particular  gentleman  who  sent  me  the  dispatch. 

Besides  all  that,  it  is  now  said  that  I  am  animated  by  aspirations  for  the 
Senate.  I  say  here  and  now,  as  I  have  said  repeatedly  in  the  course  of  the 
last  fifteen  years,  when  my  friends  desired  to  put  me  in  nomination  for  that 
office,  as  I  said  about  the  office  of  governor,  I  would  not  have  the  office  of 
senator  if  every  man  in  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  voted  for  me. 

I  was  then  nominated  for  this  office  under  the  circumstances  to  which  I 
have  referred,  by  a  large,  respectable,  intelligent  and  patriotic  body  of  men, 
as  much  so  to  the  extent  that  I  have  information  in  regard  to  them,  as  any 
body  of  men  in  any  quarter,  any  state,  or  anywhere  else  in  the  world — a 
body  of  men  representing,  as  I  understand  now,  (for  I  Know-Nothing  about 
the  supposed  elective  strength  of  the  American  party,)  fifty  or  sixty  thou- 
sand of  the  free  citizens  of  this  commonwealth.  I  have  repeatedly  said,  in 
talking  of  this  organization,  without  knowing  anything  at  all  of  its  objects  or 
purposes,  but  having  heard  merely  the  rapid  way  in  which  it  advances  in 
the  hearts  and  affections  of  the  people  elsewhere,  that  its  objects  must  be 
patriotic.  Were  they  otherwise,  I  could  not  believe  that  it  could  have  en- 
listed so  effectually  the  aid  and  support  of  the  people  of  Virginia.  It  has 
surpassed  the  most  extravagant  idea  that  I  could  form  of  its  progress  in  this . 
state,  my  opinion  having  been  that  the  sparseness  of  the  population  and  the 
difficulty  of  communication  between  our  people,  would  form  almost  an  insur- 
mountable barrier  to  its  extension.  I  had  not  the  least  idea  of  hope  (if  I  may 
use  that  word)  that  when  my  nomination  was  made  upon  this  ticket,  there 
was  a  reasonable  probability  that  the  ticket  would  prevail.  Now,  I  under- 
stand that  the  body  of  men  who  nominated  me  represented  50,000  persons 
at  least  in  the  commonwealth  of  Virginia,  who  have  become  united  to  the 
order,  and  among  them  some  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  Democrats.  I 
received  the  nomination,  then,  of  this  body  of  gentlemen  representing  this 
vast  portion  of  the  people  of  Virginia,  composed  of  all  parties,  and  I  could 
not  feel  myself  altogether  at  liberty  to  refuse  to  permit  such  a  body  of  gen- 
tlemen of  all  parties,  irrespective  of  the  political  basis  they  might  have  in 
this  movement,  to  present  my  name  to  the  people  of  Virginia  as  a  candidate 
for  an  office  wholly  disconnected  with  political  parties  or  strife,  and  utterly 
void  of  all  political  patronage.  And  yet  that  act,  the  act  of  permitting  my 
name  to  be  presented  to  the  people  of  Virginia,  has  been  denounced  as  an 


181 

act  of  treachery  to  party  and  a  violation  of  party  obligations.  I  never 
entered  into  any  party  obligations  which  \vould  prevent  me  from  allowing  a 
majority  of  the  people  of  Virginia  to  elect  me  to  any  office  which  I  was  wil- 
ling to  take,  no  matter  who  may  have  made  the  nomination,  or  when  or  where 
they  may  be  denounced.  I  have  read  the  Constitution  of  Virginia  several 
times,  and  I  find  there  that  the  office  of  attorney-general  is  to  be  filted  by 
the  votes  of  the  people  of  Virginia,  and  not  by  the  Democratic  Convention. 
He  little  knows  my  antecedents  who  does  not  know  that  I  have  never  per- 
mitted myself  to  be  governed  or  controlled  by  the  dictates  of  a  party,  in  re- 
gard to  party  nominations  or  party  measures,  anywhere  or  on  any  occasion. 

It  is  said  I  have  received  rewards  of  party,  and  have  rendered  very  little 
service  for  them.  What  party  reward  did  I  ever  receive?  I  am  charged 
with  ingratitude  to  the  Democratic  party.  I  was  never  elected  to  but  one 
office,  and  that  office,  like  this  of  attorney-general,  not  political — I  mean  the 
office  of  councillor  of  state — and  I  was  elected  to  that  office  by  a  fraction  of 
the  "Democratic  party,  with  the  united  vote  of  the  Whig  party,  beating  the 
caucus  nominee  of  the  party.  [Mr.  P.  did  not  refer  to  his  service  in  Con- 
gress. To  prevent  misapprehension,  it  is  proper  to  say  that  he  was  never 
elected  to  Congress  by  a  party  vote.  He  was  elected  by  the  people  four 
terms — three  terms  without  opposition — once  against  the  opposition  of  a 
most  popular,  distinguished  and  thorough-going  party  man  of  the  Democratic 
party  ;  and  was,  at  all  times,  supported  in  the  independent  course  he  pursued 
in  Congress,  (independent  of  party,  he  means,)  by  the  great  body  of  both 
parties.]  And  I  was  elected  and  re-elected  to  that  office  five  times,  every 
time,  except  one,  by  almost  the  unanimous  vote  of  both  parties,  without  a 
nomination  even  against  me.  On  one  occasion  there  was  a  nomination  of  a 
Democratic  gentleman  against  me  :  a  very  ardent,  consistent  and  thorough 
supporter  of  Democratic  principles,  who  got  "twenty-nine  votes,"  and  I  all 
the  balance.  At  these  elections  the  Whig  party  were  in  the  majority  twice. 
I  do  not  mean  at  all  to  say  anything  whatsoever  to  detract  from  the  liberality, 
from  the  friendly  feeling,  from  the  liberal  support  that  I  received,  from  the 
liberal  members  of  the  Democratic  party,  as  well  as  the  Whig  party,  during 
those  elections.  But  I  never  was  elected  by  a  party  vote — never  in  my  life. 
I  never  was  the  favorite  of  the  ultra  men  of  any  party  assembly,  because  I 
did  not  recognize  the  despotism  of  party  obligations,  and  because  I  always 
spurned  their  denunciations,  whenever  they  were  directed  against  me,  for  a 
preference  of  what  my  judgment  approved  as  demanded  by  the  true  interest 
of  the  country. 

I  have  changed  my  party  position,  therefore.  During  the  eight  years  of 
my  service  in  Congress — during  a  portion  of  the  time  when  Gen.  Andrew 
Jackson  was  in  the  zenith  of  his  power,  and  when  to  oppose  him  was  like 
bearding  the  lion  in  his  den — it  can  be  seen,  by  reference  to  the  journals  of 
that  time,  that  I  voted  indifferently,  as  I  thought,  with  the  one  party  as  the 
other:  and  it  was  because  of  this  that  the  great,  aud  illustrious,  and  patriotic 
man,  Henry  Clay,  who  was  always  my  warm  friend,  (and  deeply  did  I  re- 
gret very  frequently  that  I  could  not  consistently,  writh  the  opinions  and  prin- 
ciples which  I  entertained,  support  him  for  the  presidency,)  in  the  most 
friendly  spirit  and  the  facetiousness  of  his  genial  nature,  said  to  me  one  day, 
41  How  are  you  to-day,  Mr.  Patton?"  and  that  joke,  which  I  told  so  much  to 
the  amusement  of  my  friends  in  private  ten  years  ago,  was  told  with  very 
amusing  effect  by  John  Hampden  Pleasants  in  the  Whig,  on  the  day  after  I 
made  the  great  somerset  from  the  Whig  party  into  the  Democratic  ranks,  when 
I  made  a  speech  at  the  Exchange  in  1844.  And  this  joke,  which  was  so 
good-humoredly  published  ten  years  ago,  our  Democratic  friends  seem  to 
have  taken  hold  of  for  the  first  time.  They  seem  to  have  brought  it  up  with 
a  gusto,  as  if  they  never  had  heard  of  it.  They  must  be  very  much  in  want 


182 

of  something  to  amuse  them,  when  they  had   to  revive  my  old,  stale  and 
thread-bare  jokes  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  little  merriment. 

Gentlemen,  this  habit  of  resistance  to  party  dictation  exposed  me  during 
all  my  political  life  to  the  severe  criticism  of  the  press;  and  they  have  also^ 
brought  along  with  them  something  which,  perhaps,  I  ought  to  take  as  a  full 
equivalent — the  good  natured,  extravagant  and  equally  unmerited  praise  of 
the  party  press. 

I  have  thus  received  alternately  the  applause  of  Mr.  Thomas  Ritchie  and 
that  again  of  John  Hampden  Pleasants ;  and  have  received  alternately  their 
denunciation,  too — denunciations  from  whom  were  calculated  to  carry  some 
terror  with  them.  I  have  heard  the  thunder  of  Democratic  denunciations 
rolling  over  my  head,  threatening  to  exterminate  me,  when  Jupiter  Tonans, 
the  Olympian  Jove  of  Democracy,  Thomas  Ritchie,  wielded  the  thunder- 
bolt. I  have  had  the  lightning  of  Whig  denunciation  to  flash  in  my  eyes 
when  it  was  struck  forth  by  the  electric  genius  of  John  Hampden  Pleasants. 
I  was  assailed  violently  by  both,  but  it  gave  me  great  pleasure  to  see  that  af- 
ter the  storm  of  prejudice  and  passion  and  political  strife  had  passed  away,  it 
was  my  good  fortune  to  enjoy,  in  a  very  high  degree,  the  respect  and  confi- 
dence and  friendship  of  both  these  gentlemen,  which  was  cordially  recipro- 
cated by  myself.  And  now,  when  I  have  survived^'  heaven's  artillery/'  do 
you  think  I  am  going  to  be  killed,  or  frightened,  or  hurt,  by  firing  crackers  or 
sky-rockets,  and  least  of  all  by  pop-guns  loaded  with  sliced  potatoes,  and 
very  soft  and  small  potatoes  at  that. 

It  has  been  said  that  curses  loud  and  deep  from  the  Democratic  party  are 
poured  forth  against  me — I  suppose  melo-dramatic  curses  put  forth  for  stage- 
effect.  But  if  there  be  any  gentleman  of  the  Democratic  party,  whose  re- 
spect is  worth  anything,  that  has  lost  his  own  self-respect  so  far  as  to  deal  in 
curses  against  me,  let  me  say  to  him  that  he  had  better  remember  the  East- 
ern apothegm,  that  "  curses,  like  chickens,  go  home  to  roost."  As  for  my- 
self, I  regard  the  curses  of  an  angry  partizan  just  as  much  as  I  do  the  raving 
of  a  maniac,  or  the  howling  of  a  hungry  hyena.  "  They  pass  by  me  as  the 
idle  wind,  which  I  respect  not."  And  there  is  a  consolation  accompanying 
all  this  denunciation.  If  I  am  to  be  considered,  (and  I  don't  care  a  pinch  of 
snuff  whether  I  am  to  be  so  considered  or  not,)  as  driven  out  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  (it  certainly  required  no  very  strenuous  exertion  to  accomplish 
that  end,)  I  have  the  comfort  of  knowing  that  I  enjoy  in  this  calamity  the  com- 
pany of  20,000  (as  I  am  told)  of  that  old  and  respectable  party,  as  steadfast, 
true  and  conscientious  as  any  other  equal  number  who  still  adhere  to  it. 

And  now,  gentlemen,  I  ought,  perhaps,  after  saying  this  much  about  politi- 
cal intolerance,  say  what  is  perfectly  just  perhaps  to  all  parties,  and  certainly 
to  the  Democratic  party,  that  whatever  other  sins  they  might  have  been 
guilty  of,  they  do  not  bear  malice.  Let  any  politician,  no  matter  how  repro- 
bate he  may  have  been  in  his  opinion — no  matter  what  his  political  offences 
may  have  been — come  to  the  High  Priest  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  say, 
"Purge  me  with  hyssop  and  I  shall  be  clean,  wash  me  and  I  will  be  whiter 
than  snow,"  he  will  be  sure  to  receive  the  merciful  response,  "  Though  thy 
sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  white  as  snow ;  though  they  be  red  like  crim- 
son, they  shall  be  as  wool."  For  verily,  (at  this  time  particularly,)  there  is 
more  joy  in  the  kingdom  of  Democracy,  or  rather,  perhaps,  I  should  say  in 
the  popedom  of  Democracy,  for  they  seem  to  launch  their  fulminationsin  the 
same  spirit  and  tone  as  if  they  conceived  themselves,  like  his  holiness,  ths 
Pope  and  vicegerent  of  God,  whose  decrees  and  bulls  of  excommunication 
proclaimed  eternal  damnation — for  verily  "there  is  more  joy  over  one  sinner 
that  repenteth,  than  over  ninety  and  nine  just  men  that  need  no  repent- 
ance." And  if  there  shall  be  here  and  there  occasionally  an  acquisition  of 


183 

some  seceding  Know-Nothing,  or  obdurate  Whig  that  comes  to  be  purged 
with  hyssop,  they  are  thrown  in  absolute  ecstacy  and  paroxysms  of  joy. 

Well,  gentlemen,  there  is  perhaps  something  too  much  of  this.  I  have 
given  this  matter  connected  with  myself  more  consideration  than  it  deserved. 
I  desired,  gentlemen,  to  be  saved  the  necessity  of  having  to  say  anything  in. 
respect  to  this  nomination  for  attorney-general,  or  in  respect  to  any  matter 
connected  with  this  canvass.  I  certainly  have  no  design  to  say  at  any  time, 
here  or  anywhere  else,  anything  in  disparagement  of  the  claims  of  the  dis- 
tinguished gentleman  who  has  been  nominated  by  the  Staunton  Convention 
for  the  office  of  attorney-general,  or  anything,  in  the  slightest  degree,  to  de- 
rogate from  the  fidelity  with  which  he  will  discharge  his  duties,  if  a  majority 
of  the  people  of  Virginia  prefer  his  filling  that  office ;  and  still  more,  em- 
phatically, I  have  nothing  to  say  and  mean  to  say  nothing  intended  or  calcu- 
lated to  induce  any  man  to  vote  for  me,  or  to  prevent  any  man  from  voting 
against  me,  for  that  office,  if  he  prefers  my  competitor  to  fill  it. 

1  said  to  you,  gentlemen,  that  when  I  was  nominated  for  this  office  I  had 
seen  none  of  the  discussions  which  had  grown  up  in  Virginia,  or  anywhere 
else,  in  regard  to»this  American  party.  I  have  been  so  much  absorbed  with 
my  own  business,  that  I  do  not  think  I  have  read  a  governor's  message 
for  several  years,  nor  a  presidents  message ;  and  the  time  when  I  read  a 
speech  in  Congress,  is  a  period  which  runs  back  to  a  time  that  my  memory 
"runneth  not  to  the  contrary."  I  have,  however,  read  somewhat  carefully, 
at  various  times  since  my  nomination,  the  principles  and  basis  of  the  Know- 
Nothing  or  American  party,  and  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  with  one 
or  two  exceptions  in  regard  to  the  mode  of  action  of  the  party,  and  the  extent 
to  which  they  are  proposing  to  go,  as  a  rule  for  themselves  in  their  organiza- 
tion, the  principles  and  basis  of  that  party  meet  my  entire  approbation.  I 
see  nothing  inconsistent  with  those  unchanged  and  unchangeable  principles 
of  state  rights  Virginia  republicanism  which  I  have  always  cherished  and 
still  cling  to. 

I  have  looked  a  little  into  the  grounds  upon  which  this  organization  and  its 
principles  have  been  assailed  in  the  canvass,  and  have  been  amazed  at  the 
strange  misconception  and  the  singular  perverseness  of  argument  by  which 
it  is  sought  to  be  maintained,  that  the  principles  of  this  organization  are  vio- 
lative  of  the  Constitution  and  of  the  Bill  of  Rights,  and  that  they  lead  to  the 
destruction  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

The  last  time  I  was  in  this  building — certainly  in  connection  with  any  po- 
litical organization — the  cry  was  then  "  Young  America,"  and  I  was  hardly 
permitted  to  be  considered  as  a  fit  associate  for  the  genius  of  true  Democracy, 
because  I  did  not  join  in  a  cry  which  I  had  not  the  most  distant  understand- 
ing of  the  meaning  of,  except  that  I  had  some  vague  idea  that  it  was  gotten 
up  for  the  purpose  of  making  Stephen  A.  Douglas  president  of  the  United 
States;  and  as  that  was  a  purpose  which  I  had  never  conceived,  and  most 
probably  never  would,  I  was  regarded  as  an  "  old  fogy  " 

Since  then  there  seems  to  have  been  some  change  in  the  relation  of  par- 
ties and  in  the  issues.  We  hear  no  more  of  these  unchanged  and  unchange- 
able principles  of  Virginia  state  rights  republicanism  as  questions  of  party 
controversy,  or  as  the  watchword  of  the  Democratic  party.  And  now,  since 
old  America  and  young  America  have  come  together,  and  that  young  Amer- 
ica with  a  little  more  prudence  and  discretion  than  she  manifested  before,  did 
come  to  take  counsel  of  old  America;  and  when  they  have  both  joined 
hands  together  to  form  a  great  American  party,  those  who  then  made  this 
cry  about  young  America  say  no  more  about  it,  but  seemed  disposed  to  em- 
brace in  their  comprehensive  patriotism  old  Europe,  all  Europe,  Asia,  part 
of  Africa,  all  creation,  and  the  rest  of  mankind. 


184 

I  said,  gentlemen,  that  in  regard  to  some  of  the  details  of  this  basis  of 
principles  of  Know-Nothingism,  I  was  not  prepared  to  adopt  them  in  all  their 
breadth  and  length.  I  do  not  bind  myself  by  any  pledge,  either  written, 
spoken,  or  sworn — that  I  never  will,  under  any  circumstances,  vote  for  for- 
eigners for  any  office.  That  is  a  matter  that  I  will  leave  altogether  at  my 
discretion.  Were  I  to  act  otherwise,  I  should  be  abandoning  the  ground 
•which  I  have  maintained  all  my  life,  and  upon  which  I  can  now  stand  up  and 
defy  those  Democratic  denunciations  that  are  hurled  against  me.  I  have 
never  been  in  a  party  caucus  in  my  life,  in  Congress  or  out  of  it. 

While  these  are  my  views  of  party  obligations  and  the  means  of  carrying 
out  objects  of  party  organization,  I  have  no  right  to  be  a  censor  upon  those 
who,  as  party  men,  pursue  a  different  course  and  entertain  other  opinions. 
The  American  party  chooses  to  hold  their  meetings  in  secret,  as  the  Whig 
and  Democratic  party  have  been  and  are  in  the  habit  of  holding  secret  cau- 
cuses, by  night  or  day.  This  party  enter,  it  is  said,  into  mutual  obligations 
as  to  their  party  action.  No  matter  what  is  their  form,  they  can't  be  held 
more  binding  than  the  Democrats  claim  to  hold  the  implied  obligations  of 
their  party.  A  violation  of  them,  by  disobeying  the  behest  of  the  party, 
quitting  it,  is  followed  by  the  most  vehement  denunciation— Awhile  this  party, 
as  I  understand,  allows  every  man  to  go  out  of  the  party  when  he  pleases, 
and  his  obligations  are  at  once  at  an  end,  without  denunciation.  With  the 
Democratic  party  it  does  not  seem  to  be  so,  for  although  there  is  no  oath 
taken,  no  pledge  registered,  no  man  that  acts  with  them  can  dare  to  defy 
their  behests  and  dissent  from  their  decrees.  If  he  does — "Off  with  his 
head.  So  much  for  Buckingham." 

The  freedom  of  thought  and  opinion  which  they  allow  at  this  day  is  hap- 
pily illustrated  in  an  anecdote  which  is  told  of  one  of  Napoleon's  marshals, 
when  Napoleon  was  a  candidate  for  the  First  Consulship  for  life.  It  was  to 
be  determined  by  universal  suffrage.  Marshal  Augekaw  addressed  his  divi- 
sion in  the  following  words:-  "  Soldiers,  there  is  an  election  to-day  to  deter- 
mine whether  Napoleon  shall  be  Consul  for  life.  It  is  to  be  a  matter  of  the 
free  choice  of  the  people.  You  will  inarch  to  the  polls  and  vote  just  as  you 
think  proper;  but  if  you  vote  against  Napoleon,  I  will  shoot  you  as  soon  as 
you  come  back."  While  I  do  not,  and  cannot  according  to  my  notions  about 
party  engagements,  come  under  its  obligations,  I  agree  that,  as  a  general 
rule,  yours  is  a  proper  principle  of  action,  and  shall  probably  act  upon  it 
practically  myself.  There  may  be  occasion  imder  some  very  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances which  should  induce  a  departure  from  that  course,  in  respect  to 
the  exclusion  of  a  foreigner  from  all  political  offices.  But  I  maintain  against 
the  world  in  arms,  that  free  citizens  of  this  country,  native  or  foreign,  have 
the  right  to  enter  into  such  an  agreement  without  violating  the  rights  of  any 
other  citizens,  and  without  infringing  upon  any  principle  of  the  constitution 
or  the  bill  of  rights,  or  any  other  guarantee. 

It  is  to  my  mind  one  of  the  strangest  and  most  extraordinary  perversions 
of  principle  that  ever  has  been  seriously  insisted  upon,  that  the  rights  of 
foreigners  are  affected  because  a  portion  of  the  people  of  Virginia,  who  re- 
gard it  as  a  question  of  high  and  important  public  policy,  say,  and  unite 
themselves  together  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  principle,  that  for- 
eigners should  not  be  allowed  to  have  the  political  offices  of  the  country. 

For  what  are  the  rights  of  foreigners?  The  rights  of  foreigners  under 
our  laws  are  to  come  here  and  acquire  a  residence  and  carry  on  their  busi- 
ness under  the  segis  and  protection  of  our  laws, — to  sit  down  under  their 
own  vine  and  fig  tree,  and  after  spending  the  term  of  probation  fixed  by 
law  to  entitle  them  to  the  right  of  suffrage,  to  exercise  that  right,  and,  so  far 
as  the  Constitution  permits,  to  be  capable  of  election  to  any  office  if  the 
people  choose  to  confer  it  upon  them — and  because  a  portion  of  the  people, 


* 

* 


185 

in  the  exercise  of  their  fundamental,  indisputable  and  essential  rights,  say 
we  won't  vote  for  you  for  political  offices,  they  are  represented  as  acting  in 
direct  conflict  with  the  Constitution  and  the  principles  of  civil  liberty. 
Foreigners  have  exactly  the  same  right,  when  they  become  citizens,  to  say 
we  won't  vote  for  you,  and  I  suppose  nobody  would  pretend  to  say  that  was 
a  violation  and  invasion  of  your  rights. 

Why,  gentlemen,  do  you  know — and  I  suppose  you  don't,  for  you  Know 
Nothing — do  you  know  that  this  principle,  so  destructive  of  the  rights  of 
foreigners,  which  you  have  advocated  and  which  you  state  is  one  of  the 
rules  of  action  of  your  organization  is  not  your  thunder  at  all.  You  are  the 
copyists  merely.  You  have  borrowed  the  thunder,  and  of  whom  do  you  suppose  ? 
We  have  a  Constitution  here  which,  as  I  told  you  sometime  ago,  I  had  read  once 
or  twice,  and  we  find  in  that  Constitution  that  no  person  shall  be  eligible  to  the 
office  of  governor  unless  he  have  attained  the  age  of  thirty  years,  is  a  native 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  has  been  a  citizen  of  Virginia  so  many 
years.  The  lieutenant  governor  shall  be  elected  at  the  same  time,  and  for  the 
same  term,  and  his  qualifications  and  manner  of  election  shall  be  the  same  ; 
so  that  here  is  the  Know  Nothing  principle — so  fatal  and  destructive  to  the 
right  of  foreigners,  so  consistent  with  equal  rights  of  all  citizens — incorpo- 
rated into  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land  ;  so  that  if  you  wanted  to  vote 
for-  foreigners,  every  one  of  you,  the  Constitution  forbids  your  doing  so 
for  the  office  of  governor  or  lieutenant  governor  of  the  commonwealth. 

Well,  now,  you  have  only  carried  it  a  little  further  than  the  Constitution. 
The  Constitution 'does  not  prohibit  you  from  doing  as  you  propose  in  regard 
to  voting.  It  is  a  matter  left  to  the  exercise  of  your  will.  It  is  perfectly 
competent  for  the  citizen,  in  the  exercise  of  his  fundamental  and  essential 
right  to  select  for  himself  any  particular  individual  to  vote  for.  The  princi- 
ples which  govern  his  action  in  this  regard  cannot  of  course  be  affected  by 
any  constitutional  enactment,  nor  can  they,  by  any  means,  be  said  to  con- 
flict with  any  provision  in  our  Constitution.  But  lest  you  might,  peradven- 
ture,  put  a  foreigner  into  the  office  of  governor,  or  lieutenant  governor, 
our  legislators  have  put  an  insuperable  barrier  in  the  Constitution — you  can- 
not do  it. 

And  now.  gentleman,  who  do  you  suppose  inflicted  this  violation  of  the 
rights  of  foreigners,  and  incorporated  it  into  the  Constitution  ?  In  the  con- 
vention which  formed  the  Constitution,  it  was  moved  by  Mr.  Hunter,  to 
amend  the  report  by  striking  therefrom  the  word  "native,"  so  as  not  to 
permit  foreigners  to  be  elected  to  the  office  of  governor. 

Mr.  Letcher  moved  to  amend  the  amendment  by  striking  out  in  the  2d 
and  3d  line^  the  words,  "  shall  be  a  native  citizen  of  the  United  States." 

The  question  upon  the  adoption  of  the  amendment  being  put  to  the  Con- 
vention, was  decided  in  the  negative. 

The  question  then  recurring  upon  the  motion  of  Mr.  Hunter,  was  decided 
in  the  negative :  ayes  49,  noes  52. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were  Messrs.  John  Y.  Mason,  (Presi- 
dent,) Banks,  Beale,  Bocock,  Botts,  Bowls,  Braxton.  Burgess,  Richard  C. 
Boyd,  Chambers,  Chambliss,  Chilton,  Cocke,  Deneale,  Douglas,  Edmunds, 
Edwards,  Faulkner,  Finney,  Floyd,  Fultz,  Fuqua,  M.  R.  H.  Garnett,  Mus- 
coe  Garnet,  Goode,  Hall,  Hill,  Kenny,  Leake,  Lucus,  McCandlish,  Wm. 
Martin,  Moore,  Newman,  Price,  Reeves,  Saunders,  Scoggin,  Frances,  W. 
Scott,  Shell,  Berry  H.  Smith,  James  Smith,  Archibald  Stuart,  Taylor,  Tu- 
nish,  Turnbull,  J.  Watts,  Whittle,  Whilley,  Wingfield,  Wise,  Woolfolk, 
Wysor. 

We  find  among  those  whose  names  are  recorded  in  the  negative  the  elite 
of  the  Democracy.  The  exclusion  of  foreigners,  this  dangerous  violation  of 
the  rights  of  foreigners  kept  in  the  Constitution  by  the  reform  Convention 


186 

of  Virginia,  which  boasted  its  pre-eminent  defence  of  equal  rights  !  Can  it 
be  possible?  Tell  it  not  in  Gath.  Proclaim  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Askalon. 
You  Know-Nothings  do  know  nothing.  It  is  not  your  invention  at  all.  Lis- 
ten to  it,  you  foreigners  who  have  been  deluded  and  bamboozled  by  this 
clamor,  that  the  American  party  were  your  peculiar  enemies,  because  they 
were  depriving  you  of  your  equal  rights.  Those  very  people  who  have 
aroused  your  prejudices  and  excited  your  passions,  not  content  with  saying 
that  they  would  not  vote  for  you  for  the  office  of  governor  as  private  citizen, 
have  actually  put  it  into  the  Constitution  that  you  shall  not  be  voted  for  by 
anybody.  Let  the  Hon.  S.  A.  Douglas  hear  it,  and  learn  that  if  his  gallant 
and  brave  and  patriotic  fellow-citizen,  General  Shields,  were  here  in  Vir- 
ginia, although  he  were  ready  to  shed,  as  I  have  no  doubt  he  is  ready  to 
shed,  a  hogshead  of  blood,  if  he  had  it,  in  defence  of  the  country — if  he 
were  here  a  citizen  of  Virginia,  he  would  be  incapable  by  law — by  the  Con- 
stitution— of  receiving  the  office  of  governor,  or  the  comparatively  insig- 
nificant office  of  lieutenant  governor,  although  every  American  in  the  State 
were  anxious  to  make  an  exception  in  his  favor  to  this  generahule,  in 
consideration  of  his  great  gallantry  and  patriotism.  This  has  been  done, 
not  by  the  accursed  Know-JVolhings,  but  by  a  majority  of  the  Convention 
of  Virginia,  wrho  have  engrafted  it  into  the  Constitution  to  stand  for  all 
time. 

But,  gentlemen,  nor  was  the  reform  convention  entitled  to  this  discovery 
of  wisdom  and  prudence  of  putting  some  safe  guarantees  against  permitting 
the  high  political  offices  of  the  country  to  be  filled  by  foreigners.  You  have 
a  similar  provision  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  the  Consti- 
tution of  Virginia  of  1831,  and  you  have  a  piece  of  legislative  history  in 
the  law  of  Virginia  even  still  more  striking  and  remarkable.  In  the  year 
1786  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  passed  this  law,  and  I  desire  you  to 
consider  the  views  which  seemed  to  have  governed  the  legislators  of  that 
day.  I  will  read  the  statute  to  which  I  refer: 

"The  Speaker  read  from  'Henning's  Statues  at  Large,'  as  follows  : 

"  1st.  Whereas  it  is  the  policy  of  all  infant  States  to  encourage  popula- 
tion among  other  means  by  an  easy  mode  for  the  admission  of  foreigners  to 
the  rights  of  citizenship ;  yet  wisdom  and  safety  suggest  the  propriety  of 
guarding  against  the  introduction  of  secret  enemies,  and  of  keeping  the  of- 
fices of  Government  in  the  hands  of  citizens  intimately  acquainted  with  the 
spirit  of  the  Constitution  and  the  genius  of  the  people,  as  well  aspernanently 
attached  to  the  common  interest. 

"2.  Be  it  therefore  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly,  that  all  free  per- 
sons born  within  the  territory  of  this  commonwealth,  all  persons  not  being 
natives,  who  have  obtained  a  right  to  citizenship  under  the  act  entitled,  An 
act  declaring  who  shall  be  deemed  citizens  of  the  commonwealth,  and  also 
all  children  wheresoever  born,  whose  fathers  or  mothers  are  or  were  citi- 
zens at  the  time  of  the  birth  of  such  children,  shall  be  deemed  citizens  of 
this  commonwealth,  until  they  relinquish  that  character  in  manner  hereinafter 
mentioned  ;  and  that  all  persons  other  than  alien  enemies  who  shall  migrate 
into  this  state,  and  shall  before  some  court  of  record  give  satisfactory  proof 
by  oath,  (or  being  Quakers  or  Mononists,  by  affirmation,)  that  they  intend 
to  reside  therein,  and  also  to  take  the  legal  oath  of  affirmation  for  giving 
assurence  of  fidelity  to  the  commonwealth,  (which  oaths  or  affirmations  the 
clerk  of  the  court  shall  enter  on  record,  and  give  a  certificate  thereof  to  the 
person  taking  the  same,  and  shall,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  October  an- 
nually, transmit,  to  the  Executive  a  list  of  the  persons  who  shall  have  taken 
the  said  oath  or  affirmations,  reciting  their  nation  and  occupation  (if  any)  to 
be  by  them  entered  in  a  book  to  be  kept  for  that  purpose,  for  which  he  shall 
receive  the  fee  of  one  dollar;)  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  rights,  privileges 


187 

and  advantages  of  citizens,  except  that  they  shall  not  be  capable  of  election 
or  appointment  to  any  office,  legislative,  executive,  or  judiciary,  until  an  ac- 
tual residence  in  the  state  of  FIVE  YEARS  from  the  time  of  taking  such  oaths 
or  affirmations  aforesaid:  nor  until  they  shall  have  evinced  a  permanent 
attachment  to  the  state  by  having  intermarried  with  a  citizen  of  this  com- 
monwealth, or  a  citizen  of  an}r  other  of  the  United  States,  or  purchased 
lands  to  the  value  of  one  hundred  pounds  therein." 

Mr.  Patton  proceeded : — That  was  the  idea  of  the  patriots  and  sages  of 
the  revolution,  at  that  early  period,  when  the  policy  of  this  infant  state  was 
especially  to  encourage  immigration.  That  law  continued  in  force  in  Vir- 
ginia certainly  until  1852,  when  Congress  passed  its  naturalization  laws. 
And  it  seems  to  have  been  supposed  by  very  eloquent  lawyers  and  able 
men,  that  this  law  was  still  in  force,  notwithstanding  the  passage  of  the 
naturalization  laws  by  Congress ;  it  was  re-enacted  in  '92,  which  was  be- 
fore the  naturalization  law,  and  continued  in  the  Code  of  1819,  prepared  by 
Watkins  Leigh,  one  of  the  ablest  jurists  of  t[ie  country.  It  remained  in 
the  statute  book  until  1850,  when  the  revisers  of  that  time,  finding  it  there, 
and  believing  it  was  supperseded  by  the  naturalization  law  of  Congress  left 
it  out  of  the  Code.  But  there  it  stands  as  a  monument  of  the  opinions  of 
the  then  illustrious  sages  of  the  revolution.  This  law  was  made  about  the 
very  time — whether  it  was  one  of  the  laws  reported  by  the  committee,  I 
don't  know — that  Jefferson,  Pendleton  and  Wythe  were  appointed  to  revise 
the  laws  of  Virginia.  Here  is  the  Know-Nothing  principle  with  a  ven- 
geance ! 

Gentlemen,  this  cry  about  the  rights  of  foreigners  is  all  gammon.  No- 
body proposes ;  no  man  that  I  have  ever  seen  ;  no  paper  that  I  ever  read, 
advocating  or  sustaining  this  Know-Nothing  or  American  party  movement, 
has  said  or  written  anything  indicating  a  purpose  to  violate  any  rights  of 
foreigners.  A  foreigner  has  no  right  in  this  country  except  what  the  laws 
give.  It  is  wholly  a  matter  of  domestic  policy,  and  for  the  consideration, 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  under  what  circumstances  they  will  ad- 
mit foreigners  into  the  country,  or  whether  they  will  admit  them  at  all — 
whether,  when  they  come  here,  they  will  allow  them  to  become  citizens — 
upon  what  terms  of  probation,  and  under  what  forms  and  conditions.  My 
opinion  is,  that  viewing  the  vast  increase  in  immigration — the  change  in  our 
condition  ;  the  vast  numbers  and  rapid  increase  of  our  own  population — that 
the  time  has  arrived  materially  to  change  our  naturalization  laws — to  in- 
crease very  considerably  the  length  of  probation,  before  admission  to  the 
rights  of  citizenship,  and  provide  other  and  more  efficient  securities,  that 
those  who  are  to  receive  these  rights  are  fit  depositaries  of  them  by  their 
moral  character — knowledge  of  the  principles  of  our  institutions,  and  im- 
bued with  devotion  to  our  constitution. 

These  are  matters,  however,  of  detail  to  be  disposed  of  by  Congress.  It 
would  be  premature  for  me  to  undertake  to  consider  or  define  any  specific 
views  as  to  the  proper  provisions.  They  must  be  left  to  the  wisdom  of 
Congress  exercised  with  a  full  view  of  the  exigencies  of  the  country  at  the 
time. 

I  believe  that  there  are  some  over-zealous  advocates  of  the  American 
party,  who  go  to  extreme  lengths,  such  as  preventing  the  immigration  of 
foreigners  out  and  out,  and  repealing  the  naturalization  laws.  Now  I  am  in 
favor  of  neither.  I  do  not  understand  the  Virginia  American  party  to  be  in 
favor  of  either.  I  say,  let  the  foreigners  come,  and  if  I  could  remember 
here,  I  would  speak  over  again  that  speech  which  seemed  to  have  been  ad- 
mired so  much  by  my  Democratic  friends.  I  would  say,  let  then\come, 
and  forbid  them  not — the  industrious  and  pains-taking  German  from  his 
fader  land,  the  gay  Frenchman  from  the  fertile  plains  and  vine-clad  hills  of 


188 

his  beautiful  France,  the  whole-souled  and  gallant  Irishman — let  them 
come.  But  let  them  come  with  a  means  of  living  ;  let  them  come  to  better 
their  fortune  by  their  industry,  adding  to  the  industrial  products  of  the  coun- 
try itself,  by  becoming  permanently  located  amongst  us,  by  raising  families 
amongst  us  ;  and  when  they  have  stayed  here  a  sufficient  length  of  time — 
all  the  time  prescribed  by  our  laws,  and  have  given  proper  assurances,  such 
as  the  details  of  the  law  of  Congress  may  prescribe,  that  they  really  un- 
derstand the  principles  of  our  government,  and  properly  estimate  the  value 
of  our  system,  let  them  be  received  as  citizens  amongst  us.  But  take  care. 
I  would  appeal  to  every  industrious,  intelligent  and  sober-minded  foreigner 
himself,  if  this  is  not  a  principle  which  is  necessary  for  his  and  the  rights 
of  his  children — take  care  that  our  shores  be  not  flooded  by  the  paupers  and 
criminals  cast  off  by  the  old,  declining  governments  of  Europe — sent  here 
to  be  supported  by  us,  and  to  fill  our  poor-houses,  and  our  penitentiaries.  And 
if  there  be  any  foreigner  who  is  not  satisfied  about  that,  I  pray  and  beseech 
him  to  read  Valentine  Heckler's  letter.  In  my  poor  estimate,  it  is  worth 
all  the  speeches  that  have  befcn  made  or  will  be  made  from  now  until  Christ- 
mas upon  that  subject. 

Talk  about  violating  rights,  &c.,  gentlemen,  I  have  no  hostility  to  for- 
eigners. Why  should  I?  My  father  was  a  Scotchman,  and  my  grand- 
father was  a  Scotchman,  and  the  first,  I  believe,  the  only  general  officer  who 
died  in  battle  in  defence  of  the  country  in  the  revolutionary  struggle.  These 
propositions,  as  I  understand  them,  are  just  as  essential  for  the  true  inter- 
ests, and  for  the  protection  of  the  true  rights  of  foreigners  who  come  here 
and  become  established  amongst  us,  as  they  are  for  natives,  and  nothing  but 
a  misconception  and  misunderstanding  of  the  true  purposes  and  objects  of 
this  association,  could  have  possibly  created  such  a  storm  among  a  consider- 
able portion  of  foreigners,  or  any  other  persons. 

As  to  the  religious  question,  gentleman,  I  am  afraid  that  I  cannot  consider 
myself  entirely  fit  to  consider  such  a  subject  as  that;  I  am  afraid,  God  help 
me,  I  have,  not  much  religion  of  any  sort,  though  I  see  that  somebody  has 
made  the  wonderful  discovery  that  the  Winchester  ticket  is  made  up  of  a 
Methodist,  a  Baptist,  a  Presbyterian  and  Episcopalian.  I  believe  I  am  my- 
self nearer  the  Episcopalian  than  any  other;  I  don't  live  more  than  a  square 
and  a  half  from  the  church.  Now,  I  understand  that  nobody  belonging  to 
this  much  and  terribly  abused  party — for  I  think  it  is  and  has  been  the  worst 
abused  that  ever  has  risen  in  the  country,  not  excepting  the  Abolitionists,  who 
deserve  it  most  richly — I  do  not  understand  that  any  man.  belonging  to  this 
organization  desires  to  interfere  with  any  civil  or  religious  rights  of  Catholics, 
any  more  than  with  the  civil  and  religious  rights  of  Protestants.  Nobody 
disputes  the  right,  or  designs  to  interfere  with  the  liberty,  of  the  members  of 
that  Church  in  worshiping  God  according  tojtheir  own  consciences.  Nobody 
designs  to  interfere  with  their  right  to  believe  that  what  is  proclaimed  by  the 
Pope  as  religious  faith,  is  an  infallible  truth.  No  person  desires  to  interfere 
with  their  belief  that  they  must  take  their  conviction  of  religious  duty  from 
the  Pope  and  not  from  the  Bible.  Nobody  denies  their  right  to  believe  in 
transubstantiation  or  consubstantiation,  or  in  the  Immaculate  Conception  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  which  has  been  recently  declared  by  his  holiness  the 
Pope,  or  any  other  article  of  faith. 

So  far  as  any  person  undertakes  to  say  that  he  will  not  vote  for  a  Catholic, 
he  exercises  his  undeniable  right.  It  is  equally  competent  for  persons  out- 
side the  order  to  take  that  position,  nor  do  I  believe  that  they  would  be 
guilty,  if  they  choose  to  take  such  a  position,  of  any  violation  of  the  rights  of 
Catholics,  either  civil  or  religious.  How  far  the  charges  of  temporal  alle- 
giance on  the  part  of  Catholics  to  the  Pope  are  justified,  I  am  not  aware.  It 
is  strange  that  while  some  Catholics  deny  the  temporal  authority  of  the  Pope 


189 

over  them,  others  of  their  own  church,  some  of  them  high  in  position,  do 
maintain  that  they  are  thus  bound. 

Well,  I  know  not  who  is  right  and  who  is  wrong  about  that;  but  this  I  do 
know,  that  if  it  is  established  that  we  have  a  body  of  men  here  who  are  un- 
der the  temporal  authority  of  a  foreign  potentate,  or  any  other  religious  head, 
domestic  or  foreign,  in  the  exercise  of  their  civil  rights,  it  would  be  a  justifi- 
able ground  upon  which  we  should  abstain  from  conferring  any  office  of  po- 
litical power  or  influence  upon  any  such  man — I  care  not  whether  he  be 
Catholic,  Presbyterian,  Episcopalian,  Methodist,  Baptist,  or  of  any  other  reli- 
gion. Just  convince  me  that,  as  a  religious  congregation  or  body,  they  are 
controlled  by  a  Pope  abroad  or  a  Bishop  here,  and  I  would  give  none  of  them 
my  vote  for  any  office  of  political  power  or  trust,  because  that  is  to  us  a  dan- 
gerous exercise  of  the  right  of  citizenship,  dangerous  to  them,  dangerous  to 
civil  liberty,  dangerous  because  it  is  a  practical  union  of  church  and  state, 
under  which,  wherever  it  exists,  the  tree  of  liberty  withers  and  dies.  With 
such  convictions,  I  cannot  hesitate  to  adopt  that  portion  of  the  Know-Nothing 
platform  which  refers  to  religious  toleration.  It  is  this: 

"  That  the  American  doctrine  of  religious  toleration,  and  entire  absence  of 
all  proscription  for  opinion's  sake,  should  be  cherished  as  one  of  the  very 
fundamental  principles  of  our  civil  freedom,  and  that  any  sect  or  party  which 
believes  and  maintains  that  any  foreign  power,  religious  or  political,  has  the 
right  to  control  the  conscience  or  direct  the  conduct  of  a  freeman,  occupies 
a  position  which  is  totally  at  war  with  the  principles  of  freedom  of  opinion, 
and  which  is  mischievous  in  its  tendency,  and  which  principle,  if  carried 
into  practice,  would  prove  wholly  destructive  of  religious  and  civil  liberty." 

Well,  then,  gentlemen,  another  great  and  formidable  ground  of  assault 
upon  this  American  party — upon  those  40,  or  50,  or  60,000  of  the  people  of 
Virginia,  is,  that  they  are  laboring  in  the  cause  of  Abolitionism.  Fifty 
thousand  Virginia  gentlemen  of  intelligence,  of  property,  of  character,  com- 
bined to  promote  the  cause  of  abolitionism  !  Terrible  conspiracy,  most  dan- 
gerous and  mischievous  politicians!  Why,  gentlemen,  the  very  fact  of  the 
composition  of  this  order  is  a  standing  refutation  of  this  most  singular  impu- 
tation. But  if  you  wanted  any  other  evidence  of  it  just  take  the  testimony 
of  Mr.  Greely,  or  Weed,  the  peculiar  organ  of  W.  H.  Seward,  or  Wade  of 
Ohio,  or  Giddings,  all  of  whom  denounce  this  American  party  as  the  deadly 
enemy  of  the  abolition  party. 

I  received  a  newspaper  this  morning,  I  believe,  containing  the  last  fulmi- 
nations  (for  they  seem  to  have  some  Popes  among  the  abolitionists)  of  Mr. 
Giddings  upon  the  subject.  I  will  read  them  for  you,  together  with  some  re- 
marks from  the  Chicago  Journal,  an  abolition  paper.  Speaking  of  the  Know- 
Nothings,  he  says : 

"There  are  few  foreigners  whom  I  would  be  less  willing  to  trust  in  office, 
than  those  who  are  so  active  in  their  efforts  to  arouse  the  popular  feeling 
against  our  emigrant  population,  while  themselves  remain  perfectly  quiet, 
and  see  our  native  born  Americans,  (that  is,  runaway  negroes,)  from  Ohio, 
land  other  free  states,  seized  an*  sold  into  interminable  slavery;  aye,  they 
pot  only  remain  quiet  under  such  insults,  but  insist  that  the  people  shall  not 
'•discuss  the  impropriety  of  such  a  crime." 

"  I  would  a  thousand  times  rather  vote  for  an  honest  lover  of  liberty, 
though  a  Catholic,  than  for  many  Protestant  Doctors  of  Divinity,  who  have 
so  long  denied  our  obligation  of  God's  '  higher  law,'  and  endeavor  to  recon- 
cile us  to  the  infamous  fugitive  slave  enactment.  The  time  has  arrived 
when  men  should  be  judged  by  their  action  by  their  political  conduct,  rather 
than  by  prejudices  attached  to* a  name  or  sect." 

The  Chicago  Journal — an  Abolition  print — quotes  a  passage  from  Gov. 
Smith's  speech  in  defence  of  Know-Nothingism,  and  says : 


I 


190 

"There  it  is  in  a  nut  shell.  Foreigners  who  come  to  this  country,  settle 
in  free  states,  with  instincts  against  slavery, 

"For  these  instincts  the  South  is  to  hunt  them  down,  while  freemen  at 
the  North  shout  forth  the  'tally  ho!'  to  the  chase.  Aside  from  the  oath- 
bound,  prescriptive  intolerance  of  the  order,  there  seems  enough  in  its  slavery 
instincts  to  cause  all  friends  of  freedom  to  view  its  progess  with  alarm." 

That,  continued  Mr.  Patton,  is  the  testimony  upon  the  one  side,  and  then 
we  have  our  Virginia  papers  denouncing  this  party  and  the  leaders  of  the 
party  without  measure,  and  denouncing  it  as  an  abolition  party.  There 
really  seems  to  be  something  very  amusing  and  curious  in  the  idea  of  seeing 
this  great  American  omnibus  moving  along  upon  the  railroad,  which  people 
believe  is  going  to  lead  to  the  terminus  of  triumph  and  success,  and  the 
leaders  of  the  Virginia  Democracy  trying  to  pull  it  off  the  track  because  it  is 
loaded  with  runaway  slaves,  carrying  them  to  the  North,  while  on  the  other 
side  we  have  Greely,  Giddings,  and  alljthat  party  pulling  at  it  with  all  their 
might,  because  it  is  catching  runaway  slaves  to  bring  them  back.  Well,  if 
they  will  keep  on  pulling  in  that  way,  one  pulling  on  one  side  and  the  other 
on  the  other,  as  action  and  re-action  is  equal,  "  with  a  long  pull,  a  strong 
pull,  and  a  pull  altogether,"  the  car  will  be  kept  steady  in  its  course,  and 
will  arrive  at  its  destiny  without  any  sort  of  difficulty. 

But,  this  oath-bound  organization,  as  Mr.  Giddings  calls  it.  Well,  gentle- 
men, as  I  said  before,  I  do  not  belong  to  this  secret  organization.  I  never 
belonged  to  a  secret  society  in  my  life,talthough  most  of  my  family  were 
Masons.  I  have  some  sort  of  scruples  and  fastidiousness  which  prevented 
me  at  all  times  from  going  into  any  place  to  assume  any  secret  engagement. 
But,  surely  we  are  not  going  at  this  time  of  day  to  denounce  secret  associa- 
tions as  dangerous  and  mischievous,  and  ruinous  to  the  country  merely  be- 
cause th^y  are  secret.  1  hope  we  are  not  to  have  the  Anti-Masonic  party 
revived.  The  question  whether  the  secret  character  is  objectionable  or  not 
depends  upon  the  objects  of  the  organization.  The  reason  which  they  had 
to  make  it  secret,  assume  any  secret  engagement,  is  manifest  to  all  who  can 
estimate  the  extraneous  influences  of  party,  and  the  consequences  of  an  open 
repudiation  of  former  party  fealty. 

But  we  are  justified  in  taking  it  for  granted  that  there  is  nothing  dangerous 
in  it,  as  good  fruits  come  out  of  it;  and  I  would  no  sooner  believe  that  my 
venerable  friend  (pointing  to  Dr.  Merritt  on  his  left,)  if  he  be  a  Know- 
Nothing,  which  I  do  not  know,  but  suppose,  I  would  just  as  soon  suspect  my 
venerable  friend  would  be  a  member  of  a  secret  association,  red  with  con- 
spiracy against  the  liberty  of  the  country,  as  I  would  believe  that  you,  or 
you,  or  you,  (pointing  to  several  prominent  Masons,)  or  any  other  gentleman 
not  belong  to  this  organization,  would  unite  in  such  a  conspiracy.  Gentle- 
men, this  is  all  stuff. 

We  know  what  this  secrecy  is,  and  what  it  was  for.  They  have  pro- 
claimed their  principles  and  basis.  They  proclaim  that  it  is  a  peculiar  organ- 
ization for  building  up  a  party  to  sustain  certain  principles.  If  these  princi- 
ples are  good,  of  what  importance  is  it,  tbat  they  choose  to  go  together  and 
consult  about  them,  and  discuss  the  ways  and  means  to  procure  their  ends  in 
secret.  Is  not  every  political  association  practically  secret  in  its  operations 
and  its  communications  with  other  associations  affiliated  with  it,  and  in  all 
the  machinery  calculated  to  give  effect  and  success  to  their  political  objects? 
We  know  that  it  is.  We  know  that  the  great  mass  of  the  party  have  nothing 
to  do  with  all  this  preliminary  management,  and  in  truth  know  nothing 
about  it. 

No,  gentlemen,  we  know  what  the  object  of  this  'secrecy  is,  or  at  least  I 
think  we  do,  and  I  think  it  is  stated  in  a  very  able  letter,  issued  recently  from 
some  council  in  New  York.  It  gives  very  fully  the  objects  of  this  organiza- 


191 

tion,  and  the  reasons  of  its  secrecy.  I  will  read  you  some  extracts  copied 
into  the  Lynchburg  Virginian,  from  a  Pennsylvania  paper,  which  is  opposed 
to  this  Know-Nothing  organization.  It  is  perfectly  well  known  that  it  \vas 
designed  to  protect  those  who  were  desirous  of  joining  this  party  from  the 
terrors  and  denunciations  of  the  old  parties  to  which  they  might  belong. 
Possibly  there  are  many  men,  honest,  industrious  and  sober  men,  men  whose 
bread  depends  on  not  quarrelling  with  their  party,  who,  though  desirous  of 
joining  this  new  organization,  could  not  do  so  unless  they  could  be  protected 
from  the  consequences  of  an  open  avowal  of  the  fact  that  they  had  joined 
the  new  party.  [The  remarks  of  the  Pennsylvania  paper  were  read.]  I  will 
now  read  from  the  Lynchburg  Virginian  some  commentary  on  the  extract 
which  I  have  referred  to: 

"  We  need  only  look  over  the  columns  of  any  Democratic  press  in  the 
state,  to  perceive  how  necessary  it  was  that  the  members  of  the  new  party 
should  protect  themselves  behind  the  shield  of  secrecy.  Whenever  a  Dem- 
ocrat  is  discovered  in  connection  with  the  movement,  regardless  of  his  rights 
as  a  citizen,  and  his  feelings  as  a  man,  he  is  stigmatized  as  a  miscreant  and 
traitor,  and  held  up  to  the  scorn  and  contempt  of  the  world.  The  rigor  of 
its  party  discipline  is  such  that  few  men  are  bold  enough  to  incur  the  vindic- 
tive and  relentless  penalties  of  absolving  their  allegiance  to  the  Democratic 
organization.  The  law  of  Russian  despotism  which  makes  it  a  capital  offence 
for  a  subject  to  quit  the  realm,  without  permission  of  his  imperial  master,  is 
not  more  stringent  or  more  rigorously  enforced  than  the  obligation  of  the 
Democratic  fealty,  which  demands  a  perfect  and  perpetual  adhesion.  The 
regulations  of  military  service  have  been  adopted  into  their  code — and  de- 
serters are  either  shot  without  .mercy,  or  drummed  out  of  camp  with  the 
ignominious  notes  of  the  rogue's  march.  It  would  have  been  impossible  for 
the  American  organization  to  have  obtained  recruits  from  that  party,  had 
they  not  been  protected  by  an  obligation  of  secrecy,  in  withdrawing  from 
one  body  and  uniting  with  the  other.  And  if  the  object  and  principles  of 
the  party  are  in  themselves  patriotic  and  proper,  this  condition  of  member- 
ship will  be  excused  as  a  necessary  and  sole  means  of  promoting  their 
strength — and  the  only  proper  subject  of  enquiry  and  comment  remaining  is 
as  to  the  purposes,  not  the  character,  of  the  organization." 

Besides  all  that,  we  now  have  it  pretty  well  understood  that  the  purposes 
and  objects  of  this  secrecy  having  been  attained,  and  the  party  being  strong 
enough  to  sustain  itself,  the  veil  of  secrecy  will  soon  be  removed.  And 
then  everybody  will  probably  wonder  what  a  great  fuss  was  made  about  this 
secrecy,  which  at  last  may  turn  out  to  have  been  no  secret  at  all,  except  in 
regard  to  some  particular  modes  and  details  of  proceeding. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  believe  I  have  said  pretty  much  all  that  I  designed  to 
say,  though  I  may  have  forgotten  something.  One  of  the  papers  of  the 
city,  a  very  respectable  paper,  and  edited  by  a  very  able,  amiable,  facetious 
gentleman,  published  some  time  ago,  a  speech  of  mine,  made  here  at  this 
place,  in  good  humored  raillery  of  the  Taylor  Convention,  a  speech  which  I 
suppose  must  have  been  considered  by  my  Democratic  friends  as  exceedingly 
funny,  considering  the  vast  amount  of  printed  laughter  which  it  seems  to 
have  occasioned.  Well,  now,  in  perfect  good  humor  towards  Mr.  Hqghes, 
for  whom  I  entertain  feelings  of  kindness  and  respect,  I  beg  leave  to  say  that 
it  is  a  little  strange  to  me,  that  while  he  was  making  himself  so  merry  over 
it,  it  never  occurred  to  him  that  there  was  another  convention  to  which  that 
speech  about  the  cat  in  the  meal  tub  might  possibly  have  some  application, 
as  well  as  the  Taylor  Convention.  There  was  a  certain  Convention  which 
assembled  not  very  long  ago  at  Staunton,  where  there  was  also  a  cat  in  the 
meal  tub,  and  there  was  a  certain  Archibald-Bell-the-cat,  who  threatened  to 
hang  the  bell  around  puss'  neck,  at  the  Convention,  so  that  there  should  be 


192 

no  mouse  running  about  there  nibbling  at  the  cheese  without  danger  of  being 
caught.  But  some  considerations  overruled  this  bold  intent.  Harmony  was 
thought  more  expedient  than  the  assertion  of  principle,  or  like  Bob  Acres, 
his  courage  oozed  at  his  fingers'  ends.  Nobody  knows  to  this  day  what  are 
the  principles  of  the  Virginia  Democracy  upon  Hunter's  land  bill. 

There  is  another  matter  suggested  by  this  reference  to  the  land  bill  which 
presents  considerations  of  great  importance  in  reference  to  the  question  of 
foreign  immigration.  One  of  the  most  mischievous  habits  of  legislation  has 
grown  up  in  Congress  in  reference  to  new  territories  in  the  west  and  north- 
west— and  a  course  of  legislation  inconsistent,  as  it  seems  to  me,  with  the 
spirit  of  the  Constitution. 

I  allude  to  the  organizing  territories  so  that  every  foreigner — although  he 
may  have  only  been  in  the  country  a  short  time  (six  or  twelve  months)  I 
believe,  becomes  a  voter  in  these  territories.  It  is  in  those  states,  built  up 
by  that  population  to  a  great  extent — a  population  who  cannot  speak  our  lan- 
guage, or  read  or  write  any  language — a  great  many  of  them — it  is  in,  I  sa}', 
those  states,  built  up  by  a  population  of  this  cast,  that  a  great  and  important 
political  power  is  growing  up  which,  before  many  years  at  the  present  rate 
of  immigration,  would  have  the  power  to  control  the  destinies  of  the  country. 
And  besides  all  that,  in  connection  with  this  course  of  legislation  in  regard 
to  the  territories,  we  have  projects  of  practical  agrarianism  appropriating  the 
public  lands  to  all  who  will  go  and  settle  upon  them  without  price  or  at  merely 
nominal  prices,  furnishing  bounties  to  immigration  and  thus  filling  up  those 
states  to  a  large  extent  writh  such  foreign  population,  an-d  stimulating  into  a 
natural  and  artificially  rapid  growth  those  states,  thus  increasing  the  prepon- 
derance of  political  power  against  the  southern  states. 

Such  are  the  views  presented  by  ex-governor  Smith,  expressed  in  a  spirit 
of  manly  firmness  and  independence.  I  honor  him  for  it,  and  hope  and 
believe  that  he  will  be  able  to  breast  the  storm  and  carry  his  election 
triumphantly.  What  better  illustration  can  you  have  of  the  arbitrary  power 
assumed  by  party,  than  that  such  a  man  as  ex-governor  Smith  has  had  abuse 
and  invective  poured  out  upon  him,  notwithstanding  his  unflinching,  enduring, 
undeviating  devotion  to  the  Democratic  party,  because  he  will  not  vote  for  a 
gentleman  for  govornor  who  has  been  nominated  by  them  ?  No  man  has 
rendered  more  party  service  than  he  has.  And  now  for  this  single  act  of 
disobedience  towards  a  decree  of  party,  he  is  to  be  hunted  down  with  indig- 
nation and  fury. 

Gentlemen,  I  understand  that  some  laudable  and  disinterested  anxiety  was 
expressed  to  know  what  my  views  were  upon  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bill. 

Well,  really,  I  did  not  expect  that  such  an  inquiry  would  be  made  of  me, 
beinsr  merely  a  candidate  for  the  attorney-generalship.  But  disposed  to 
gratify  all  rational  curiosity,  I  will  give  my  experience  on  that  subject.  I 
never  read  either  the  Kansas  or  Nebraska  bill,  if  there  are  two  of  them.  All 
I  know  about  it  is,  that  a  particular  object  was  to  repeal  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, and  I  confess  I  did  not  see  any  great  importance  in  that  compromise 
law,  as  I  always  considered  that  the  Missouri  was  unconstitutional.  In  truth, 
I  know  very  little  about  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bill;  but  finding  that  the 
great*  body  of  the  southern  delegation  were  in  favor  of  it,  I  also  was  anxious  for 
the  passage  of  the  bill.  I  don't  see  what  importance  it  is  to  those  who  make 
the  inquiry  to  ascertain  my  views  in  this  matter,  since  I  do  not  think  they 
would  vote  for  me  if  I  was  for  or  against  it.  It  cannot  be  of  any  importance 
to  them  either  way,  for  Gen.  Millson,  who  voted  against,  and  my  friend, 
John  Caskie,  who  voted  for  it,  receive  their  support  alike. 

I  am  sorry  that  I  have  consumed  so  much  of  your  time.  There  are  other 
gentlemen  whom  you  will  be  glad  to  hear,  and  it  is  proper,  therefore,  that  I 
should  give  way.  I  desire  simply  to  say,  that  all  this  time  I  have  been  dis- 


193 

cussing  questions  unconnected  with  the  office  of  attorney-general.  I  cer- 
tainly do  not  desire  any  gentleman  to  give  me  his  vote  upon  mere  party 
grounds.  I  feel  very  little  concern  about  the  office.  If  the  people  of  Vir- 
ginia choose  to  elect  me  to  it,  I  shall  endeavor  to  discharge  its  duties  the  best 
I  can.  I  certainly  think  I  will  be  able,  as  I  should  strive,  to  deal  out  equal 
and  exact  justice  to  all  men  of  all  parties,  Democrats  and  Whigs,  natives 
and  foreigners,  Wise  men  and  Know-Nothings. 


From  the  Examiner,  April  10,  1855. 
MR.  PATTON  AND  HIS  CLIENTS. 

We  have  discussed  the  "  statesmanship"  of  Mr.  FLOURNOY.  Friends  and 
neighbors  of  that  gentleman  have  complained  of  the  severity  of  our  strictures. 
The  complaint  is  unjust  and  unwarranted.  We  have  said  nothing  impeaching 
Mr.  FLOURNOY'S  private  character.  His  public  character  is  public  property. 
We  have  said  naught  of  his  public  character  that  was  not  strictly  legitimate — 
nothing  that  was  not  allowable  of  a  candidate  for  high  public  trust  and*popular 
suffrage — nothing  that  was  not  entirely  just  in  respect  to  an  educated  Virginia 
gentleman,  who  had  adopted  the  truculent  politics  of  a  Northern  party  or  mob 
that  burns  churches,  desecrates  the  ballot  box,  peers  into  the  private  sanctities 
of  the  woman's  chamber  under  pretence  of  religious  zeal,  and  prefers  for  office 
the  Deist,  the  Atheist,  the  Infidel  and  the  Abolitionist  rather  than  Christians  of 
the  faith  of  ROGER  B.  TANEY,  WILLIAM  GASTON,  Sir  THOMAS  MORE,  and 
CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS. 

We  have  now  to  discuss  the  sentiments  of  Mr.  PATTON  as  proclaimed  at 
length  in  the  African  Church,  in  this  city.  His  speech  in  that  building  on 
Tuesday  night  last  is  fully  reported  in  last  Friday's  Richnuonl  Whig,  to  which 
we  refer  the  reader  of  the  following  paragraphs.  Reciprocating  fully  and  cor- 
dially the  sentiments  of  kindness  and  respect  expressed  for  ourselves  by  Mr. 
Patton  on  that  occasion,  we  shall  errdeavor  to  characterize  his  remarks  with  a 
frankness  and  fairness  befitting  those  sentiments.  We  declare  in  the  outset, 
however,  that  in  order  to  do  so  we  shall  have  to  treat  the  whole  speech  as  an 
elaborate  joke. 

We  heard  that  speech  with  infinite  satisfaction.  We  saw  with  pleasure  that 
Mr.  Patton  could  not  bring  himself  to  endorse  the  politics  of  the  Know  Nothing 
party.  From  beginning  to  end,  it  was  the  speech  of  an  advocate  for  a  prisoner 
in  the  box;  and  it  committed  Mr.  Patton -to  the  tenets  of  Know  Nothingism 
no  more  than  his  pleadings  for  the  worst  criminals  at  the  bar  of  justice  have 
committed  him  to  the  crimes  which  his  professional  duty  required  him  to  exte- 
nuate and  whitewash.  We  expected  his  clients  to  growl  and  rebel  at  this  treat- 
ment. We  confidently  expected  that  the  speech  would  be  suppressed.  We  felt 
it  in  our  bones  that  his  words  had  fallen  upon  the  exuberant]  feelings  of  the 
meeting  like  a  shower  bath.  We  saw  it  become  quieter,  tamer,  cooler,  at  every 
sentence  that  fell  from  his  lips;  for  he  denied  any  membership  in  the  Order ^ 
he  entered  a  caveat  against  secret  politics  and  religious  bigotry ;  he  pointedly 
rebuked  the  over-zealous  advocates  of  a  repeal  of  the  naturalization  laws  (Mr. 
Flournoy  inclusive) ;  and,  so  far  from  arresting  immigration,  he  was  especially 
sweet  upon  the  "industrious,  pains  taking  German,"  "the  gay  Frenchman  from 
the  vine  clad  hills  of  beautiful  France,"  "  the  whole  souleJ  and  gallant  Irish- 
man," of  whom  he  cried  "  let  them  come  and  forbid  them  not." 

We  did  not  expect  his  clients  to  stand  this.  We  thought  they  would  cer- 
tainly raeent  such  a  damning  with  faint  praise  as  Mr.  Patton  gave  them.  We 
thought  they  had  some  self-respect,  and  would  send  their  lawyer  howling  home, 
lo 


194 

and  suppress  his  white-washing,  patroniBing  oration,  teeming  with  ill-disguised 
reproach  and  repudiation.  We  thought  Mr.  Patton  had  mistaken  the  temper 
and  spirit  of  his  client.  But  ice  were  wrong  and  Mr.  Patton  was  right.  An 
accomplished  and  experienced  lawyer,  he  managed  the  case  exactly  to  the  liking 
of  his  client.  He  took  SAM  out  of  the  jail,  dungeon,  or  culvert  damp  and  dark 
in  which  he  had  been  confiaed  so  long,  had  him  cleansed,  shaved,  shirted,  slicked 
up,  and  brought  him  into  court  clothed  and  looking  the  counterfeit  of  a  gentle- 
man. He  dressed  up  SAM'S  dilapidated  reputation  in  the  most  artistic  and  in- 
genious manner  of  the  legal  profession,  taking  occasion  and  pains  as  he  pro- 
ceeded to  smooth  down  and  pare  off  the  angularities  and  monstrosities  of  the 
poor  fellow's  character.  The  effect  upon  SAM  was  electric.  The  rascal  really 
thinks  he  has  been  made  an  honest  man  of,  and  shouts  the  praises  of  his  lawyer 
in  the  most  boisterous  and  immoderate  manner  at  the  corners  of  all  the  streets. 
The  fellow  will  soon  get  to  thinking  that  he  is  on  visiting  and  wine-drinking 
terms  with  his  lawyer;  but  it  will  only  be,  we  fear,  to  get  himself  summarily 
"  sot  back"  by  one  of  those  charming  "  hints"  common  in  the  land  of  "  the 
whole-souled  and  gallant  Irishman." 

But  we  must  examine  the  speech  in  the  order  in  which  it  was  delivered.  SAM 
was  not  the  only  client  of  Mr.  Patton  on  the  occasion.  Mr.  Patton  felt  the  ne- 
cessity of  defending  Mr.  Patton,  spite  of  the  old  Spanish  proverb,  "  the  lawyer 
that  argues  his  own  cause  has  a  fool  for  his  client."  There  are  criminal  cases 
so  monstrous  and  ugly  that  the  legal  profession  often  shrink  from  their  defence. 
And  where  the  lawyer's  own  conscience  is  not  troubled  with  qualms  of  the  sort, 
an  indignant  and  outraged  public  frowns  often  upon  his  acceptance  of  a  retainer. 
It  is  in  such  cases,  and  in  such  cases  only,  that  the  attorney  feels  obliged  to  pre- 
face his  argument  for  the  criminal  with  a  labored  exculpation  of  himself.  Ac- 
cordingly, Mr.  Patton's  defence  of  SAM  is  prefixed  by  a  painful  apology  for  his 
own  participation  in  the  ugly  case. 

It  is  true  that  Mr.  Patton  sets  out  with  the  grand  airs  of  a  Caesar  or  a  Crom- 
well, refusing  crowns  and  rejecting  diadems  in  a  lofty,  wholesale,  and  amusing 
strain ;  but  he  soon  relapses  into  the  attorney,  and  plays  that  character  out  to 
the  end,  with  a  truthfulness  and  consistency  worthy  of  his  great  reputation  at 
the  bar.  Our  Cscsar  proves  conclusively  that  the  crown  was  offered  to  him, 
thus: 

"  Let  me  bring  to  the  notice  of  this  vast  assembly,  and  to  those  who  have 
been  disposed  to  impute  to  me  ambitious  motives  and  eagerness  for  high  office, 
one  or  two  simple  papers,  which  is  all  the  answer  I  mean  to  give  to  those 
charges. 

"I  received,  on  the  evening  of  the  13th  March,  from  Winchester,  the  fol- 
lowing telegraphic  despatch  from  a  friend  of  mine  who  was  a  member  of  that 
body : 

I  Will  you  accept  the  nomination  for  Governor  ?     Reply  immediately  to  this.' 
"I  immediately  sent  the  following  by  telegraph  : 

I 1  would  not  accept  the  office  of  Governor  if  every  man  in  Virginia  were  to 
yote  for  me.' " 

He  did  that  part  majestically,  and  with  the  genuine  stage  strut,  for  he  had 
evidently  been  studying  the  Crasarean  role  of  disinterested  virtue;  for  it  was 
uppermost  in  his  mind.  He  continues  : 

•"  By  an  ingenuous  perversity  of  accusation,  it  might  still  be  said  that  I  was 
like  Cassar,  rejecting  the  crown  because  I  knew  I  could  not  get  it. 

"On  the  same  evening,  not  very  long  after  I  had  received  the  telegraph  des- 
patch which  I  have  just  read,  I  received  this  note  from  a  gentleman  in  Rich- 
mond : 

'I  have  just  received  a  despatch  by  telegraph  that  you  were  nominated  for 
Governor,  and  requested  to  communicate  it  directly.' 


195 

"  As  soon  as  I  received  this  note,  instantly,  for  tho  purpose  of  preventing 
any  inconvenience  to  the  Winchester  Convention,  such  as  would  result  from 
their  making  a  nomination  which  would  not  be  accepted,  probably  causing  them 
to  assemble  again  there  or  somewhere  else  to  make  another  nomination,  I  sent 
the  following  reply : 

1 1  regret  the  information  your  note  contains.  Several  times  during  the  last 
fifteen  years,  I  have  declined  being  a  candidate  for  Governor  when  my  friends 
thought  I  could  be  elected.  I  will  not  accept  the  office  of  Governor  under  any 
circumstances,  and  though  every  man  in  the  State  were  to  vote  for  me.  Excuse 
the  apparent  peremptoriousness  of  this  note/  '• 

Protestations  of  this  sort  are  so  frequent  in  our  day,  that  we  believe  it  has 
become  a  conventional  understanding  in  society  not  to  credit  them  from  whom- 
soever they  proceed.  Mr.  Patton's  refusal  of  the  chance  for  office  in  a  doubtful 
contest,  is  not  the  first  instance  of  a  similar  discretion  by  many  ten  thousands; 
and  unluckily,  his  antecedents  in  the  particular  of  office-holding  are  against 
him.  For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  fascinations  of  office  overcame  this 
platonic  disdain  of  Mr.  Patton ;  and  the  world  is  too  uncharitable  to  suppose 
that  a  man  who  could  consent  to  be  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
at  Washington  for  eight  years,  and  to  endure  the  petty  vexations  of  a  Virginia 
Executive  Councillor  for  fifteen  years  of  his  life,  could  repent  him  of  that 
mode  of  living,  in  old  age,  even  in  respect  to  so  illustrious  and  lucrative  a 
position  as  the  Governorship  of  Virginia. 

Indeed,  the  whole  effect  of  this  mock  pageant — of  this  billing  and  cooing  on 
the  part  of  delegates  in  Winchester,  and  this  virtuous  coyness  on  his  own  side, 
is  destroyed  by  a  subsequent  revelation  in  his  speech.  For,  after  proving,  by  a 
very  plausible  set  of  facts,  that  he  did  refuse  the  crown,  he  destroys  the  whole 
effect  of  the  scene  by  letting  out  the  fact  that  the  crown,  though  refused,  was 
never  offered  him  : 

"  It  is  proper  to  state,  that  the  information  that  I  was  nominated  for  Gover- 
nor was  a  mistake,  which  of  course  I  did  not  know  until  the  following  day. 
There  was,  as  I  understand,  no  such  nomination,  and  the  distinguished  gentle- 
man who  has  been  nominated,  and  is  s6  worthy  to  receive  the  suffrages  of  this 
American  party,  was  the  decided  choice  of  the  Convention  at  all  times.  I  do 
not  know  that  there  was  a  single  man  who  was  favorable  to  ray  nomination,  ex- 
cept the  particular  gentleman  who  sent  me  the  despatch." 

Thus  it  is  plain  that  Mr.  Patton  but  enacted  the  part  of  a  mock  duke  in  his 
lofty  rejection  of  the  crown.  The  Whigs  of  the  Winchester  conclave  knew 
what  they  were  about  in  playing  off  these  mysterious  telegraphic  missiles. 
Their  Democratic  confreres  were  doubtless  supposed  to  make  a  muss  against 
Flournoy's  being  entrusted  with  the  spoils  department  of  the  ticket.  Under 
these  circumstances,  the  dispatches  to  Patton  and  his  prompt  waiver  of  the  place 
designed  for  Flournoy,  must  have  worked  like  a  charm . 

The  role  had  been  rehearsed  thoroughly  beforehand,  and  Mr.  Patton  might 
have  done  a  deal  of  mischief  by  disturbing  the  arrangement.  He  had  been 
called  upon  in  person  before  the  13th  of  March  j  let  himself  reveal  the  pro- 
tocol : 

"  I  held  out  no  inducements  to  those  who,  in  behalf  of  this  new  American 
party,  called  upon  me  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  I  would  accept 
the  nomination  for  Attorney  General,  &c.,  &c.  I  was  told  that  this  great  or- 
ganization desired,  or  at  least  a  portion  of  the  members  of  the  Convention  at 
Winchester,  and  probably  the  whole  body,  would  desire  to  confer  this  nomina- 
tion upon  me  if  I  was  willing  to  accept  the  office,  without  any  regard  to  my  po- 
litical opinion  or  my  political  course,  &c.,  &c.  I  told  them  that  if  the  Conven- 
tion should  choose  to  confer  upon  me  the  nomination,  I  would  accept  it,  assur- 


196 

ing  them  at  the  same   time  that  it  would  be  incompatible  with  my  business  to 
engage  in  the  political  canvass  in  the  way  of  discussion,  &c.,  &c." 

Such  was  the  understanding  before  the  13th  of  March,  and  Mr.  Patton  was 
too  acute  to  disturb  or  change  it  on  the  spur  of  a  telegraphic  dispatch  received 
late  in  the  night  of  that  eventful  day.  Mr.  Patton  rejected  the  crown.  He 
protests  he  did  not  want  it  and  would  not  have  it.  Many  will  believe  him  and 
many  will  not.  The  fable  of  the  fox  and  the  grapes  stands  in  the  way,  and  tho 
uncharitable  perversity  and  cynical  common  sense  of  plain  people  who  do  see 
something  illustrious,  honorable  and  enviable  in  eminent  position,  will  gloss  the 
highest  acts  of  disinterested  virtue  with  the  rouge  of  selfishness. 

This  chronicle  of  his  disdainful  refusals  of  the  highest  office  Virginia  can 
confer — an  office  which  was  not  too  contemptible  for  Thomas  Jeiferson,  Patrick 
Henry,  John  Tyler  the  elder,  James  Monroe  or  Wm.  B.  Giles — was  not  felt  by 
Mr.  Patton  to  be  sufficient  to  sustain  the  argument  he  was  submitting  on  this 
subject.  He  went  on  to  tax  still  more  the  already  strained  credulity  of  his 
hearers.  It  seems  that  Mr.  Patton,  not  content  to  reject  with  disdain  the  chair 
which  a  Jefferson  and  a  Giles  have  been  proud  to  occupy,  has  repeatedly  de- 
clined to  be  the  Colleague  of  Clay,  of  Webster,  of  Calhoun,  of  Dickinson,  of 
Dallas,  of  Badger,  of  Berrein,  of  Crittenden,  and  of  other  secondary  persons  of 
that  calibre,  in  the  annoying  duties  and  obscure  character  of  Senator  of  the 
United  States.  He  lets  the  world  into  a  secret  it  never  would  have  dreamt  of, 
thus : 

"  And  besides  all  that,  it  is  now  said  I  am  animated  by  aspirations  for  the 
Senate.  I  say  here,  and  now,  as  I  have  said  repeatedly  in  the  course  of  the 
last  fifteen  years,  when  my  friends  had  desired  to  put  me  in  nomination  for  that 
office,  as  I  said  about  the  office  of  Governor,  I  would  not  have  the  office  of  Sen- 
ator if  every,  man  in  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  voted  for  me/' 

The  Senate  of  the  United  States  will  doubtless  be  profoundly  mortified  to 
learn  this  determination  of  Mr.  Patton. 

"  Upon  what  meat  doth  this  our  Caesar  feed, 
That  he  is  grown  so  great." 

It  is  evident  that  it  was  as  little  a  part  of  the  scheme  of  the  Know  Nothings 
to  confer  the  vexatious  troubles  of  a  Federal  Senator  upon  Mr.  Patton  as  it 
was  to  confer  upon  him  the  spoils-distributing  duties  of  Governor.  The  tele- 
graphic missiles  of  the  13th  of  March,  and  the  sham  suggestion  of  his  name 
for  the  head  of  the  ticket  in  the  Winchester  cabal,  were  plainly  but  intended 
to  deceive  and  quiet  the  forlorne  but  grumbling  Democrat  or  Democrats  who 
were  entrapped  in  that  conclave  and  bound  by  big  oaths  to  submit  to  its  Whig 
preferences  and  arrangements. 

Mr.  Patton,  not  content  with  breaking  loose  from  the  Democracy  and  from 
the  Hichmond  Junto,  of  which  he  was  a  member  in  1852,  seems  determined  to 
vex  and  harrass  his  old  associates  even  as  members  of  his  own  Order.  He 
magnanimously  yields  the  Federal  Senatorship  in  advance  to  George  Washing- 
ton Summers,  and  leaves  his  Democratic  Know  Nothing  associates  completely 
in  the  lurch  as  to  that  office,  which  will  be  clearly  theirs  by  right  if  they  suc- 
ceed in  carrying  the  next  General  Assembly.  For,  in  that  event,  when  the 
Councils  shall  convene  here  from  all  parts  of  the  State  next  winter,  to  dictate 
to  Virginia  legislators  the  votes  they  shall  cast  in  the  Senatorial  election,  this 
public,  solemn  pledge  and  disdainful  declension  beforehand  of  the  position,  on 
the  part  of  Mr.  Patton,  will  throw  the  gates  wide  open  for  the  triumphant  elec- 
tion of  the  very  man  whom  they  and  the  Commonwealth  three  years  ago  in- 
dignantly repudiated  at  the  polls.  For,  if  the  Democratic  Know  Nothings 
shall  remonstrate  at  the  election  of  Summers  to  the  Senate,  the  ready  and 
silencing  answer  of  their  Whig  managers  will  be — '  'Patton  does  not  want  the 


197 

office.  Patton  turns  up  his  nose  at  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  He  as 
good  as  tells  you,  you  must  vote  for  Summers.  He  wants  to  be  rid  of  the 
annoying  solicitations  every  body  besets  him  with  about  that  plaguy  seat  in 
the  Washington  Capitol.  Do  give  the  man  a  little  peace  and  rest.  Patton 
had  as  lief  go  to  the  Penitentiary  as  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States." 

Well,  then,  Mr.  Patton  declined  the  Governorship  that  was  not  offered  to  him 
in  favor  of  Mr.  Flournoy  who  got  it — notwithstanding  the  electric  despatches, 
ami  in  strict  pursuance  of  the  protocol  held  previously  to  the  13th  March.  He 
declines  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  also,  in  advance,  in  favor  of  the 
peremptory  precept  dictating  votes  to  Virginia  legislators — of  the  next  winter's 
Know  Nothing  secret  councils  that  shall  flock  to  Richmond,  in  case  they  carry 
the  General  Assembly — declines  the  Federal  Senate  in  favor  of  a  Know  Noth- 
ing Western  nominee,  say  of  George  W.  Summers.  But  Mr.  Patton  did  ac- 
cept the  Attorney  Generalship,  and  that  with  a  thank  ye,  too.  He  is  evidently 
flattered  by  that  nomination.  In  the  exuberance  of  his  gratitude  he  condescends 
to  vouchsafe  his  imprimatur  of  respectability  to  a  "  body  of  men"  who  were 
ashamed  to  show  their  faces  by  daylight  in  a  small  village,  and  to  write  their 
true  names  upon  the  tavern  registers  of  the  town.  He  is  very  marked  in  his 
manner  of  giving  a  good  character  to  the  suspicious  gentry  who  found  it  con- 
venient to  travel  with  an  alias.  They  are  his  clients  of  whom  he  says  : 

"  I  was  nominated  for  this  office  under  the  circumstances  to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred, by  a  large,  respectable,  intelligent  and  patriotic  body  of  men,  as  much 
so,  to  the  extent  that  I  have  information  in  regard  to  them,  as  any  body  of  men 
in  any  quarter,  any  State,  or  anywhere  else  in  the  world — a  body  of  men  repre- 
senting, as  I  understand  now,  (for  I  Know  Nothing  about  the  supposed  elective 
strength  of  this  American  party)  50  or  60,000  of  the  free  citizens  of  this  Com- 
monwealth. " 

After  so  emphatic  an  endorsement  from  a  rejector  of  crowns  and  avoider  of 
Senates,  who  will  say  that  the  Know  Nothings  are  not  respectable  people  ? 
They  nominate  Mr.  Patton  to  get  a  dash  of  respectability,  and  of  course  are  in 
ecstacies  over  the  fullness  and  completeness 'of  his  certification  of  character. 

But  Sam  is  not  at  all  discriminating  in  these  demonstrations  of  gratitude. 
Mr.  Patton  is  very  explicit  in  confining  his  encomiums  to  the  immediate  "  body 
of  men"  assembled  at  Winchester.  He  accepts  their  nomination  without  the 
principles  of  their  party  "annexed."  Attorney-like,  he  had  not  condescended 
to  read  Sam's  "  papers"  until  after  his  retainer,  and  he  takes  the  most  cruel 
pains,  in  consenting  to  appear  in  Sam's  case;  to  give  the  cold  shoulder  to  the 
fellow's  gutter  politics.  Previously  to  the  Winchester  Convention,  he  talked 
out  flat  on  this  subject :  • 

"I  sincerely  and  most  earnestly  discouraged  the  idea,  and  told  them  very 
frankly  that  1  had  not  even  read  the  basis  principles  which  they  had  put  forth 
to  the  public  as  containing  the  great  objects  for  which  this  organization  was 
formed,  and  which  they  were  endeavoring  to  accomplish." 

They  replied,  importunately  : 

"  That  this  office  was  an  office  wholly  disconnected  with  political  controversy, 
in  reference  to  the  discharge  of  the  peculiar  duties  which  devolved  upon  it ; 
that  it  was  an  office  which  had  no  patronage  connected  with  it,  and  that,  esti- 
mating very  highly,  much  more  highly  than  I  had  vanity  to  aspire  to,  my  qua- 
lifications and  fitness  for  the  office,  they  desired  to  confer  the  office  upon  me  in 
reference  to  the  r  estimate  of  my  qualifications  and  fitness  for  it,  without  refe- 
rence at  all  to  any  political  objects.  I  told  them  that  if,  under  these  circum- 
stances, as  it  was  an  office  m  the  line  of  my  profession,  an  office  which,  although 
I  had  no  particular  desire  to  obtain  it,  would  yet  not  be  unacceptable  to  me, 
&c.;  &c." 


198 

After  the  nomination  was  announced  to  him,  he  wrote  a  letter,  most  cruelly 
and  pointedly  ignoring  Sam's  principles  j  and,  in  his  speech,  thus  describes  his 
feelings  in  accepting  Sam's  case,  keeping  still  a  cold  shoulder  upon  the  fellow's 
politics  : 

"  I  could  not  feel  myself  altogether  at  liberty  to  refuse  to  permit  such  a  body 
of  gentlemen  of  all  parties,  irrespective  of  the  political  basis  they  might  have  in 
this  movement,  to  present  my  name  to  the  people  of  Virginia,  as  a  candidate 
for  an  office  wholly  disconnected  with  political  parties  or  strife^  and  utterly  rid 
of  all  political  patronage." 

Thus  Mr.  Patton  gave  his  clients  distinctly  to  understand  in  the  protocol  pre- 
vious to  the  Winchester  Convention,  in  his  letter  of  acceptance,  and  in  his 
speech  at  the  African  Church,  that  he  joined  in  with  them  only  as  counsel,  and 
would  not  consent  to  adopt  their  politics.  Before  the  protocol,  poor  devils,  he 
had  never  heard  of  them,  or  thought  enough  of  their  affair  to  read  over  their 
basis  principles.  He  had  no  time  to  bestow  on  such  trifles  as  the  Know  Noth- 
ing movement,  and  his  valuable  thoughts  were  too  much  absorbed  with  the  ca- 
ses of  other  clients  to  think  of  the  case  of  Sam — the  promising  progeny  of  a 
New  York  Penitentiary  jail-bird. 

But  we  are  not  done  with  Mr.  Patton's  defence  of  himself.  He  entertains 
the  same  imperial  repugnance  to  party  ties  as  to  the  glittering  honors  which 
such  men  as  Jefferson  and  Monroe,  Webster  and  Calhoun  have  not  despised. 
His  morals  on  this  subject  are  very  elevated  and  yet  very  convenient : 

"  And  yet  that  act,  the  act  of  permitting  my  name  to  be  presented  to  the 
people  of  Virginia,  has  been  denounced  as  an  act  of  treachery  to  party,  and  a 
violation  of  party  obligations.  I  never  entered  into  any  party  obligations  which 
would  prevent  me  from  allowing  a  majority  of  the  people  of  Virginia  to  elect 
me  to  any  office  which  Iicas  willing  to  take,  no  matter  who  may  have  made  the 
nomination,  or  when  or  where  it  may  be  announced." 

That  is  capital.  It  is  so  characteristic.  His  allegiance  to  party  ceases  at  the 
moment  his  party  sinks  into  a  minority.  He  never  "  enters  into  a  party  obli- 
gation" save  with  the  understanding  that  he  is  to  play  quits  whenever  he  sees 
the  majority  on  t'other  side.  Soldiers  who  have  done  thus  have  been  classed 
by  history  in  the  catalogue  of  Arnolds,  Georgeys  and  Dalghetties  ',  and  we  are 
very  glad  that  itlr.  Patton  has  taken  pains  to  establish  the  understanding  that 
he  goes  over  to  the  Know  Nothings  simply  as  an  attorney. 

Of  course  all  who  have  acted  upon  the  rule  of  Mr.  Patton,  just  laid  down, 
can  safely  proclaim  as  he  does  : 

"He  little  knows  my  antecedents  who  does  not  know  that  I  have  never  per- 
mitted myself  to  be  governed  or  controlled  by  the  dictates  of  a  party,  in  regard 
to  party  nominations  or  party  measures,  anywhere  or  on  any  occasion." 

Such  words  would  sound  handsomely  in  the  mouth  of  any  but  a  Know  Noth- 
ing nominee.  Whatever  Mr.  Patton's  antecedents  may  do  in  vindication  of  his 
abandoning  the  Democratic  party,  his  "  present  cedents "  present  a  beautiful 
illustration  of  his  disgust  of  party.  He  who  quits  either  of  the  old  political 
organizations  of  this  country,  founded  each  by  great  and  good  men,  with  avowed 
measures,  avowed  principles,  avowed  membership,  with  open  and  public  tactics 
as  to  all  their  meetings  and  arrangements,  great  and  small,  with  newspapers  to 
make  public  all  that  is  said  in  town,  in  country,  at  night  and  by  day — in  order 
to  join  a  secret,  oath  bound  cabal,  originated  by  a  New  York  penitentiary  con- 
vict, loving  darkness  rather  than  light  for  the  initiation  of  accomplices,  the 
concoction  of  schemes  and  the  devising  of  tactics,  that  conceals  its  every  step 
and  act  in  secrecy,  whose  novitiates  are  sworn  to  deny  their  complicity,  and 
would  be  perjured  if  responding  frankly  and  truly  to  a  legitimate  enquiry — he 


199 

who  abandons  either  of  the  old  political  organizations  to  join  this  underground 
midnight  movement,  whatever  other  motives  may  be  attributed  to  him,  cannot 
be  said  to  do  so  from  disgust  at  party.  And  though  Mr.  Fatten  may  deceive 
himself  by  such  a  delusion,  he  must  expect,  as  he  certainly  must  endure,  the 
uncharitable  reflections  of  the  world. 

Can  Mr.  Patton  believe  he  is  manifesting  a  disgust  of  "party  "  by  accepting 
overtures  and  nominations  from  Know  Nothing  clubs — the  most  intense,  intole- 
rant, proscriptive,  exercising,  inexorable  system,  of  party  drill  ever  invented?*— 
Is  there  no  such  thing  as  party  in  Know  Nothingism  ?  Out  of  his  own  mouth 
shall  he  be  judged;  for  in  the  following  rather  grandiloquent  sentences  he  him- 
self recognizes  a  new  party  servitude  : 

"  I  have  been  so  much  absorbed  with  my  own  business  that  I  do  not  think  I 
have  read  a  Governor's  Message  for  several  years,  nor  a  President's  Message, 
and  the  time  "when  I  read  a  speech  in  Congress,  is  a  period  which  runs  back  to 
a  time  that  my  memory  l  runneth  not  to  the  contrary.'  I  have,  however,  read 
somewhat  carefully  at  various  times,  since  my  nomination,  the  principles  and 
basis  of  this  Know  Nothing  or  American  PARTY,  and  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying,  that  with  one  or  two  exceptions  in  regard  to  the  mode  of  action  of 
THE  PARTY,  and  the  extent  to  which  they  are  proposing  to  go,  as  a  rule  for 
themselves  in  their  ORGANIZATION,  the  principles  and  basis  of  that 
PARTY  meet  my  entire  approbation/' 

There  it  is — Party,  party,  organization,  parti/.  Already  is  Mr.  Patton  im- 
mersed quadruply  in  the  toils  of  party.  He  has  leaped  out  of  the  Democratic 
frying-pan  only  to  land  in  the  live  coals  of  Know  Nothing  strife,  passion,  reli- 
gious hate,  and  social  prejudice. 

If  Mr.  Patton  loathes  and  disgusts  at  party,  he  is  much  to  be  commiserated 
in  his  present  allegiance.  What  a  bitter  rebuke  is  all  his  fine  talk  about  party 
tyranny,  upon  the  intolerant,  fierce  proscriptive  partisanship  of  his  new  con- 
federatdP!  Did  he  know  that  he  had  accepted  the  support  of  an  Order  which 
prescribe  the  following  qualifications  for  membership,  carrying  parti/  not  oflly 
into  public  affairs,  but  into  the  domestic  household  and  leveling  its  brutal  pro- 
scription at  wives  and  mothers  ?  According  to  the  ritual : 

"  A  person  to  become  a  member  of  any  Subordinate  Council  must  be  twenty- 
one  yea»s  of  age;  he  must  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being  as  the 
creator  and  preserver  of  the  Universe;  he  must  be  a  native  born  citizen ;  a 
Protestant  born  of  Protestant  parents  ;  reared  under  Protestant  influence,  and 
not  united  in  marriage  with  a  Roman  Catholic:  Provided,  nevertheless,  that  in 
this  last  respect,  the  State,  District,  or  Territorial  Council  shall  be  authorized 
to  so  construct  their  respective  constitutions  as  shall  best  promote  the  interest 
of  the  American  cause  in  their  several  jurisdictions  :  And  provided,  moreover, 
that  no  member  who  may  have  a  Roman  Catholic  wife  shall  be  eligible  to  any 
office  in  this  Order." 

And  again,  his  new  friends  are  required  to  swear  thus : 

"  Obligation. — You,  and  each  of  you,  of  your  own  free  will  and  accord,  in 
the  presence  of  Almighty  God  and"  these  witnesses,  your  left  hand  resting  on 
your  right  breast,  and  your  right  hand  extended  to  the  flag  of  your  country,  do 
solemnly  and  sincerely  swear  that  you  will  not,  under  any  circumstances,  dis- 
close in  any  manner,  nor  suffer  it  to  be  done  by  others,  if  in  your  power  to  pre- 
vent it,  the  name,  signs,  pass  words,  or  the  secrets  of  this  degree;  that  you 
will,  in  all  things,  conform  to  all  the  rules  and  regulations  of  this  order,  and  to 
the  Constitution  and  By-Laws  of  this  or  any  other  Council  to  which  you  may 
be  attached,  so  long  as  they  do  not  conflict  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  nor  that  of  the.  State  in  which  you  reside;  that  you  will,  under  all  cir- 
cuthstances,  if  in  your  power  so  to  do,  attend  all  regular  signs  and  summonses 


200 

that  may  be  tlirown  or  sent  out  l>y  a  Brother  of  this  or  any  other  degree  of  this 
Order  ;  that  you  will  support,  in  all  political  matters,  for  all  political  offices, 
Zd  degree  members  of  this  Order,  providing  it  be  necessary  for  the  American 
interest;  that  if  it  may  be  done  legally,  you  will,  when  elected  to  any  office, 
remove  all  foreigners,  aliens  or  Roman  Catholics  from  office;  and  that  you 
will,  in  no  case,  appoint  such  to  office.  All  this  you  .promise  and  declare  on 
your  honor  as  Americans  to  sustain  and  abide  by,  without  any  hesitation  or 
'mental  reservation  whatever.  So  help  you  God,  and  keep  you  steadfast." 

Is  not  this  party  proscription  with  a  vengeance  ?  But  Mr.  Patton  complains 
bitterly  of  the  crimination  and  denunciation  that  have  been  visited  upon  him- 
self for  leaving  party.  Let  him  read  the  terrible  curses  he  will  receive  if,  in 
his  partialities  for  a  majority,  he  should  soon  abandon  his  new  allegiance : 

"  To  all  the  foregoing  you  bind  yourselves,  under  the  no  less  penalty  than 
that  of  being  expelled  from  this  Order,  and  of  having  your  name  posted  and 
circulated  throughout  all  the  different  Councils  of  the  United  States,  as  a  PER- 
JURER, and  as  a  TRAITOR  to  GOD  and  YOUR  COUNTRY,  as  a  be- 
ing unfit  to  le  EMPLOYED  in  any  BUSINESS  TRANSACTION,  as  a 
.person  unworthy  the  confidence  of  all  good  men,  and  as  one  at  whom  the  finger 
of  scorn  should  ever  be  pointed.  So  help  you  God !" 

Such  is  the  machinery  which  is  to  help  Mr.  Patton  into  the  Attorney  Gene- 
ralship ! ! 

We  cannot  pursue  this  black  and  horrid  aspect  of  the  subject  farther  without 
transcending  the  rule  of  kindness  and  respect  towards  Mr.  Patton  with  which 
we  set  out. 

We  are  glad  to  see  Mr.  Patton  dodging  the  real  politics  of  the  Know  Nothing 
party,  and  confining  his  encomiums  to  the  Basis  Principles  which  they  put  out 
as  a  decoy  to  beguile  simpler  men  than  he.  That  basis  is  not  necessarily  offen- 
sive or  objectionable,  and  we  are  ready  to  join  Mr.  Patton  in  endor^kg  every 
word  and  line  it  contains  except  the  first  article,  and  a  few  clauses  in  the  pre- 
amble, provided  they  are  construed  in  the  spirit  of  enlarged  statesmanship  and 
of  sincere  patriotism.  We  have  not  room  to-day  to  point  out  the  glaring  dis- 
crepancies between  their  secret  ritual  and  this  tempting  sign-board  which  they 
post  before  the  doorway  that  leads  down  into  their  secret  caverns  of  shame. 

We  have  only  space  left  for  a  few  of  the  cutting  and  pointed  rebukes  he  gave 
his  clients  in  the  course  of  his  argument  of  their  ugly  cause. 

He  will  not  even  accept  their  Basis  Principles  unconditionally : 

"I  said,  gentlemen,  that  in  regard  to  some  of  the  details  of  this  basis  of 
principles  of  Know  Nothingism,  I  was  not  prepared  to  adopt  them  in  all  their 
breadth  and  length;  or  to  bind  myself  by  any  pledge,  either  written,  spoken  or 
sworn, — that  I  never  will,  under  any  circumstances,  vote  for  foreigners  for  any 
office.  That  is  a  matter  that  I  will  leave  altogether  at  my  discretion.  Were  I 
to  act  otherwise,  I  should  be  abandoning  the  ground  I  have  maintained  all  my 
life,  and  upon  which  I  can  now  stand  up  and  defy  those  Democratic  denuncia- 
tions that  are  hurled  against  me." 

Sam  of  course  did  not  applaud  that  passage.  We  thought  we  detected  a 
euppressed  groan,  but  may  have  been  mistaken. 

Mr.  Patton  does  not  know  why  he  cannot  himself  join  secret  societies,'  or 
how  to  describe  his  scruples  and  fastidiousness  about  that  matter ;  but  certain 
it  is  he  does  not  like  Dr.  Fell : 

"  Well  gentlemen,  as  I  said  before,  I  don't  belong  to  this  secret  organization. 
I  never  belonged  to  a  secret  society  in  my  life,  although  most  of  my  family 
were  Masons.  I  have  some  sort  of  scruples  and  fastidiousness  which  prevented 
me  at  all  times  from  going  into  any  place  to  assume  any  secret  engagement. * 


201 

Did  ever  lawyer,  who  somehow  could  never  have  behaved  so  himself,  more 
ingeniously  console  a  trembling  criminal  with  the  hope  of  having  a  felonious  act 
attributed,  by  a  lenient  jury,  to  a  lofty  motive  ?  Yet  Mr.  Patton  was  evidently 
a  little  blind  to  this  policy  of  his  client,  having  a  personal  appreciation  of  the 
reason  alleged  for  secrecy  ; 

"  It  is  perfectly  well  known  that  it  was  designed  to  protect  those  who  were 
disirous  of  joining  this  party  from  the  terrors  and  denunciations  of  the  old 
parties  to  which  they  might  belong.  Possibly  there  are  many  men,  honest, 
industrious,  and  sober  men,  men  whose  bread  depends  on  not  quarreling  with 
their  party,  who,  though  desirous  of  joining  this  new  organization,  could  not  do 
so  unless  they  could  be  protected  from  the  consequences  of  an  open  avowal  of 
the  fact  that  they  had  joined  the  new  party. " 

Mr.  Patton  takes  care  to  hint  in  the  most  delicate  manner,  and  yet  most 
emphatically,  to  Sam,  that  secrecy  will  not  do  ;  and  .that,  as  soon  as  his  promis- 
ing outlaw  shall  wash  his  face  and  comb  his  soap-locks,  he  had  better  come 
boldly  out  of  his  hiding  places  like  an  honest  man  : 

"  Besides  all  that,  we  now  have  it  pretty  well  understood  that  the  purposes 
and  objects  of  this  secrecy  having  been  attained,  and  the  party  being  strong 
enough  to  sustain  itself,  the  veil  of  secresy  will  be  removed/' 

How  terribly  does  he  rap  Sam  over  the  knuckles  in  the  following  handsome 
sentences,  redolent  with  true  American  feeling,  and  glowing  with  sound  Demo- 
cratic sentiment : 

"  I  believe  that  there  some  over  over-zealous  advocates  of  this  American 
party  [Mr.  Flouraoy  is  among  them]  who  go  to  extreme  lengths,  such  as  pre- 
venting the  immigration  of  foreigners  out  and  out,  and  repealing  the  naturaliza- 
tion laws.  Now,  I  am  in  favor  of  neither.  I  do  not  understand  this  Virginia 
American  party  to  be  in  favor  of  either.  I  say,  let  the  foreigners  come,  and  if 
I  could  remember  here,  I  would  speak  over  again  that  speech  which  seemed  to 
have  been  admired  so  much  by  some  of  my  Democratic  friends.  I  would  say, 
let  them  come,  and  forbid  them  not— the  industrious  and  pains-taking  German 
from  his  fader  land,  the  gay  Frenchman  from  the  fertile  plains  and  vine  clad 
hills  of  his  beautiful  France,  the  whole-souled  and  gallant  Irishman — let  them 


It  is  true,  that  Mr.  Patton  after  thumping  Sam  soundly  with  these  notable 
paragraphs,  went  on  to  palliate  the  fellow's  conduct  and  to  delicately  instruct 
him  how  to  behave  himself  in  the  future  conduct  of  the  canvass.  We  hope 
Sam  will  profit  by  the  advice,  and  take  his  instructor's  lecture  in  the  spirit  of  a 
true  penitent. 

Let  him  take  Mr.  Patton's  advice.  Let  him  throw  away  his  barbarous  ritual 
picked  up  in  the  purlieus  of  New  York  city — come  out  from  his  secret  hiding 
places — cease  his  slang  about  the  unfitness  of  good  Christians  of  the  Catholic 
or  any  Church  for  office,  and  agree  to  recognize  merit  in  the  pains-taking  Ger- 
man, they  gay  Frenchman,  and  the  whole-souled  Son  of  Erin.  Sam  will  then 
be  a  gentleman.  His  will  then  be  a  strong,  respectable  and  potential  party, 
able  to  effect  good  ends  by  reputable  means.  He  will  then  have  reason  to 
chant  everlasting  hosannas  to  Mr.  Patton,  and  that  gentleman  will  not  only 
consent  to  be  his  counsel,  but  his  friend,  admirer  and  probably  his  boon  com- 
panion. 


202 


THE  NATIONALITY  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PAKTY  IN  1855. 

The  nationality  of  the  democratic  party  in  1855  presented  a  remarkable  and 
admirable  contrast  to  the  anti-slavery  fanaticism  of  the  Know  Nothing  party 
in  the  Northern  States.  In  every  free  state  of  the  Union  the  Democratic  party 
passed  resolutions  fearlessly  endorsing  the  Nebraska  and  Kansas  bills.  That 
there  may  be  hereafter  no  mistake  upon  this  subject,  we  publish  resolutions  of 
the  democracy  of  nearly  all  the  free  states  upon  the  vexed  questions  of  slavery 
and  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  They  were  collected  from  the 
principal  leading  newspapers  of  the  Union  during  the  Canvass  in  Virginia. 

OHIO. 

Resolved,  That  the  right  of  the  people  to  govern  themselves,  and  frame  their 
own  laws — a  principle  re-established  by  the  passage  of  the  act  to  organize  the 
Territories  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska — meets  our  cordial  approbation,  and  we  de- 
clare our  determination  to  adhere  to  such  principle,  no  matter  what  miserable 
subterfuge  our  enemies  may  invent  to  cloak  their  opposition  to  it. 

Resolved,  That  we  witness  with  painful  feeling  the  formation  of  a  secret  po- 
litical organization  in  this  Union  under  the  name  of  lt  know  nothings,"  or 
"  sons  of  the  sires  of  ;76,"  whose  principles,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  being  an- 
tagonistic to  the  liberal  principles  of  the  democratic  party,  and  if  carried  out, 
subversive  of  the  constitution  of  the  country,  merit  and  receive  our  unqualified 
condemnation. 

ILLINOIS. 

The  democrats  of  Illinois,  lately  in  convention  assembled,  resolved  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  That,  abiding  by  the  free  spirit  of  our  constitution,  which  recog- 
nises no  religious  test  as  a  qualification  for  office,  and  proscribes  no  citizen  on 
account  of  the  place  of  his  birth,  we  shall  ever  oppose  every  attempt,  whether 
open  or  secret,  to  deprive  our  adopted  citizens  of  the  full  right  and  privilege  of 
native-born  citizens,  and  hold  in  abhorrence  the  recent  organization  of  the 
"  know  nothing"  society,  believing  their  design  to  be  fraught  with  evils  to  the 
country. 

Resolved,  That  our  liberty  and  independence  are  based  upon  the  right  of  the 
people  to  form  for  themselves  such  government  as  they  may  choose;  and  that 
the  great  privilege,  the  birthright  of  freedom,  the  gift  of  heaven,  secured  to  us 
by  the  blood  of  our  ancestors,  ought  to  be  extended  to  future  generations,  and 
no  limitation  ought  to  be  applied  to  this  power  in  the  organization  of  any  Ter- 
ritory of  the  United  States,  of  either  a  territorial  government  or  State  consti- 
tution, provided  the  government  so  established  shall  be  republican,  and  in  con- 
formity with  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Resolved,  That  we  adhere  as  firmly  as  ever  to  the  Compromise  of  1850  and 
the  platform  laid  down  by  the  National  Convention  of  1852 ;  and  that,  in  the 
passage  of  the  much  abused  Nebraska  bill  of  1854,  we  fail  to  discover,  as  is 
alleged  by  the  whig  press,  any  departure  from  the  principles  or  policy  there  so 
strongly  and  patriotically  inculcated  by  the  wisest  and  best  men  of  the  nation 
of  both  the  great  political  parties. 

Resolved,  That  a  candidate  before  the  people  who  may  be  openly  or  secretly 


203 

allied  to  the  prescriptive,  intolerant  faction  commonly  called  l  know  nothing/  is 
unworthy  the  support  of  any  democrat,  and  should  be  opposed  by  every  true 
friend  of  his  country,  of  every  parly  and  faith. 

VERMONT. 

Re&ohctlj  That  the  passage  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  by  Congress  is  in 
strict  accordance  with  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  and  the  principles 
of  self-government  and  non-intervention  by  Congress  in  the  domestic  concerns 
of  the  States,  devised  by  the  framers  of  our  government. 

DELAWARE. 

Resolved,  That  President  Pierce,  by  enforcing  economy  in  the  conduct  of  the 
various  departments  of  the  public  service,  by  bringing  to  justice  persons  who 
had  plundered  the  treasury  under  the  preceding  administration,  by  vigorously 
enforcing  the  laws,  by  fearlessly  using  the  power  vested  in  the  Executive  by  the 
constitution  for  the  arrest  of  improper  legislation,  and  by  lending  his  influence 
and  wielding  his  power  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  principle  of  the  Compromise 
of  1850  embodied  in  the  Nebraska  bill,  has  proven  himself  an  honest  man;  a 
faithful  public  officer,  a  sound  republican,  and  a  sagacious  statesman. 

MICHIGAN. 

Resolved,  That,  believing  the  interests  of  the  country  required  the  speedy 
settlement  of  the  broad  expanse  of  territory  lying  between  the  western  States 
and  the  Ilocky  mountains,  we  cordially  approve  of  the  establishment  of  territo- 
rial governments  in  that  region  }  and  that  Congress,  in  according  to  the  people 
of  the  Territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas  the  right  to  fix  and  regulate  their 
own  domestic  institutions,  gave  us  the  strongest  proof  of  its  determination  to 
maintain  the  great  republican  principle  of  the  Compromise  of  1850. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Resolved,  That  the  constitution  recognizes  the  principle  of  self-government 
and  the  power  of  the  people,  in  whatever  bond  united  with  each  other,  whether 
in  State,  county,  town,  district  or  territory,  to  control  their  own  institutions; 
that  on  this  principle  alone  the  colonies  entered  upon  the  struggle  for  indepen- 
dence, the  confederation  was  established,  and  the  federal  constitution  adopted ; 
that  only  by  a  rigid  regard  for  this  principle  can  we  hope  to  preserve  our  liberties 
against  usurpation,  rivalries,  and  anarchy;  and  that  confidence  in  this  prin- 
ciple, old  as  our  country,  enforced  by  Jefferson,  sustained  by  Jackson,  leads  us 
to  look  with  pride  and  satisfaction  on  every  measure  of  the  administration  cal- 
culated to  give  it  a  bold  and  unflinching  support,  removing  every  vestige  of 
federal  folly  from  our  legislation,  and  extending  the  same  rights  and  privileges  to 
new  States  and  Territories  which  were  claimed  by,  and  secured  to,  the  people  of 
Massachusetts  and  all  her  sister  States  when  they  were  united  in  this  confede- 
ration. 

NEW  JERSEY. 

Resolved,  That  our  senators  and  representatives  in  Congress,  who  have  in  the 
legislation  of  1854  stood  by  the  compromise  measures  of  1850,  and  so  manfully 
maintained  the  right  of  the  people  of  the  Territories  to  make  the  laws  relating 
to  their  domestic  concerns,  and  by  which  alone  they  are  to  be  governed,  deserve 
\he  approbation  and  high  commendation  of  the  lovers  of  the  Uuion  as  faithful 
servants  of  the  people  whom  they  represent. 


204 

Resolved,  That  the  national  course  of  the  federal  administration,  its  measures 
and  policy,  based  as  they  are  on  the  constitution,  and  recognising  as  they  do 
the  rights  of  the  States  and  the  principles  of  strict  construction,  ever  sacred  to 
democracy,  as  well  as  the  rights  of  American  citizens  everywhere,  deserve  the 
high  commendation  and  cordial  support  of  the  nation. 

Resolved,  That  we  will  oppose  by  all  proper  means  any  candidate  for  office 
who  favors  the  repeal  or  modification  or  change  of  the  fugitive-slave  law  passed 
in  1850,  and  also  any  candidate  who  shall  favor  or  advocate  the  repeal,  change, 
or  modification  of  the  right  of  the  people  of  the  Territories  of  Nebraska  and 
Kansas,  or  any  other  Territory,  to  legislate  for  themselves  upon  all  subjects  not 
prohibited  by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

INDIANA. 

3.  Resolved,  That  the  removal  of  the  "  Missouri  restriction  " — a  measure  that 
has  stultified  American  pretences,  innovated  the   constitution  of  our  country, 
that  was  conceive  at  the  shrine  of  an  unholy  ambition  for  the  "balance  of  politi- 
cal power,"  brought  forth  at  an  evil  hour,  when  might  rudely  cast  principle  in 
the  dust — is  a  theme  deserving  the  gratulations  of  all  mankind,  and  those   who 
brought  forth  and  successfully  carried  out  its  obliteration  merit  a  meed  of  praise 
never  ending  and  without  bounds. 

4.  Resolved,  further,  That  the  "Nebraska-Kansas  "  bill  as  passed,  is  a  return 
to  first  principle,  that  was  unwisely  violated,  and  places  the  soil  where  the  con- 
stitution found  it,  and  where  the  God  of  Nations  designed  and  ordered  it — to 
be  "  inherited"  and  governed  by  those  who  live  on  and  draw  their  subsistence 
from  it. 

5.  Resohed,  That  in   this  new   northern  party,  styled  "  republican,"   alias 
"  fusion,"  we  think  we  see  that  which  threatens  the  Union  !     A  northern  party 
once  formed  and   successful,  a  correlative  southern  party  must  of  necessity  fol- 
low; when  the  name  of  Union  would  be  a  mockery,  and  it  would  remain  only 
in  the   memories  of  those  who  survive   it.     Called  by  whatever  name  such   a 
party  may    be,  disunion   is  its   tendency,  and  it  therefore  merits,  and  should 
receive,  the  unqualified  reprobation  of  every  American  and  lover  of  American 
institutions. 

6.  Resolved,  That,  in  selecting  a  candidate  for  Congress  in  this  district,  it  is 
the  sense  of  this  meeting  that  such  a  one  be  chosen  as  will  fully  reflect  the  veiws 
herein   set  forth,  taking  high,  bold  ground  in  support  of.  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
bill  as  passed ;  and  that  our  delegates   to  the  congressional  convention  be,  and 
are  hereby,  instructed  to  act  accordingly. 

IOWA. 

Resolved,  That,  as,  in  the  acquisition  of  territory,  all  sections  of  the  Union  con- 
tributed their  proportion,  whether  the  purchase  was  made  in  blood  or  treasure, 
so,  in  our  opinion,  ought  citizens  of  all  sections  of  the  Union  have  the  right  to 
equal  participation  in  the  benefits  of  such  acquisition,  controlled  in  the  exercise  of 
their  rights  by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  exemplified  by  the 
principles  of  the  Compromise  of  1850,  and  as  carried  into  effect  by  the  Ne- 
braska bill. 

WISCONSIN. 

Resolved,  That  we  shall,  as  a  measure  of  justice  to  the  North  and  the  South, 
oppose  all  attempts  to  repeal  the  fugitive-slave  law — believing  that  the  repeal 
of  that  law  would  have  the  two-fold  effect  of  unjustly  depriving  the  South  of 
her  property,  and  of  adding  largely  to  a  population  whose  increase  in  the  North 


205 

must  be  deprecated  by  all  who  do  not  desire   the  spread  of  licentiousness,  pau- 
perism, and  crime. 

Rcsolcei],  That  we  recognise  in  the  Nebraska  bill,  the  fugitive-slave  law,  and 
the  existing  laws  for  the  naturalization  of  foreigners,  the  loading  issues  in  the 
approaching  congressional  contest;  and  that  we  here  take  our  stand  firmly  in 
favor  of  their  maintenance,  and  require  our  candidate  to  defend  them  before  the 
people. 

MAINE. 

The  Aroostook  district  democrats  passed  the  following  resolutions  at  their 
convention  at  Houlton,  Maine,  on  the  24th  : 

Resolved,  That  the  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  is  the  very 
basis  of  republicanism,  and  the  integrity  and  security  of  State  rights  the  only 
safeguards  against  the  federal  tenets  of  consolidation. 

Resolved,  That  the  administration  of  President  Pierce  merits  the  undimin- 
ished  confidence  of  the  democracy,  and  his  strict-construction  principles  entitle 
him  to  exalted  rank  among  the  truest  defenders  of  the  constitution. 

NEW  YORK. 

Resolved,  That  the  democrats  of  New  York  repeat  here  the  expression  of 
their  unchanged  devotion  to  the  principles  of  the  national  democracy,  as  laid 
down  at  the  Baltimore  Convention  of  1852,  and  as  approved  by  the  united 
democracy  of  this  State  in  its  conventions  since;  that  we  recognise  in  that 
platform  the  only  sure  foundation  of  a  national  party,  and  the  only  bulwark 
against  the  uniting  and  dangerous  agitation  of  sectionalism  on  one  side,  and  the 
insidious  encroachments  of  the  federal  powers  upon  the  rights  of  the  States  on 
the  other,  and  as  the  best  guarantee  that  a  political  organization  can  give  of  its 
fidelity  to  the  Union  and  the  constitution. 

Resolved,  That  we  consider  the  introduction  of  the  clause  in  the  Nebraska 
and  Kansas  bill  repealing  the  Missouri  Compromise  as  inexpedient  and  un- 
necessary ;  but  we  are  opposed  to  any  agitation  having  in  view  the  restoration 
of  that  line,  or  tending  to  promote  any  sectional  controversy  in  relation  thereto  : 
and  we  congratulate  the  country  that  the  results  to  grow  out  of  that  measure 
are  likely  to  prove  beneficial  to  the  people  of  the  Territories  ;  and  that  while  we 
maintain  our  position,  that  opinions  in  regard  to  the  power  of  Congress  in  this 
matter  are  not  tests  in  regard  to  democracy,  we  regard  the  act  of  renunciation 
by  Congress  of  the  power  it  has  heretofore  exercised  over  the  subjects  as  the 
practical  surrender  of  a  formidable  function  on  the  part  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment, and  the  accession  of  a  right  on  the  part  of  the  incjp'ent  sovereignties 
that  are  to  constitute  the  States  of  the  Union,  the  exercise  of  which  can,  in  ail 
probability,  result  only  auspiciously  to  the  people  of  the  Territories  and  the 
peace  of  the  Union. 


During  the  canvass  there  were  many  exceedingly  able  communications  pub- 
lished in  the  Examiner  and  Enquirer,  from  which  we  extract  the  following, 
which  excited  much  attention,  and  was  widely  copied  by  the  press  of  this 
State. 

REASONS  WHY  I  AM  A  DEMOCRAT  AND  NOT  A  KNOW  NOTHING-. 

I  presume  there  is  no  doubt  of  the  death  of  the  Whig  party,  as  a  national 
party,  unless  it  is  silently  lurking  in  the  secret  bed  of  Know  Nothingism. 


206 

This  idea  a  number  of  bold  and  conscientious  Whigs,  in  the  country,  utterly 
repudiate ;  and  they  would  despise  the  day  that  disclosed  the  fact  of  a  great 
national  party  being  concealed  in  the  womb  of  Know  Nothingism.  However, 
this  cannot  be  doubted,  that  every  voter  who  goes  to  the  polls,  in  May  next, 
will  vote,  not  directly  as  Whig  or  Democrat,  but  as  Know  Nothing  or  anti- 
Know  Nothing.  lie  who  wishes  a  secret  political  party  to  rule  this  free,  proud 
and  independent  nation,  votes  for,  and  he  who  opposes  secret,  oath-bound  poli- 
tical societies,  against  Know  Nothingism.  The  one  votes  for  freedom,  the  other 
for  tyranny.  Every  voter,  then,  should  stop  and  consider  well  before  he  casts 
his  influence  at  the  ballot  box  in  favor  of  such  organizations  ;  for,  when  schism, 
persecution,  anarchy  and  bloodshed  result,  it  will  be  a  poor  excuse  to  say,  "  I 
misunderstood  the  object  of  my  vote."  Let  them  remember  that  eternal  vigi- 
lance is  the  price  of  liberty,  and  that  freemen  should  always  be  on  their  guard 
for  fear  of  being  carried  away  by  appearances,  and  thereby  bring  ruin  andf  de- 
struction upon  this  happy  land.  For  the  old  Whig  party  every  one  entertained 
the  highest  opinion.  It  was  a  noble  foe — open,  bold,  generous  and  national — 
a  party  consecrated  to  history  by  the  immortal  minds  of  Hamilton,  (a  foreign- 
er,) Clay,  Webster,  and  others  no  less  distinguished  in  war  or  in  peace.  This 
party  is  no  longer  in  existence — the  Know  Nothings  have  deliberately  murdered 
it  in  cold  blood,  and  desecrated  the  tombs  of  Clay  and  other  great  leaders  of 
the  popular  mind.  Know  Nothingism  has  swallowed  it  up  in  its  all-capacious 
and  devouring  maw.  What  say  the  Whigs  of  1840  ?  What  say  the  Clay, 
the  Webster,  the  Fillmore  Whigs  ?  Where  are  those  Whigs  who  have  repeat- 
edly declared  they  "  would  be  Whigs  as  long  as  they  lived  ?"  Oh,  consistency 
is  a  jewel ;  and,  to  preserve  your  consistency,  you  cannot  forsake  your  old  party. 
But  you  join  the  Know  Nothings.  ^Then,  you  have  forsaken  your  old  party,  or 
recognize  in  this  new  secret  society  the  former  Whig  party.  Which  ?  There 
is  a  number  of  Whigs,  who,  if  they  knew  that  their  old  party  had  become 
metamorphosed  into  this  new  party,  would  despise  the  very  name  of  Know 
Nothingism  as  long  as  they  lived. 

The  great  contest,  then,  hereafter,  in  the  country,  will  be  between  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  and  the  Know  Nothing  organization.  The  old  Whig  party  will 
divide  between  the  two — some  going  one  way,  and  some  another.  I  propose  to 
give  a  short  expose  of  the  principles  and  condition  of  the  two  leading  parties, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  showing  wherein  they  differ,  and  wherein  they  agree. 

KNOW   NOTHINGISM   VERSUS   THE   DEMOCRATIC   PARTY. 

The  true  origin  of  this  Know  Nothing  party  is,  of  course,  unknown  ;  but,  I 
presume,  there  is  no  doubt  of  its  having  been  born  among  the  abolition  and 
corruption  of  the  North,  aided  by  disappointed  office-seekers,  who  wished  a  pro- 
motion to  some  office  in  the  country.  However,  the  place  of  its  birth  is  of  no 
importance.  It  is  enough  to  know  its  principles,  its  objects,  its  workings  and 
its  fruits,  and,  from  these,  we  can  judge  of  its  character  and  destiny.  Of  the 
Democratic  party,  the  whole  country  understands  its  principles,  and  knows 
perfectly  well  what  it  has  done ;  and  its  proud  achievements  are  marked  on  the 
map,  and  its  glory  boundejl  by  the  glory  of  the  country.  What  a  difference 
between  the  two  !  Look  at  the  contrast !  The  last  is  open,  bold  and  fearless 
ill  all  it  does  and  thinks ;  the  first,  secret,  timid  and  fearful.  The  one  discus- 
ses the  important  matters  of  State  before  the  world,  the  other  plots  where  none 
can  see  or  hear.  The  one  unbosoms  itself  to  its  foe,  and  challenges  refutation 
and  argument  before  the  sovereign  voters  of  the  land;  the  other,  like  a  snake 
in  the  grass,  is  sly,  sneaking  and  cunning,  watching  a  favorable  opportunity  to 
leap  upon  its  adversary,  and  do  it  a  fatal  injury  by  inflicting  its  poisonous  fang. 
The  acts  and  views  of  the  one  are  open  for  attack  from  any  quarter;  the  other, 
conscious  of  its  weakness,  binds  its  members  under  sacrilegious  oaths  not  to 


207 


disclose  its  proceedings  to  the  public.  The  one  is  an  open,  bold,  independent 
foe  ;  the  other  crouches,  sneaks  and  deceives.  Which' do  you  prefer? 

But  I  object  to  the  Know  Nothing  party — 

First.  Because  I  believe  it  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution.  What 
says  the  Constitution  ?  What  says  the  Know  Nothing  Constitution  ?  Let  us 
compare  them :  * 


Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

Art.  VI.  No  religious  test  shall  ever 
be  required  as  a  qualification  for  any 
office  of  public  trust  under  this  govern- 
ment. 

Constitution  of  Virginia. 
Sec.  XV.  "  No  man  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  frequent  or  support  any  re- 
ligious worship,  place  or  ministry 
whatever ;  nor  shall  any  man  be  en- 
forced or  restrained,  molested  or  bur- 
thened  in  his  body  or  goods,  or  other- 
wise svfff.tr j  on  account  of  his  religious 
opinion  or  belief ;  but  all  men  shall  be 
free  to  profess,  and  by  argument  to 
maintain,  their  opinions  in  matters  of 
religion,  AND  THE  SAME  SHALL  IN  NO 

WISE  AFFECT,    DIMINISH  OR  ENLARGE 
THEIR  CIVIL  CAPACITIES." 


Know  Nothing  Constitution. 
Art.  III.  "The  object  of  this  or- 
ganization shall  be  to  resist  the  insid- 
ious policy  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
and  other  foreign  influences  against  the 
institutions  of  the  country,  Ity placing 
in  all  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  people, 
or  It/  appointment,  none  but  native 
lorn  PROTESTANT  citizens." 

Know  Nothing  oath. 
"You  furthermore  promise  and  de- 
clare that  you  will  not  vote  nor  give 
your  influence  for  any  man  for  any  of- 
fice in  the  gift  of  the  people,  unless 
he  be  an  American  born  citizen,  in, 
favor  of  Americans  ruling  America, 

NOR  IF  HE  BE  A  liOMAN  CATHOLIC.'7 

Again  :  "  You  solemnly  and  sincere- 
ly swear,  that  if  it  may  be  done  legally, 
you  will,  when  elected  to  any  office, 
remove  all  foreigners  and  ROMAN  CA- 
THOLICS FROM  OFFICE  ;  and  that  YOU 

WILL  IN  NO  CASE  APPOINT  SUCH  TO 
OFFICE." 


The  direct  and  irreconcilable  antagonism  between  the  Federal  and  State  Con- 
stitutions and  the  Constitution  and  Ritual  of  Know  Nothingisra  is  palpable  to 
the  plainest  understanding.  The  objects  and  declarations  of  this  Order  conflict 
not  only  with  the  abstract  principles,  but  with  the  actual  provisions  of  the  go- 
vernment. Krrow  Nothingism  does  prescribe  a  religious  test  as  a  qualification 
to  office.  Know  Nothingism  does  molest  and  burthen  men,  and  docs  diminish 
'their  civil  capacities  on  account  of  their  religion. 

For  this  reason,  then,  I  object  to  the  Know  Nothing  party. 

Second.  I  object  to  the  Know  Nothing  party  because  of  its  Oaths.  I  had  al- 
ways thought  it  clearly  established  that  extra  judicial  oaths  w-ere  anti  republi- 
can, anti  scriptural,  unchristian  and  opposed  alike  to  sound  policy  and  law,  hu- 
man and  divine.  The  great  Author  of  the  Christian  religion  has  said,  "  swear 
not  at  all,  neither  by  heaven,  nor  by  the  earth,  nor  by  thy  own  head,  for  thou 
canst  not  make  one  naif  white  or  black ;  but  let  your  communication  be  yea, 
yea  j  nay,  nay  :  for  whateoever  is  more  than  this  cometh  of  evil."  Learned  di- 
vines and  commentators  of  every  persuasion  concur  in  interpreting  this  passage 
as  a  complete  prohibition  of  all  voluntary  oaths,  and  in  placing  those  who  deli- 
berately take  an  oath,  except  under  the  authority  of  the  State  or  Church,  upon 
the  same  footing  with  profane  swearers  and  blasphemers.  Why  have  oaths? 
Is  it  because  you  believe  every  person  prone  to  tell  a  falsehood,  and  you  wish  to 
prevent  it.  It  is  a  solemn  thing  to  take  an  oath.  And  it  has  long  been  dis- 
cussed whether,  in  a  court  of  justice  even,  oaths  were  not  contrary  to  the  divine 


208 

law.  If  there  is  a  doubt  here,  surely  every  individual  should  be  exceedingly 
careful  how  he  swore  in- unimportant  matters,  or  in  matters  where  there  is  no 
necessity  for  oaths.  Is  not  marriage  a  solemn,  important  and  binding  institu- 
tion ?  Why  are  not  oaths  administered  here  ? — for  the  simple  reason,  they  are 
unscriptural.  Is  not  the  right  of  baptism,  joining  the  church,  and  ordination 
of  ministers,  serious  and  important  acts  ?  Why  are  not  oaths  required  here  ? — 
for  the  simple  reason,  they  are  unscriptural.  Is  the  reader  aware  that  courts  of 
justice  in  our  land  have  already  decided  that  a  Know  Nothing  is  an  incompe- 
tent juror  to  try  the  life  of  a  Catholic  foreigner,  and  this  because  of  the  oath 
that  the  Know  Nothing  organization  imposes  upon  its  members.  Is  it  possible 
that  this  is  true — that  the  oath  of  a  Know  Nothing  prevents  him  from  doing 
justice  to  a  fellow  being?  And  is  this  the  organization  that  ministers  of  the 
gospel  defend?  Is  this  the  party  that  is  to  rule  our  country?  Gov.  Wright, 
of  Indiana,  left  the  Methodist  church  because  the  man  sent  to  minister  to  him 
in  lioly  things  was  a  Know  Nothing.  Do  you  blame  him  ?  When  the  clergy 
begin  to  turn  Know  Nothings,  they  will  find  many  more  of  their  flock  who  will 
turn  their  backs,  not  upon  the  House  of  God,  but  upon  the  prostitution  of  the 
pulpit. 

Thirdly.  I  object  to  the  Know  Nothing  party  because  of  its  secrecy.  Why 
secret?  Would  you  be  ashamed  for  the  acts  and  proceedings  of  your  meetings 
to  be  exhibited  before  the  scrutinizing  gaze  of  the  work3*?  If  so,  you  acknow- 
ledge error  and  shame  for  your  conduct.  Do  you  wish,  and  is  it  the  object  of 
the  organization  to  break  down  the  Democratic  party  ?  If  so,  you  should  ac- 
knowledge it,  and  not  declare  otherwise  to  the  candid  world,  for  this  is  gross 
deception.  Is  your  object  spoils  or  self-promotion?  If  so,  you  are  corrupt. 
Is  it  your  object  to  purify  and  purge  the  politics  of  the  day,  and  to  defeat  ras- 
cality and  demagogueism  ?  If  so,  your  object  is  good,  but  you  will  find  it  a 
hard  task.  The  Democratic  party  has  tried  to  do  this,  and  has  only  partially 
succeeded.  The  Whig  party  could  not  do  it.  And  how  do  you  expect  to  ac- 
complish such  a  work  ?  If  you  claim  the  power  to  alter  the  human  heart  and 
passions,  and  can  succeed  in  doing  so,  you  will  do  more  than  the  Christian  reli- 
gion itself  can  do  after  many  centuries  hard  labor.  You  can  try  to  prevent  it; 
so  does  the  Democratic  party  try  to  prevent  them  both.  Man  is  still  man 
wherever  you  find  him,  and  wherever  you  find  him  there  you  will  find  both 
"  demagogueism  and  rascality."  I  presume  the  Know  Nothings  are  men  ;  if 
so,  you  will  find  as  many  demagogues,  office  seekers  and  rascals  among  th%em  as 
in  any  other  party,  and  probably  more,  for  they  have  left  the  Democratic  party 
and  joined  the  new  party,  believing  it  will  soon  have  the  "  loaves  and  fishes" 
to  distribute.  It  is  true,  the  Know  Nothings  may  try  to  prevent  these  evils; 
but  if  they  say  they  can,  they  are  superior  to  the  Christian  religion,  and  they 
can  perform  works  of  supererogation.  Wherever  man  is,  there  is  corruption, 
vice,  intrigue  and  rascality.  What  all-seeing  Jupiter  have  these  Know  Nothings 
found  who  can  tell  at  first  view  whether  a  man  is  a  demagogue  or  not?  What 
crucible,  what  purifying  process  have  they,  through  which  a  man  passes  and 
then  comes  fortn  pure,  incorruptible  and  undefiled  ?  It  is  sheer  nonsense  to 
claim  such  a  power.  But  why  did  you  join  them  ?  Are  you  an  office  seeker? 
Then  always  " acknowledge  the  corn."  Did  you  join  from  curiosity?  Your 
motive  then  was  wrong,  and,  being  satisfied,  you  shou-ld  immediately  amend 
your  act.  Did  you  join  without  duly  considering  its  aim  and  tendency  upon 
our  Constitution,  our  rights,  or  interests  ? — or  without  fairly  considering  its  ef- 
fects, its  acts  or  its  fruits?  If  so,  you  are  still  wrong,  and  have  allowed  some 
one  blessed  (or  rather  cursed)  with  a  little  gift  of  gab  to  take  advantage  of 
your  ignorance  and  weakness.  How  do  you  know  that  this  has  not  been  d<  ne 
in  your  case  merely  for  the  purpose  of  electing  some  demagogue  to  office.  FL.ve 
you  joined  them  to  secure  your  election  to  Congress,  the  Legislature,  magistracy, 
clerkship,  constableship,  or  to  be  elected  as  a  director,  steward,  collector,  treasu- 


209 

rcr,  or  to  any  office. of  any  kind?  Thon  always  proclaim  it  openly  ana  boldly, 
and  never  say  again  you  intend  to  put  down  demagogues  or  office  seekers.  This 
is  corruption  per  se.  There  is  not  one  in  the  Know  Nothing  organization  who 
will  say  or  acknowledge  that  he  is  an  office  seeder ;  yet  we  confidently  believe 
there  are  more  office  seekers,  and  more  corruption  inside  the  pale  of  this  party 
than  out  of  it,  including  all  classes,  of  all  ages. 

But  why  so  secret?  Is  it  because  you  fear  that  great  disgrace  and  ignominy 
will  hereafter  cluster  around  the  very  name  of  Know  Nothing  ?  Ah !  this  ia 
the  true  secret  of  all  the  secrecy  of  this  secret  organization.  Well,  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  with  you,  and  by  all  means  enjoin  secrecy,  profound  secrecy,  to 
save  the  good  name  in  after  years.  There  is  a  difference  between  the  secrecy  of 
Know  Nothings  and  those  meetings  usually  called  "  caucuses."  About  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  first  you  can  find  out  nothing ;  in  the  case  of  caucuses,  any 
member  will  tell  what  was  done,  and,  indeed,  the  entire  proceedings  are  usually 
published.  In  the  first  case,  the  secrejy  continues,  in  the  last,  it  is  temporary, 
and  its  acts  in  a  short  time  are  known  to  the  world.  There  is  also  a  marked  dis- 
tinction between  Know  Nothingism  on  the  one  hand,  and  Masonry  or  Odd  Fel- 
lowship on  the  other.  The  first  is  political,  the  last  are  not.  What  is  done  in- 
side the  first  very  materially  affects  the  "  outsider,"  by  throwing  him  out  of 
office.  What  is  plotted,  planned,  and  done  inside  the  Know  Nothings  af- 
fects materially  the  wishes  and  rights  of  him  who  does  not  belong  to  the  orga- 
nization. Do  you  not  thrust  him  out  of  office,  and  this,  too,  when  he  may  be 
dependent  upon  the  very  proceeds  and  profits  of  this  office  for  daily  sustenance 
for  himself  and  family  ?  Is  not  this  hard  ?  When  he  meets  you  in  the  street 
and  shakes  you  warmly  by  the  hand,  he  places  his  confidence  in  your  friendship, 
while  all  the  time  you  may  be  connected  with  a  secret  organization  aiding  to  de* 
prive  him  of  his  office,  and  consequently  of  his  daily  supplies  of  food  and  clo- 
thing. Does  not  this  tend  to  engender  ill  feelings  in  society,  in  the  same  fami- 
ly, and  to  lessen  tin  confidence  of  man  in  his  fellow  man  ?  In  Odd  Fellowship 
you  do  not  do  this,  but  exactly  the  reverse,  for  you  aim  in  this  organization  to 
benefit  and  help  your  friend.  How  can  you  then 

"  Carry  smiles  and  sunshine  on  your  face 
When  discontent  sits  heavy  at  your  heart  ?" 

Fourth.  I  object  to  the  Know  Nothings  because  of  their  opposition  to  the 
Catholics.  It  is  something  remarkable  that  the  "  basis  principles  of  the  Ame- 
rican party,"  as  published  and  scattered  throughout  this  State,  does  not  even 
mention  the  Catholic  Church.  Thus  the  only  Knotc  Nothing  principle  in  the 
whole  platform  is  left  entirely  out  of  the  question,  unless  it  was  intended  to  be 
inferred  from  the  fourth  article.  And  is  it  possible  that  this  mighty  bugbear 
to  the  country — this  very  subject  of  Catholicism,  about  which  they  are  contin- 
ually gabbing — this  only  fundamental  principle  of  the  party — is  left  only  to  be 
inferred  from  the  platform?  Why  was  i>ot  the  opposition  to  the  Catholics  ex- 
pressly laid  down  in  broad  terms?  This  anti-Catholic  resolution  (as  I  infer 
from  the  last  part,)  is  the  only  plank,  the  only  principle,  that  the  Know  Noth- 
ings can  claim  as  exclusive  property.  Who  ever  heard  of  a  party  with  one 
principle  before  this  organization  was  hatched  from  Abolition  spawn  ?  But  to 
the  poiat.  This  opposition  to  a  religious  sect  is  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of 
Christianity,  the  genius  of  our  government,  and  the  spirit  of  our  institutions. 
It  is  assuming  the  Bible  cannot  work  out  its  own  destiny.  It  is  setting  up  an 
earthly  tribunal  to  pass  sentence  upon  an  individual's  religious  opinions.  It  is- 
the  same  spirit  of  intolerance  that  lit  the  fires  of  Smithfield,  and  that  brought 
many  to  a  speedy  death  under  the  executioner's  axe  in  the  reign  of  Protestant 
Elizabeth  and  the  French  Revolution  of  '89.  Opposition  to  a  religious  sect 
but  tends  to  increase  its  strength,  and  calls  from  it  a  more  determined  residence. 
The  sympathies  of  all  are,  more  or  less,  on  the  side  of  the  persecuted.  It  should' 


210 

be  remembered  too,  that  this  same  Pope,  concerning  whom  s*o  much  is  said,  has 
to  keep  a  foreign  army  around  him  to  prevent  his  own  Catholic  subjects  from 
dethroning  him;  and  yet  the  cry  is,  "  the  power  of  the  Pope."  England,  of 
all  other  countries,  should  fear  the  Pope,  if  he  does  assume  the  right  to  alter 
governments  or  dethrone  kings  ;  and  yet,  England  has  tried  to  disfranchise  the 
Catholics  in  the  realm.  She  has  done  so,  but  after  several  years'  experience 
she  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Catholics  were  as  good  citizens  as  the  Pro- 
testants ;  and  upon  bringing  the  Emancipation  Bill  before  Parliament,  the 
ablest  Protestants  in  both  houses  advocated  its  passage,  and  by  a  large  majority 
the  Catholic  subjects  were  relieved  of  their  civil  disabilities.  On  this  occasion 
the  Catholic  religion  underwent  the  severest  scrutiny.  The  committee  on  the 
part  of  Parliament  summoned  a  large  number  of  Catholic  priests,  professors  in 
colleges,  and  intelligent  lay  members,  before  them,  by  whom  the  temporal  or 
civil  power  of  the  Pope  was  absolutely  denied.  Alexander  Pope,  the  poet,  and 
a  Catholic  by  profession,  also  denied  it.  The  Pope  himself  was  written  to,  and 
he  denied  it  as  being  a  part  of  the  Catholic  creed.  A  few  days  since  Mr. 
Chandler,  in  Congress,  whom  the  .National  Intelligencer  last  year  considered  a 
man  of  the  highest  character,  also  denied  it  upon  the  floor  of  Congress,  and 
read  extracts  from  many  Catholic  works,  conclusively  showing  that  they  do  not 
recognize  it  as  a  part  of  their  creed  to  interfere  with  matters  of  government. 

But  suppose  the  Catholics  do  advocate  the  union  of  Church  and  State,  and 
that  they  are  trying  to  get  possession  of  this  country.  The  idea  is  still  whim- 
sical and  absurd.  This  country  was  discovered  in  1492,  and  at  that  time  there 
was  neither  a  Catholic  nor  Protestant  in  the  country.  At  present  (1855)  the 
population  of  the  country  is  24,000,000.  Drop  4,000,000  for  slaves,  and  we 
still  have  20,000,000  of  whites.  There  are  1,570,000  Catholics  in  the  country, 
which,  taken  from  the  20,000,000,  leaves  over  18,000,000  of  anti-Catholics,  or 
those  opposed  to  the  Catholics.  Since  the  discovery  of  the  country  to  the  present 
time,  365  years  have  passed.  Then,  in  365  years,  the  Protestants  or  anti-Catholics 
have  increased  to  18,000,000,  and  the  Catholics  to  only  1,500,000.  If  then,  they 
continue  to  increase  in  the  same  ratio,  365  years  hence  there  will  be  36,000,000 
of  people  opposed  to  the  Catholic  Church,  and  only  3,500,000  of  Catholics. 
Do  the  Know  Nothings  fear  the  Catholics  when,  in  three  hundred  and  sixty-Jive 
years  hence,  the  Catholics  will  number  only  3,500,000,  and  the  anti-Catholics, 
or  those  opposed  to  the  Catholic  Church,  will  amount  to  the  enormous  sum  of 
thirty-six  millions?  These  facts  might  be  enlarged  on;  but  we  deem  them  suf- 
ficient. 

Fifth. — I  am  opposed  to  the  Know  Nothings  because  they  have  a  party  with 
only  one  principle,  and  thai  an  objectionable  principle.  As  before  remarked, 
this  Catholic  question  is  the  only  principle  of  this  new  party,  and  this,  I  en- 
deavoured to  show  in  the  last  paragraph,  was  utterly  untenable  and  whimsical, 
as  well  as  unchristian  and  an ti -republican.  In  regard  to  the  other  resolutions 
laid  down  in  their  platform,  they  are  either  assumed  or  borrowed  from  other 
parties,  and  the  Know  Nothings  have  no  right  to  claim  them  as  exclusive  pro- 
perty. For  instance,  take  the  sixth,  which  reads  thus  : 

"  That  the  Bible  in  the  hands  of  every  free  citizen  is  the  only  permanent 
basis  of  true  liberty  and  genuine  equality." 

Have  the  Know  Nothings  a  right  to  claim  this,  and  say  that  every  other  party 
denies  the  happy  influence  of  the  Bible  on  "  liberty  and  genuine  equality."  It 
cannot  be  a  principle  solely  their's  until  some  other  party  denies  it ;  for,  if  both 
parties  adopt  it  and  claim  its  utility,  it  is  a  principle  of  both  parties — commoa 
to  both — and  neither  has  the  exclusive  right  of  property.  Now,  I  would  ask, 
when  did  the  Democratic  party  ever  object  to  or  deny  this  principle  ?  Why  it 
has  never  been  denied  by  the  Democratic  party  at  all  j  but  this  party  looking 
upon  it  as  a  common  principle,  has  never  thought  proper  to  incorporate  it  in  its 


211 

platform,  no  more  than  a  resolution  that  "every  master  should  rule  his 
slave,  and  that  the  slave  should  not  rule  the  master ;"  or  that  "  a  man  can  look 
upon  the  sky  or  his  wife  if  he  chooses."  These,  too,  would  be  good  principles, 
but  they  are  the  principles  common  to  every  freeman.  But,  again,  I  should 
like  to  know  how  it  is  that  the  members  of  the  Know  Nothing  order  care  more 
about  the  Bible  than  other  persons,  outside  of  the  organization,  who  have  al- 
ways been  members  of  the  Church.  Irreligious  skeptics  inside  the  organization, 
and  some  of  whom  are  regnrdless  of  the  Bible,  and  yet  they  care  more  about  it 
than  an  outsider  of  some  Christian  persuasion.  No ;  the  truth  is  this  :  it  is  as 
much  one  party's  principle  as  the  other's — as  much  Whig  or  Democratic  as 
Know  Nothing,  and  as  much  mine  as  their's. 

So  it  is  with  other  principles  in  the  platform.  They  do  not  belong  to  the 
Know  Nothing  any  more  than  to  the  Democratic  party.  Some  9f  them,  indeed, 
are  taken  from  the  Democratic  creed.  As,  for  instance,  "  religious  freedom/' 
and  "  State  Rights."  Who  wrote  the  celebrated  act  of  religious  freedom  in 
Virginia  ?  The  father  of  the  Democratic  party.  Which  party  has  for  years 
been  struggling  for  the  true  doctrine  of  State  Rights  ?  The  Democratic  party. 
Each  article  in  the  platform  may  be  discussed  in  the  same  way.  As  to 
"  availability,  Red  Republicanism,  demagogueism,  and  corruption, " — the 
Democratic  party  has  been  trying  to  prevent  these  evils,  and  as  the  people 
become  more  enlightened  and  virtuous,  we  may  expect  a  reform,  and  not  until 
then.  These  evils  are  already  festering  like  an  ulcer  upon  the  face  of  Know 
Nothingism.  As  regards  the  u  ?io?i-union  of  Church  and  State,  the  doctrine  of 
State  Rights,  aad  the  education  of  the  people," — they  form  a  part  of  the  Dem^ 
ocratic  creed  and  practice,  and  always  have.  Indeed,  on  some  of  these  points 
the  platform  is  objectionable,  because  it  does  not  go  far  enough,  and  is  not 
sufficiently  explicit  for  good  and  genuine  Democracy.  Why,  then,  join  a  secret 
organization  under  sacreligious  oaths  ?  Why  dodge  around  the  corners  at  night 
or  run  across  the  streets  through  the  mud,  to  avoid  being  seen  on  council 
nights  ?  This  is  noble,  high-born  and  chivalrous.  Is  it  not  ?  This,  no  doubt, 
is  one  of  the  beauties  of  Know  Nothing  ism.  What  you  do,  do  openly  and 
above  board  like  a  man. 

In  regard  to  foreigners  and  the  voting  laws,  two-thirds  of  the  Know  Nothings 
disagree  with  their  platform  ; — some  want  21  years  previous  residence,  and 
some  14,  and  some  wish  to  keep  foreigners  out  of  the  country  altogether. 
Upon  this  subject  members  of  the  Democratic  party  also  differ — some  for  21 
years,  some  for  14,  some  for  10,  and  some  prefer  that  the  foreigner  should  be 
allowed  to  vote,  but  not  hold  office ;  still  the  party  is  willing  to  discuss  the  sub? 
ject  before  the  people  on  the  hustings  and  in  our  legislative  halls,  and  as  the 
majority  of  the  people  think  best,  they  are  willing  to  sanction.  Here  I  must 
be  more  explicit.  Naturalization  merely  confers  the  right  of  "transmitting 
property,  serving  on  jury,  sue  and  be  sued,  and  the  pledge  on  the  part  of  the 
government  for  protection."  I  presume  no  one  will  say  that  the  honest  and 
good  foreigner  should  not  be  naturalized  for  21  years.  This  would  be  cruel 
and  unhumane.  Five  years  previous  residence  should  entitle  him  to  the  rights 
of  naturalization.  This  right  of  passing  "  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization  " 
belongs  to  Congress,  though  the  States  sometimes  confer  upon  a  foreigner  some 
of  the  privileges  of  naturalization  even  before  he  has  been  naturalized  by  Con- 
gress. But,  in  regard  to  the  voting  power,  this  is  granted  only  by  the  terms  of 
the  constitution  in  our  State,  and,  to  alter  the  law,  a  convention  must  be  held 
and  the  constitution  altered.  I  claim  to  be  a  Democrat  in  the  strict  sense  of 
the  word,  and  yet  I  would  favor  a  law  of  this  kind  !  "  Five  years  previous  resi- 
dence should  be  required  before  the  rights  of  naturalization  should  be  conferred 
on  a  foreigner.  He  should  not  be  allowed  to  vote  at  all  unless  he  came  to  this 
country  before  he  was  21  years  of  age;  and  those  who  came  before  that  age 
should  be  required  14  years  previous  residence."  I  take  14  as  a  compromise 


212 

between  7  and  21,  and  think  that  a  sufficient  length  of  time.  On  this  point 
some  Democrats  may  agree  with  me  and  some  disagree,  and  they,  like  myself, 
are  willing  to  leave  the  whole  subject  open  for  discussion  before  the  people,  and 
for  their  action.  This  question  of  naturalization  and  voting  is  a  question  of 
expediency,  and  is  similar  to  the  one  agitated  in  the  late  Reform  Convention, 
by  both  Whigs  and  Democrats.  I  mean  "  white  and  mixed  basis."  It  was  a 
question  for  the  people,  and  not  a  party  issue,  for  the  simple  reason  that  dif- 
ferent individuals  entertained  different  views  on  the  subject  in  the  same  party. 

Sixth. — I  object  to  Know  Nothingism  because  it  practices  a  general  system 
of  deception  in  the  community.  I  have  long  since  determined  never  to  ask  a 
man,  "  are  you  a  Know  Nothing  ?"  unless  I  am  quite  certain  he  does  not  belong 
to  the  council.  And  for  this  reason,  that  if  he  does  belong  to  them,  he  will 
reply,  "  I  don't%now  anything  about  them/'  or  some  other  similar  equivocal 
expression,  which  I  regard  as  contrary  to  the  principles  of  honor  and  the  Bible ; 
and  the  individual  who  does  thus  equivocate  commits  a  known  positive  sin. 
When  asked  the  question,  the  Know  Nothing  well  knows  my  meaning,  and  by 
equivocating  he  emphatically  deceives  me  ;  and  what  is  deception  ?  Answer  it 
in  your  consciences.  I  dare  assert  it,  as  my  opinion,  that  few  persons  who  do 
not  belong  to  this  new  party  ever  believe  one  word  another  says  in  regard  to 
the  Know  Nothings,  even  if  the  Know  Nothing  belongs  to  the  Church.  This 
is  hard,  but  it  is  true,  as  the  reader  well  knows.  I  regret  it. 

This  position  might  be  fortified  by  scriptural  quotations,  and  by  extracts  from 
learned  writers  on  the  subject,  but  it  would  take  up  too  much  space.  One 
sentence,  however,  from  Dr.  Wayland,  who  says  : 

"  The  obligation  to  veracity  does  not  depend  upon  the  right  of  the  inquirer 
to  know  the  truth.  Did  our  obligation  depend  upon  this,  it  would  vary  with 
every  person  with  whom  we  conversed ;  and  in  every  case,  before  speaking,  we 
should  be  at  liberty  to  measure  the  extent  of  our  neighbor's  right,  and  to  tell 
him  the  truth  or  falsehood  accordingly.  You  cannot  do  that  which  God  haa 
forbidden/' 

Members  of  the  church  especially  should  guard  themselves.  I  do  not  believe 
that  the  Know  Nothings  intend  wrong,  but  in  the  excitement  of  party  spirit 
and  useless  enthusiasm,  they  have  overlooked  this  point.  A  word  to  the  wise 
is  sufficient. 

JScvrnth. — I  object  to  Know  Nothingism  because  it  prevents  a  free  exercise 
of  voting.  The  elective  franchise  is  the  birthright  of  freemen.  Its  free  and 
unrestrained  use  is  the  palladium  and  only  security  to  our  liberties  and  institu- 
tions. Control  the  ballot  box  by  oaths,  and  you  promote  chicane,  abolition,  and 
demagogueism  by  oaths.  It  has  been  acknowledged  by  members  of  the  Know 
Nothing  organization,  that  if  a  nominee  is  made  by  the  party  they  are  com- 
pelled to  vote  for  him  or  not  vote  at  all — any  how,  I  presume,  they  are  bound 
by  oaths,  if  they  do  vote,  to  vote  for  a  Know  Nothing.  They  cannot  vote  for 
an  outsider,  even  if  he  sustains  the  platform.  Does  this  not  restrict  the  free 
exercise  of  the  voting  power  ?  The  only  way  a  Know  Nothing  can  be  inde- 
pendent in  his  vote  is  to  leave  the  organization.  When  the  great  security  of 
our  liberties  is  thus  restrained,  who  does  not  fear  the  ultimate  result?  The  sea 
may  be  quiet  and  calm  now,  the  breezes  fair,  the  prospect  bright  and  beautiful, 
yet  take  care,  that  in  the  last  effort  to  strike  the  harbor,  already  in  view,  the 
gallant  vessel  does  not  go  down  the  fearful  abyss,  dragging  with  it  death  and 
destruction. 

Eighth, — I  object  to  Know  Nothingisra  because  of  its  "  fruits."  By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them.  What  are  the  fruits  ?  Abolition  and  Proscription. 
The  Know  Nothings  triumphed  in  Massachusetts.  What  was  the  consequence  ? 
The  Governor  swears  eternal  enmity  to  the  South,  and  regards  "  papacy  and 
slavery"  the  two  evils  which  this  new  party  is  bent  to  exterminate.  The  Leg- 


213 

islature  of  this  State  elected  Henry  Wilson  to  the  U.  S.  Senate,  who  says  be 
looks  forward  with  a  hope,  that  soon  the  "  sun  will  rise  on  the  last  master  and 
set  on  the  last  slave."  In  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania  and 
Illinois,  where  this  new  party  was  successful,  what  has  been  the  result?  Abo- 
lition, Freesoil,  anti-Nebraska  men  have  been  elected,  and  the  Governors  recom- 
mending to  the  Legislatures  in  their  messages  eternal  hatred  and  opposition  to 
the  South.  We  know  of  no  man  who  has  been  elected  at  the  North  by  this 
new  party,  unless  he  first  proclaimed  himself  determined  to  oppose  the  extension 
of  slavery  and  the  rights  of  the  South.  They  are  turning  out  of  office  the  con- 
servative men,  and  placing  in  their  stead  the  rankest  Freesoilers.  But  what  is 
very  objectionable  in  this  new  party,  is  the  fact  that  they  are  bound  by  oaths 
either  to  support  the  nominee  for  the  Presidency  or  withdraw  from  the  party. 
Take  care  that  this  feature  of  being  bound  by  oaths  is  not  an  Abolition  trap  to 
abolitionize  the  South,  or  sever  in  pieces  the  Union  of  the  States.  I  believe 
the  Know  Nothings  of  the  South  will  go  with  the  South,  but  are  they  not  giv- 
ing their  influence  to  an  organization  which,  at  the  North,  is  pledged  against 
the  South,  by  strong  and  binding  oaths  ?  How  do  you  not  know  that  this  system 
of  oaths  was  not  devised  for  the  express  purpose  of  binding  together  the  Abo- 
lition vote  of  the  North  ?  If  so,  farewell,  a  long  farewell,  to  the  Union — to 
the  glory  of  this  great  nation. 

Ninth. — I  object  to  the  Know  Nothing  party  because  of  its  corruption  and 
dcmagogueism.  It  is  a  well  known  fact,  that  all  the  disappointed  office-seekers, 
demagogues,  and  corrupt  politicians  of  the  Democratic  party,  have  joined  this 
new  organization,  for  the  purpose  of  spoils  or  self-promotion.  Of  course  the 
Know  Nothings  did  not  know  it  at  the  time,  for  they  would  not  tell  their  ob- 
ject, and  it  was  impossible  for  the  "  incorruptible"  party  to  see  a  man's  motives 
or  secret  intents.  The  transfer  of  disaffected  Democrats  to  the  secret  invinci- 
bles  is  of  daily  occurrence,  and  when  they  do  get  a  Democrat  in  their  council 
they  rejoice  over  him  as  over  a  "lost  sheep."  But  what  does  the  Democratic 
party  think  of  such  men  ?  Head  the  following  from  the  Lynchburg  Republi- 
can : 

"  J.  M.  H.  BEALE. — We  see  extracts  from  a  letter  of  this  individual  going 
the  rounds  of  the  press.  Mr.  Beale  was  once  a  Democratic  member  of  Con- 
gress. His  career  in  that  body  was  so  obscure  that  we  never  heard  or  saw  any- 
thing about  it,  except  that  he  went  off  from  the  South  on  the  Compromise,  and 
was  suspected  of  being  in  the  same  category  with  Foote,  Cobb,  and  other  spa- 
vined patriots.  We  suppose  that  the  true  explanation  of  his  Know  Nothing 
proclivities,  as  with  every  other  politician,  is,  that  finding  himself  unable  to 
get  office  in  the  regular  way,  he  is  willing  to  identify  himself  with  any  organi- 
zation which  promises  to  gratify  his  weak  ambition  and  inordinate  vanity.  All 
of  these  "  one  idea"  excitements  are  beneficial  to  the  Democratic  party,  in  pro- 
ducing the  self-destruction  of  such  weak  and  selfish  members  as  Mr.  Beale,  and 
ridding  the  party  of  their  annoyances.  For  one,  we  are  glad  to  see  such  cha- 
racters as  Mr.  Beale  saving  the  Democratic  party  the  necessity  of  killing  them, 
by  killing  themselves.  We  have  always  thought  that  persons  whose  execution 
was  necessary,  should  be  allowed  the  privilege  of  suicide." 

I  have  thus  hastily  given  some  reasons  why  I  object  to  the  Know  Nothing 
organization — an  organization  with  no  fixed  principles,  and  destined  to  do  more 
harm  than  all  the  corruption  and  trickery  of  demagogues.  I  do  fear  it.  Not 
as  an  individual,  but  as  a  citizen.  I  do  not  fear  the  individual  members,  but  I 
fear  the  result  of  the  secret  oath-bound  political  society  that  unites  them.  I 
have  no  doubt  of  the  patriotism,  of  the  honor,  of  the  integrity  of  most  of  its 
members  ;  but  they  are  deceived,  and  are  using  means  to  effect  ends  which  may 
result  in  a  universal  vortex  of  destruction  to  the  country,  and  to  the  peace  and 
security  of  our  firesides  and  homes.  But  in  this  dark  political  storm  through 


214 

wnich  our  country  is  now  passing,  our  trust  is  in  the  integrity,   purity,  conser- 
vatism and  nationality  of  the  Democratic  party.     In  hoc  siyno  vinces. 

Having  given  nine  good  reasons  why  I  am  not  a  Know  Nothing,  I  propose 
now  to  give  twelve  good  reasons  for  the  "  Faith  that  is  in  us." 

THE   DEMOCRATIC   PARTY. 

This  is  an  old,  settled,  national,  conservative  party,  that  has  boldly  stood  by 
the  Constitution  for  a  series  of  years,  and  repeatedly  saved  the  country,  when 
threatened  with  destruction  by  opposing  principles.  Its  policy,  its  aims,  its  ob- 
jects, its  acts,  stand  out  in  grand  relief  to  the  gaze  of  an  admiring  world.  Its 
principles  are  fixed,  and  have  been  well  tested  by  the  people  of  the  country. 
It  is  open,  bold  and  independent,  and  crouches  before  no  foe,  nor  acknowledges 
any  superior  opponent.  But  why  favor  this  party  ?  In  stating  my  reasons  un- 
der this  head,  I  shall  say  but  little  by  way  of  explanation,  as  this  party  is  well 
known  and  all  its  principles  have  been  thoroughly  discussed  before  the  people, 
through  the  press  and  in  the  halls  of  State. 
I  favor  the  Democratic  party — 
First. — Because  it  is  not  secret. 

Second. — Because  it  does  not  bind  its  members  by  sacrilegious  oaths. 
Third. — Because  it  is  in   favor  of  "Religious  toleration,"  and  does  not  pro- 
scribe the  Catholic  or  any  other  Church.     Thomas  Jefferson  wrote  the  celebrated 
act  of  religious  toleration  upon  the  statute  book  of  the  State. 

Fourth. — Because  it  supports  the  Constitutions  of  the  land,  and  is  not  con- 
trary to  their  spirit. 

Fifth. — Because  it  has  many  great  national  principles,  and  is  not  a  "  one 
principle  party." 

Sixth. — Because  it  does  not  practice  a  general  system  of  deception  in  the 
country. 

Seventh. — Because  it  does  not  prevent  a  free  and  unrestrained  use  of  the 
elective  franchise. 

Eighth. — Because  of  its  glorious  "  fruits."  The  Democratic  party  has  en- 
larged this  country  from  thirteen  original  colonies  to  thirty-one  independent 
States ;  and  increased  its  population  from  four  millions  to  twenty-four  millions. 
Under  the  guidance  of  its  principles,  commerce,  the  arts,  maui.facture?,  education 
and  Christianity  have  flourished. 

Ninth. — Because  it  is  now  the  purest  party,  and  has  in  its  pale  less  corruption 
and  demagogueism.  The  Know  Nothing  excitement  is  but  a  political  tornado 
to  purify  and  purge  this  good  old  national  party. 

Tenth. — Because  it  opposes  the  union  of  Church  and  State  ;  and  not  only  the 
Catholic,  but  any  other  Church  whatever  may  be  its  creed.  This  fact  no  Demo- 
crat will  deny. 

Eleventh. — Because  it  believes  in  and  has  established  the  doctrine  of  State 
Rights,  although  for  a  long  time  bitterly  opposed  by  another  party.  The  Dem- 
ocratic party  struggled  for  years  to  confirm  this  cherished  principle  upon  the 
minds  of  the  people. 

Twelfth. — Because  it  believes  "  that  the  Bible  in  the  hands  of  every  free 
citizen  is  the  only  true  basis  of  liberty  and  genuine  equality."  And  by  this  is 
meant,  not  to  force  the  Bible  on  any  one,  but  that  the  party  believes  in  the 
happy  influences  of  the  Bible  on  liberty  and  its  grand  Republican  tendency. 

Thirteenth. — Because  it  favors  and  fosters  education — the  education  of  the 
masses  "  as  necessary  to  the  right  use  and  continuance  of  our  liberties." 

Fourteenth. — Because  its  members  are  not  ashamed  to  own  that  they  belong 
to  the  party,  but  are  proud  of  the  cognomen  of  ll  Democrats." 

Fifteenth. — Because  it  is  a  party  proud  of  its  origin,  proud  of  its  achieve- 
ments, proud  of  its  men,  proud  of  its  glory,  proud  of  its  history,  and  proud  to 


215 

know  that  it  is  able  and  will  crush  to  earth  the  Know  Nothing  Hydra,  and 
forever  remain  the  invincible  defender  of  the  Constitution,  the  rights  of  the 
States  and  the  rights  of  the  people. 

In  laying  down  these  principles  I  have  omitted  the  great,  fundamental  and 
long-contested  doctrines  of  the  party,  such  as  Freo  Trade,  anti-Bank,  £c.,  for 
the  reader  is  no  doubt  well  conversant  with  these  leading  principles.  This, 
then,  is  a  party  intimately  interwoven  with  our  country's  history,  and  can  pre- 
sent a  long  list  of  great,  national  principles. 

MADISON. 


The  following  communication,  which  appeared  in  the  Richmond  Enquirer 
of  the  19th  of  March,  was  subsequently  published  in  pamphlet  form,  and 
justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  able  and  useful  documents  of  the  cam- 
paign : 

"  All  states  that  are  liberal  of  naturalization  towards  foreigners  are  fit  for 
empire.  The  Roman  plant  was  removed  into  the  soil  of  other  nations.  It 
was  not  the  Romans  that  spread  upon  the  world,  but  it  was  the  world  that 
spread  upon  the  Romans— and  that  was  the  sure  way  of  greatness." — [1  Lord 
Byron's  Works,  37. 

Messrs.  Editors : — The  present  canvass  in  Virginia  involves  considerations 
of  the  uttermost  moment.  In  the  course  of  my  researches  into  one  of  the 
most  prominent  issues  presented,  I  have  fallen  upon  some  facts  which  I  have 
not  seen  presented  anywhere,  and  which  may  be  of  utility  to  the  people.  I 
have  not  the  time  now  to  elaborate  the  suggestions  which  may  be  made.  My 
object  is  to  present  a  manual  of  authorities  for  the  campaign — authorities 
which  may  not  be  accessible  in  many  parts  of  the  commonwealth.  I  shall 
be  content,  therefore,  with  the  mere  presentations  of  many  points,  with  the 
proof  on  which  they  are  based,  leaving  out  any  obvious  reflections  of  my 
own. 

My  first  position  is,  that  the  whole  scope,  end  and  aim  of  the  new  organi- 
zation of  Protestant  Jesuits  in  this  country,  for  the  abolishment  of  the  laws 
in  regard  to  naturalization,  and  the  exclusion  of  all  foreigners  and  Roman 
Catholics  from  office,  is,  instead  of  an  American,  essentially  a  British  idea. 
All  its  principles  are  borrowed  from  Britain.  There  is  not  an  original  plank 
of  native  growth  in  the  whole  platform. 

What  are  their  principles,  as  published  in  the  Know-Nothing  and  Ameri- 
can Crusader,  at  Boston? 


1. 

2. 
3. 
4. 

5. 
6. 


Repeal  of  all  naturalization  laws." 

None  but  native  Americans  and  Protestants  for  office." 

War  to  the  hilt  on  Romanism." 

The  amplest  protection  to  Protestant  interests." 

Citizenship   granted  to  foreigners  only  by  SPECIAL  act  of  Congress." 

The  doctrines  of  the  revered  Washington  and  his  compatriots." 
These,  for  the  present,  will  suffice.     Now,  whence   are   these   doctrines 
derived  ? 

In  England,  naturalization  cannot  be  performed  but  by  act  of  Parliament. 
The  applicant  must  reside  14  years  in  the  country,  and  present  proof  of  his 
good  character.  The  whole  doctrine  of  perpetual  allegiance  is  an  English 
doctrine.  Expatriation  is  an  American  doctrine.  It  was  this  impulse  which 
first  peopled  this  continent.  Our  ancestors  claimed  the  right  to  enter  the  social 
compact  wherever  their  own  feelings  should  dictate,  and  their  own  views  of 
personal  aggrandizement  or  enjoyment  would  be  best  promoted.  In  this  way 


216 

they  established  a  premium  for  good  government  exceedingly  beneficial  to 
the  whole  human  race.  The  intelligent  and  enterprising  in  every  depart- 
ment of  life  found  less  difficulty  in  offering  their  allegiance  to  that  state  which 
would  afford  them  the  best  protection  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  their 
talents  and  industry.  The  admission  of  such  a  principle  into  the  general 
policy  of  nations  did  not  militate  against  the  real  welfare  of  any,  because 
the  great  mass  of  mankind  were  still  held  by  those  bonds  to  their  native  soil, 
which  exist  among  every  people,  and  strengthen  from  day  to  day  in  the  vari- 
ous relations  of  kindred:  friends,  countrymen  and  community  of  interests. 
At  the  same  time  it  afforded  a  facility  to  those  who  felt  that  their  exertions 
might  be  successfully  prosecuted,  and  would  be  better  appreciated  and  re- 
warded in  distant  climes,  to  withdraw  from  the  country  in  which  their  ener- 
gies have  no  free  scope  and  adequate  encouragement.  It  was  thus  the 
general  amelioration  of  mankind  was  most  effectually  promoted.  [Black- 
stone,  276.]  The  proposition  now  is  to  abandon  this  whole  doctrine — to 
destroy  this  great  American  example,  and  go  back  to  English  policy — to  the 
jealousies  and  exclusions  which  always  exist  among  barbarous  nations,  to  the 
narrow  and  illiberal  systems  of  China  and  Japan. 

But,  as  if  this  was  not  enough,  the  proposition  goes  still  further,  and  all 
the  prejudices,  all  the  enmity,  all  the  machinery  of  the  Orangeman  in  Great 
Britain  must  be  palmed  off  upon  our  people  as  American!.  I  wish  I  had 
time  to  go  into  a  full  investigation  of  this  matter.  It  presents  a  most  invit- 
ing field,  but  I  can  only  give  it  to  you  in  glimpses. 

In  England  there  is  a  union  of  church  and  state.  After  the  establish- 
ment of  the  church  of  England  under  Henry  the  Eighth,  the  whole  object 
of  Parliament  was  to  enforce  uniformity  to  the  faith  of  the  kingdom.  Penal 
statutes  were  directed,  not  only  against  Roman  Catholics,  but  against  all  dis- 
senters from  the  Church  of  England.  These  are  all  given  at  large  in  Hallam's 
Constitutional  History,  but  I  will  refer  now  only  to  those  in  regard  to  Catho- 
lics. They  were  deprived  of  all  means  of  educating  their  children,  at  home 
or  abroad.  They  could  not  be  guardians  to  their  own  or  other  persons'  child- 
ren. They  were  all  disarmed.  The  priests  were  all  banished.  The  holiest 
feelings  of  nature  W7ere  outraged  ;  the  son  was  turned  against  his  father. 
Any  son  of  a  Catholic  who  would  turn  Protestant  succeeded  to  the  family 
estate.  From  that  moment  it  could  not  be  sold,  or  charged  with  debt  or 
legacy.  A"  child  who  turned  Protestant  was  taken  from  the  father  and  the 
mother,  no  matter  how  young,  and  given  to  a  Protestant  relation.  No  Pro- 
testant could  marry  a  Catholic.  No  Catholic  could  purchase  or  lease  land 
for  more  than  thirty-one  years.  If  the  profits  of  the  land  amounted  to  a  rate 
above  that  fixed  by  law,  the  farm  belonged  to  the  first  Protestant  who  made 
the  discovery.  No  Catholic  could  hold  any  office  of  trust,  honor,  profit  or 
emolument.  He  could  not  vote.  A  Catholic's  wife  who  turned  Protestant 
had  an  increase  of  jointure.  No  Catholic  could  keep  a  school.  Catholic 
priests  who  turned  Protestants  received  $150  a  year  from  the  kingdom  for  life. 
A  reward  of  $  250  was  provided  for  the  discovery  of  a  Catholic  bishop,  and 
$100  for  a  Catholic  priest!  Any  justice  of  the  peace  could  compel  a  Cath- 
olic above  18  years  of  age  to  reveal  the  hiding-place  of  any  priest,  where 
mass  was  celebrated,  where  schools  were  kept.  On  refusal  to  answer,  he 
was  imprisoned  for  a  year.  Nobody  could  act  as  a  trustee  for  a  Catholic. 
No  Catholic  could  be  a  juror.  No  Catholic  could  take  more  than  two  ap- 
prentices, except  in  Ireland,  in  the  linen  trade.  Popish  horses  could  be 
taken  for  the  militia  and  used  without  pay.  No  descendant  of  a  Papist  could 
vote  without  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance,  taking  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  supper  according  to  the  Church  of  England,  and  renouncing  the  doc- 
trine of  transubstantiation.  No  Catholic  could  be  a  lawyer.  No  lawyer 
could  marry  a  Catholic  without  being  considered  one,  and  subject  to  all  pen- 


217 

allies  as  such.  No  Catholic  could  marry  a  Protestant — any  priest  who  cele- 
brated such  a  marriage  was  hanged!  Instances  are  innumerable  where  the 
defendant  has  pleaded  in  a  criminal  trial  that  the  deceased  was  an  IrHiman 
and  a  Catholic,  and,  therefore,  he  had  a  right  to  kill  him.  [Hallam,  Sydney 
Smith,  Howell's  State  Trials.]  He  was  compelled  to  pay  a  tithe  of  all  his 
products  to  support  the  Church  of  England.  Every  tenth  potato  belonged 
to  a  sect  which  first  made  him  a  slave  and  then  a  beggar.  The  sayers  and 
hearers  of  mass,  whether  in  public  or  private,  were  for  the  first  offence  to 
suffer  confiscation  of  all  their  goods,  together  with  corporeal  punishment,  at 
the  discretion  of  the  magistrate.  For  the  second  offence  they  were  to  be 
banished.  For  the  third  they  were  to  be  .hanged.  John  Knox,  the  great 
reformer  of  Scotland,  inculcated  as  a  most  sacred  duty,  in  156*4,  incumbent 
on  the  civil  government  in  the  first  instance,  and  if  the  civil  government  is 
remiss,  incumbent  on  the  people,  to  extirpate  completely  the  opinions  and 
worship  of  the  Catholics,  and  even  to  massacre  them,  man,  woman  and 
child  !  [Edinburgh  Review,  September  1826,  page  167  ;  Cook's  Church  of 
Scotland.] 

Of  these  monstrous  provisions,  Blackstone  says,  [2  Black.  58,]  "  If  a  time 
should  ever  arrive,  when  all  fears  of  a  pretender  shall  have  vanished,  and 
the  power  and  influence  of  the  Pope  shall  become  feeble,  ridiculous  and  des- 
picable, not  only  in  England,  but  in  every  country  of  Europe  ;  it  probably 
then  would  not  be  amiss  to  review  and  soften  these  rigorous  edicts — for  it 
ought  not  to  be  left  in  the  breast  of  every  merciless  bigot  to  drag  down  the 
vengeance  of  these  laws  upon  inoffensive  though  mistaken  subjects,  to  the 
destruction  of  every  principle  of  toleration  and  religious  liberty." 

For  four  hundred  years  these  disgraceful  acts  remained  unrepealed.  Now, 
England  herself  sees  the  folly,  and  her  writers  acknowledge  the  impolicy  of 
them.  In  1839,  the  last  dyke  which  surrounded  this  infamous  system  was 
broken  down  by  Catholic  emancipation  ;  and  now  the  Catholic,  the  Method- 
ist, the  Presbyterian,  all  dissenting  sects,  even  the  Jews,  have  the  honors  of 
Parliament  open  to  them. 

For  six  hundred  years,  united  as  she  was  in  church  and  state,  England 
tried  the  policy  of  exclusion.  Many  of  the  highest  offices  in  the  kingdom 
could  be  occupied  alone  by  members  of  the  established  church.  By  the  test 
act,  all  officers  of  state  had  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  partake  of  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper,  and  renounce  the  doctrine  of  transubstantia- 
tion.  It  excluded,  not  merely  Catholics,  but  all  dissenting  sects. 

Under  the  assaults  of  the  best  and  most  gifted  of  her  sons,  these  too  fell. 
The  language  of  the  great  Fox,  on  this  subject,  is  so  appropriate,  that  I 
must  give  it.  He  says,  [Speech  on  the  Test  Act,]  ;<  No  human  govern- 
ment has  jurisdiction  over  opinions  as  such,  and  more  particularly  over  re- 
ligious opinions.  It  had  no  right  to  presume  that  it  knew  them,  and  much 
less  to  act  on  that  presumption.  When  opinions  were  productive  of  acts 
injurious  to  society,  the  law  knew  when  and  where  to  apply  the  remedy.  If 
the  reverse  of  this  doctrine  were  adopted,  if  the  actions  of  men  were  to  be 
prejudged  from  their  opinions,  it  would  sow  the  seeds  of  everlasting  jeal- 
ousy and  mistrust;  it  would  give  the.  most  unlimited  scope  to  the  malignant 
passions  ;  it  would  incite  each  man  to  divine  the  opinions  of  his  neighbor, 
to  deduce  mischievous  consequences  from  them,  and  then  to  prove  that  he 
ought  to  incur  disabilities,  to  be  harrassed  with  penalties,  and  to  be  fettered 
with  restrictions.  From  this  intolerant  principle  had  flowed  every  species 
of  sectarian  zeal ;  every  system  of  political  persecution  ;  every  extravagance 
of  religious  hate.  Let  not  Great  Britain  be  the  last  to  avail  herself  of  the  gen- 
eral improvement  of  the  human  understanding.  Indulgence  to  other  sects 
— a  candid  respect  for  their  opinions — a  desire  to  promote  charity  and  good 
will — were  the  best  proofs  that  any  religion  could  give  of  its  divine  origin." 


218 

The  test  act  was  not  repealed  until  1828,  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts 
made  against  it,  and  the  beneficent  influence  of  our  example.  The  Orange 
lodges  were  composed  of  Protestants  entirely.  They  were  directed  against 
the  Catholics,  and  embodied  in  the  organization  all  the  prejudice  and  injus- 
tice comprehended  in  the  test  act  itself,  and  in  the  penal  laws  against  Cath- 
olics. They  are  the  origin  of  the  Know-Nothings,  sons  of  the  Supreme  Or- 
der of  the  Star  Spangled  Banner,  sons  of  the  sires  of  1776,  or  by  whatever 
other  name  they  may  be  designated.  They  were  bound  together  by  similar 
oaths  to  those  which  now  bind  their  brethren  in  this  country  ;  and  while 
they  are  denouncing  the  Irish,  and  Ireland,  they  are  guilty  of  stealing  the 
very  machinery  by  which  they  are  held  together,  from  another  soil, — from 
Irish  ingenuity  and  Irish  bigotry.  While  they  profess  to  be  an  American 
party — they  are,  in  fact  a  foreign  party,  borrowing  the  very  principles  of 
their  creed  from  those  they  do  bitterly  denounce.  They  are,  in  truth,  Amer- 
ican Orangemen,  with  the  profession  on  their  lips  that  none  but  Americans 
ought  to  rule  America,  when  they  themselves  are  ruled,  governed,  and  sus- 
tained by  a  system  of  policy  which  was  considered  so  dangerous,  even  to 
the  liberties  of  the  British  subject,  that  these  very  Orange  lodges  were  put 
down  and  suppressed  by  prohibitory  and  penal  statutes  in  1825,  by  the  votes 
of  a  Protestant  parliament. 

I  have  not  the  time  now  to  go  into  details  in  regard  to  the  Orangemen. 
The  curioue  in  such  matters  may  obtain  full  information  form  the  history  of 
the  Rebellion  in  Ireland.  I  must,  however,  give  one  of  their  toasts,  from 
which  the  character  of  the  association,  and  the  spirit  which  pervaded  it,  may 
be  inferred.  It  was  drank  with  great  solemnity  and  joy,  at  civic  feasts  on 
the  1st  day  of  July,  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  every  man 
kneeling  as  he  repeated  the  words.  They  were  put  together  in  1689.  It 
ran  thus:  "The  glorious,  pious  and  immortal  memory  of  the  great  and 
good  King  William,  who  saved  us  from  Pope  and  Popery,  brass  money,  and 
wooden  shoes.  He  that  won't  drink  his  toast,  may  the  north  wind  blow 
him  to  the  south,  and  a  west  wind  blow  him  to  the  east ;  may  he  have  a 
dark  night,  a. lee  shore,  a  rank  storm,  and  a  leaky  vessel  to  carry  him  over 
the  ferry  to  hell ;  may  the  devil  jump  down  his  throat  with  a  red  hot  har- 
row, that  every  pin  may  tear  out  his  inside;  may  he  be  jammed,  rammed 
and  damned  into  the  great  gun  of  Athlene,  and  fired  off  into  the  kitchen  of 
hell,  where  the  Pope  is  roasting  on  a  spit,  and  the  devil  is  pelting  him  with 
Cardinals." 

It  was  in  an  age  and  among  a  people  where  such  laws  were  tolerated, 
and  where  such  sentiments  were  indulged,  not  only  towards  Catholics,  bat 
towards  all  other  non-conforming  or  dissenting  sects,  that  our  fathers  first 
Bought  this  land.  The  Puritans  or  Presbyterians  found  themselves  hedged 
round  with  penalties  quite  as  unjust  as  those  which  girt  the  Catholic  like  a 
belt  of  fire.  Until  the  settlement  and  the  revolution  in  this  country,  no  na- 
tion seems  to  have  had  the  least  conception,  or  made  the  slightest  advances, 
towards  religious  toleration.  Even  Bacon,  far  in  advance  of  his  age,  as  he 
was  upon  most  subjects,  contended  that  unless  there  was  uniformity  in  the 
churches  of  the  colonies  with  the  creed  of  England,  religion  itself  would  be 
nugatory.  He  makes  the  relaxation  of  some  laws  a  matter  of  expediency, 
to  recover  the  hearts  of  the  Irish,  but  loses  sight  of  the  great  principle. — [2 
Bacon,  189.] 

Until  the  year  1836,  to  deny  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was,  by  the  Eng- 
lish law,  a  crime  punishable  with  fine  and  imprisonment.  Speculative  wri- 
ters had  indeed  announced  the  idea  of  toleration,  and  among  them  as  the 
first,  Sir  Thomas  Moore,  in  his  Utopia ;  but  the  suggestion  had  no  response 
from  the  government.  The  prevailing  idea,  among  all  churchmen,  was, 
that  "liberty  of  conscience  and  toleration  are  things  only  to  be  talked  of, 


219 

and  pretended  by  those  that  are  under;  but  none  like  or  think  it  reasonable 
that  are  in  authority.  Tis  an  instrument  of  mischief  and  dissettlement, 
to  be  courted  by  those  who  would  have  change,  but  no  way  desirable  by 
such  as  would  be  quiet,  and  have  the  government  undisturbed." — [Quoted  3, 
Hallam's  Cons.  His.  232.] 

The  period  then  before  the  settlement  on  this  continent, was  one  of  in- 
tense religious  persecution  throughout  the  whole  of  Great  Britain.  From 
the  restoration  to  the  year  1685,  fifteen  thousand  families  had^been  ruined 
by  a  refusal  to  conform  to  the  established  church,  and  for  the  same  period, 
five  thousand  persons  had  died  victims  from  imprisonment  from  the  same 
cause. — [1  Neil's  His.  Puritans.] 

A  state  of  things  so  utterly  overwhelming  naturally  led  to  an  investiga- 
tion of  intellectual  and  spiritual  rights;  of  the  sanctity  of  conscience ;  of 
all  the  responsibilities  which  are  intrinsic  and  unborn — and  from  these  flowed 
the  external,  but  more  ramified  prerogatives  and  privileges  which  attach 
to  and  belong  to  the  man.  In  1604,  three  hundred  Puritan  ministers  had 
been  either  silenced,  imprisoned  or  exiled.  That  Virginia  and  some  of  the 
northern  colonies  did  depart  from  the  v£ry  principle  which  cut  them  off 
from  the  fatherland,  is  true ;  it  was  to  have  been  expected ;  and  perhaps 
to  that  very  cause  we  may  attribute,  in  some  measure,  the  early  assertion 
and  maintenance  of  that  freedom  of  religion  and  of  conscience  which  has 
made  this  land  the  favored  spot  of  all  the  world.  It  was  reserved  for  the 
Catholics  to  set  the  first  example.  Lord  Baltimore,  in  November,  1632, 
founded  his  province  on  the  broad  basis  of  freedom  of  religion,  and  introduced 
into  his  fundamental  policy  the  doctrine  of  general  toleration  and  equality 
among  Christian  sects.  He  does  not  appear  to  have  gone  further ;  and  we 
have  thus  given,  says  Judge  Story,  "  The  earliest  example  of  a  legislator  in- 
viting his  subjects  to  the  free  indulgence  of  religious  opinion.  This  was  an- 
terior to  the  settlement  of  Rhode  Island,  and  therefore  merits  the  enviable 
rank  of  being  the  first  recognition  among  the  colonists  of  the  glorious  and 
indefeasible  rights  of  conscience.  Rhode  Island  (in  1644)  seems  without 
any  apparent  consciousness  of  co-operation  to  have  gone  further,  and  to 
have  protected  an  universal  freedom  of  religious  opinion  in  Jew  and  Gen- 
tile, in  Christian  and  Pagan,  without  any  distinction  to  be  found  in  its  legis- 
lation."— [1  Com.  on  Cons.  95.] 

It  is  needless,  however,  to  multiply  these  details.  It  is  sufficient  now  to 
say  that  American  policy  and  principle  created  a  broad  division  between  all 
that  was  established  in  England.  It  was  not  toleration  of  sects  which  we 
encouraged,  but  it  was  perfect  freedom  of  religion,  perfect  freedom  of  con- 
science. The  man  who  was  held  responsible  to  God,  and  not  to  government 
— to  eternal  truths,  not  to  evanescent  laws.  This,  this  is  the  true  American 
principle.  It  constitutes  our  great  characteristic  as  a  people.  Shall  we 
abandon  the  American  platform,  and  go  back  in  the  history  of  the  human 
race  four  hundred  years,  to  that  very  system  of  intolerance  which  England, 
herself,  after  a  trial  of  centuries,  has  abandoned  with  every  badge  of 
infamy  ? 

But  let  us  pass  on.  The  Declaration  of  Independence  wiis  declared,  and. 
among  the  grievances  therein  recited,  we  find  it  charged  against  the  King  of 
England,  that  "he  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population  of  these  states ; 
for  that  purpose  obstructing  the  laws  far  the  naturalization  of  foreigners ;  re- 
fusing to  pass  others  encouraging  their  migration  hitherto,  and  raising  the 
conditions  of  new  appropriation  of  lands." 

Mr.  Madison,  too,  in  enumerating  the  defects  of  the  confederation,  says  : 
<(  Among  the  defects  severely  felt  was  want  of  an  uniformity  in  cases  re- 
quiring it,  as  laws  of  naturalization  and  bankruptcy." — [2  Madison  Pa- 
pers, 712.] 


220 

We  have  now  come  to  the  formation  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  We 
can  now  consider  what  were  "the  doctrines  of  the  revered  Washington  and 
his  compatriots."  Washington  was  the  President  of  that  Convention.  His 
assent  was  given  to  the  Constitution  as  it  passed. 

By  it  the  President  and  Vice  President  are  required  to  be  native-born 
citizens  of  the  United  States.  There  seems  to  have  been  no  debate  upon 
this  proposition. 

A  foreigner,  however,  is  eligible  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  after 
being  seven  years  a  citizen  ;  and  he  is  also  eligible  to  the  Senate  after  being 
one  nine  years. 

In  the  debates  which  took  place  on  the  various  propositions  which  were 
submitted  before  the  clause  was  passed  in  its  present  shape,  we  shall  see 
that  all  those  who  were  afterwards  distinguished  as  Federalists  announced 
the,mselves  in  favor  of  a  policy  as  narrow  and  exclusive  as  that  of  Great 
Britain,  in  this  as  in  all  other  respects;  while  those  who  advocated  a  gen- 
erous system — an  American  system — were  afterwards  quite  as  much  distin- 
guished in  the  adherence  to  Republican  or  Democratic  principles.  It  is  true 
parties  were  not  then  formed,  but  we  shall  discern  the  seminal  principle  of 
those  which  divide  this  country  at  this  very  hour,  by  whatever  names  called. 

Mr.  Governeur  Morris,  (Fed.) — moved  to  insert  fourteen  years,  instead  of 
four  years'  citizenship,  as  a  qualification  for  senators,  urging  the  dangers  of 
admitting  strangers  into  "our  public  councils. — [3  Mad.  Papers,  1273,  et  seq.] 

Mr.  Pinkney,  (Federalist) — seconded  him.  As  the  senate  is  to  have  the 
power  of  making  treaties  and  managing  our  foreign  affairs,  there  is  peculiar 
danger  and  impropriety  in  opening  its  door  to  those  who  have  foreign  attach- 
ments. 

Mr.  Madison,  (Republican) — was  not  averse  to  some  restrictions  on  this  sub- 
ject, but  could  never  agree  to  the  proposed  amendment.  Should  the  consti- 
tution have  the  intended  effect  of  giving  stability  and  reputation  to  our  gov- 
ernment, great  numbers  of  respectable  Europeans,  men  who  loved  liberty 
and  wished  to  partake  its  blessings,  will  be  ready  to  transfer  their  fortunes 
hither.  All  such  would  feel  the  mortification  of  being  marked  with  suspi- 
cious incapacities,  though  they  should  not  covet  the  public  honors.  He  was 
not  apprehensive  that  any  dangerous  number  of  strangers  would  Jbe  appointed 
by  the  state  legislatures,  if  they  were  left  at  liberty  to  do  so;  nor  that  for- 
eign powers  would  make  use  of  strangers  as  instruments  for  their  purposes. 

Mr.  Butler,  (Federalist) — Was  decidedly  opposed  to  the  admission  of  for- 
eigners without  a  long  residence  in  the  country.  They  bring  with  them  not 
only  attachments  to  other  countries,  but  ideas  of  government  so  distinct  from 
ours,  that  in  every  point  of  view  they  are  dangerous.  He  mentioned  the 
great  strictness  observed  in  Great  Britain  on  this  subject! 

Dr.  Franklin,  (Republican) — Was  not  against  a  reasonable  time,  but 
should  be  very  sorry  to  see  anything  like  illiberality  inserted  in  the  Consti- 
tution. The  people  in  Europe  are  friendly  to  this  country.  We  found,  in 
the  course  of  the  revolution,  that  many  strangers  served  us  faithfully,  and 
that  many  natives  took  part  against  their  country.  When  foreigners,  after 
looking  about  for  some  other  country  in  which  they  can  obtain  more  happi- 
ness, give  preference  to  ours,  it  is  a  proof  of  attachment  which  ought  to  ex- 
cite our  confidence  and  affection. 

Mr.  Randolph,  (Republican) — Never  could  agree  to  the  motion  for  disa- 
bling foreigners  for  fourteen  years  from  participating  in  the  public  honors. 
He  reminded  the  Convention  of  the  language  held  by  our  patriots  during  the 
revolution,  and  the  principles  laid  down  in  all  the  American  Constitutions. 
He  would  .go  as  far  as  seven  years,  but  no  farther. 

Mr.  Wilson,  (Republican) — Said  he  rose  with  feelings  which  were  per- 
haps peculiar,  mentioning  the  circumstance  of  his  not  being  a  native,  and 


the  possibility,  if  the  ideas  of  some  gentlemen  should  be  pursued,  of  his 
bein^  incapacitated  from  holding  a  place  under  the  very  Constitution  which 
he  had  shared  the  trust  of  making.  He  remarked  the  illiberal  complexion 
which  the  motion  would  give  the  whole  system,  and  the  effect  which  a 
good  system  wrould  have  in  inviting  meritorious  foreigners  among  us,  and 
the  discouragement  and  mortification  they  must  feel  from  the  degrading  dis- 
crimination now  proposed. 

Gove.rneur  Morris,  (Federalist) — The  lesson  we  are  taught  is,  that  we 
should  be  governed  as  much  by  one's  reason  and  as  little  by  one's  feelings  as 
possible.  He  ran  over  the  privileges  which  emigrants  would  enjoy  among 
us,  though  they  should  be  deprived  of  thafcof  being  eligible  to  the  great  offices 
of  government,  (as  in  England,)  observing  that  they  exceeded  the  privileges 
allowed  to  foreigners  in  any  part  of  the  world.  The  men  who  can  shake  off 
their  attachment  to  their  own  country  can  never  love  any  other. 

On  the  motion  of  Mr.  Morris,  the  vote  stood :  New  Hampshire,  New  Jer- 
sey, South  Carolina,  Georgia — Ayes  4.  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Penn- 
sylvania, Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina — Noes  7. 

Mr.  Rutledge. — Seven  years'  citizenship  having  been  required  for  the 
House  of  Representatives,  surely  a  longer  time  is  requisite  for  the  Senate, 
which  will  have  more  power. 

On  the  question  for  nine  years:  New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  Delaware, 
Virginia,  South  Carolina,  Georgia — Ayes  6.  Massachusetts,  Connecticut, 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland — Noes  4.  North  Carolina  divided. 

On  the  13th  August,  1787,  the  question  again  came  upon  motion  to  strike 
out  7  and  insert  4  years,  as  the  required  term  for  citizenship  of  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Representatives. 

Mr.  Madison  (Republican) — Wished  to  maintain  the  character  of  liberality 
which  had  been  professed  in  all  the  constitutions  and  publications  of  Amer- 
ica. He  wished  to  invite  foreigners  of  merit  and  republican  principles 
among  MS.  America  was  indebted  to  emigration  for  her  settlement  and  pros- 
perity. 

Mr.  Wilson  (Republican) — Remarked  that  almost  all  the  general  officer?  of 
the  Pennsylvania  line  of  the  late  army  were  foreigners,  and  no  complaint 
had  ever  been  made  against  their  fidelity  or  merit.  Three  of  her  deputies 
to  the  Convention — Morris,  Fitzsimmons  and  himself — were  also  not  natives. 

On  the  motion  to  make  the  term  4  years  instead  of  7,  the  vote  stood : 
Connecticut,  Maryland,  Virginia — Ayes  3.  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia — Noes  8. 

Such,  then,  were  the  sentiments  of  the  "  revered  Washington  and  his 
compatriots,"  on  this  great  issue.  But  we  are  not  left  there  as  to  the  posi- 
tion of  Washington.  It  were  a  bootless  task  to  give  from  his  writings  \vhat 
his  opinions  were.  Garbled  extracts  have  been  paraded  before  the  people, 
without  relation  to  the  context,  to 'give  some  color  of  authority  to  the  designs 
of  this  resuscitated  American,  Orange,  Protestant,  Jesuit  organization  ;  but 
they  can  impose  only  on  those  who  perversely  shut  their  eyes  against  all 
knowledge.  One  example  in  point  may  suilice  for  the  end  which  we  have 
now  in  view.  In  December  1789,  while  Washington  was  president,  he  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States,  in  which  he  said :  "As 
mankind  become  more  liberal,  they  will  be  mere  apt  to  allow  that  all  those 
who  conduct  themselves  as  worthy  members  of  the  community,  are  equally 
entitled  to  the  civil  government.  I  hope  to  see  America  among  the  fore- 
most nations  in  examples  of  justice  and  liberality.  And  I  presume  that 
your  fellow-citizens  will  not  forget  the  patriotic  part  you  took  in  the  accom- 
plishment of  their  revolution,  and  the^establishment  of  their  government,  or 


222 

the  important  assistance  they  received  from  a  nation  in  which  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  is  professed."     [12  Writings  of  Washington,  178.] 

We  come  now  to  that  provision  of  the  Constitution  in  regard  to  a  religious 
test/ 

Mr.  Pinkney  moved  that  no  religious  test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  qual- 
ification to  any  office  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Sherman  thought  it  unnecessary,  the  prevailing  liberality  being  a 
sufficient  security  against  all  such  tests.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  motion 
was  agreed  to  mm.  con.  without  another  word  on  the  subject.  Little  di.d  the 
framers  of  that  instrument  suppose  that,  in  less  than  a  century,  an  organiza- 
tion should  arise,  the  object  of  whi*h  is  to  do  indirectly  the  very  thing  which 
it  was  supposed  could  not  possibly  be  done  directly,  even  without  the  consti- 
tutional guarantee  which  now  exists. 

It  is  equally  remarkable,  too,  that  in  all  the  debates  upon  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution,  there  is  nothing  said  upon  the  power  conferred  on  Congress 
to  pass  uniform  laws  in  relation  to  naturalization.  The  clause  in  regard  to 
the  test,  however,  did  undergo  a  very  rigid  examination,  and  it  may  be  well 
to  show  the  spirit  which  prevailed  at  the  time  in  regard  to  it.  We  will  com- 
mence with  Massachusetts.  [2  Elliot's  Debate,  156.] 

Rev.  Mr.  Backus. — I  beg  leave  to  offer  a  few  thoughts  upon  the  Constitu- 
tion proposed  to  us ;  and  1  shall  begin  with  the  exclusion  of  any  religious 
test.  Many  appear  to  be  much  concerned  about  it;  but  nothing  is  more  evi- 
dent, both  in  reason  and  the  holy  scriptures,  than  that  religion  is  ever  a  mat- 
ter between  God  and  individuals ;  and  that,  therefore,  no  man  or  s-et  of  men 
can  impose  any  religious  test  without  invading  the  essential  prerogatives  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Ministers  first  assumed  this  power  under  the  Chris- 
tian name,  and  then  Constantine  approved  of  the  practice  when  he  adopted 
the  profession  of  Christianity  as  an  engine  of  state  policy.  And  let  the  his- 
tory of  all  nations  be  searched,  from  that  day  to  tjiis,  and  it  will  appear  that 
the  imposing  of  religious  tests  hath  been  the  greatest  engine  of  tyranny  in 
the  world. 

Next  Connecticut— [2  Elliot,  203.] 

Oliver  Wolcott. — For  myself  I  should  be  content  either  with  or  without 
the  clause  in  the  Constitution  which  excludes  test  laws.  Knowledge  and 
liberty  are  so  prevalent  in  this  country,  that  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
United  States  would  ever  be  disposed  to  establish  one  religious  sect  and  lay 
all  others  under  legal  disabilities.  But  as  we  know  not  what  may  take  place 
hereafter,  and  any  such  test  would  be  destructive  of  the  rights  of  free  citi- 
zens, I  cajinot  think  it  superfluous  to  have  added  a  clause  which  secures  us 
from  the  possibility  of  such  oppression. 

Next  Virginia— [3  Elliot,  113.     Do.  313.] 

.  Mr.  Madison. — I  confess  to  you,  sir,  that  were  uniformity  of  religion  to  be 
introduced  by  this  system,  it  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  ineligible ;  but  I  have 
no  reason  to  conclude  that  uniformity  of  government  will  produce  that  of 
religion.  This  subject  is,  for  the  honor  of  America,  left  perfectly  free  and 
unshackled.  The  government  has  no  jurisdiction  over  it — the  least  reflec- 
tion will  convince  us  there  is  no  danger  on  this  ground.  Happily  for  the 
states,  they  enjoy  the  utmost  freedom  of  religion.  This  freedom  arises  from 
that  multiplicity  of  sects  which  pervades  America,  and  which  is  the  best  and 
only  security  for  religious  liberty  in  any  society.  For,  where  there  is  such  a 
variety  of  sects,  there  cannot  be  a  majority  of  any  one  sect  to  oppress  and 
persecute  tne  rest. 

Next  North  Carolina— [4  Elliot,  196.] 

Mr,  Iredell  used  this  comprehensive  and  elegant  language :  "  Every  per- 
son in  the  least  conversant  in  the  history  of  mankind,  knows  what  dreadful 


223 

mischiefs  have  been  committed  by  religious  persecution.  Under  the  color  of 
religious  tests,  the  utmost  cruelties  have  been  exercised.  Those  in  power 
have  generally  considered  all  wisdom  centred  in  themselves,  that  they  alone 
had  the  right  to  dictate  to  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  that  all  opposition  to  their 
tenets  was  profane  and  impious.  The  consequence  of  this  intolerant  spirit 
has  been  that  each  church  has  in  turn  set  itself  up  against  every  other,  and 
persecutions  and  wars  of  the  most  implacable  and  bloody  nature  have  taken 
place  in  every  part  of  the  world.  America  has  set  an  example  to  mankind 
to  think  more  rationally — that  a  man  may  be  of  religious  sentiments  differing 
from  our  own,  without  being  a  bad  member  of  society.  The  principles  of 
toleration,  to  the  honor  of  this  age,  are  doing  away  those  errors  and  preju- 
dices which  have  so  long  prevailed  even  in  the  most  intolerant  countries.  In 
Roman  Catholic  -lands  principles  of  moderation  are  adopted  which  would 
have  been  spurned  a  century  or  two  ago.  It  will  be  fatal,  indeed,  to  find  the 
time,  when  examples  of  toleration  are  set  even  by  arbitrary  governments, 
that  this  country,  so  impressed  with  the  highest  sense  of  liberty,  should 
adopt  principles  on  this  subject  that  were  narrow,  despotic  and  illiberal." 

These,  then,  were  the  sentiments  of  the  compatriots  of  Washington.  I 
commend  them  to  the  state  of  his  birth — in  this  fatal  hour  of  the  republic — 
when  the  poisonous  drops  of  a  horrid  fanaticism,  and  a  not  less  horrid  big- 
otry, are  distilled  into  the  ears  of  the  people — when  an  "  airy  devil  hovers  in 
her  sky  and  rains  down  mischief!"  Shall  we  go  forward  to  that  crag  which 
beetles  over  an  unfathomable  abyss,  or  shall  we  stand  now  and  forever  as  a 
commonwealth  upon  our  glorious  act  of  religious  freedom? 

"  Shall  we,  on  this  fair  mountain,  have  leave  to  feed.  " 

My  next  point  is,  that  the  principles  of  the  Orange  Americans,  that  "Ame- 
rica shall  be  ruled  by  Americans;'1  that  "  foreigners  ought  not  to  be  eligible 
to  office,"  and  "  that  all  public  positions  ought  to  be  filled  by  natives  of  the 
soil."  are  nothing  more  than  revivals  of  the  doctrines  of  Federalism,  British 
Federalism  in  its  worst  type ;  of  that  party  in  this  country  which  has  had  so 
little  of  Americanism  about  it,  that  in  every  war  that  we  have  ever  had,  it 
has  been  against  that  very  flag  which  is  now  used  as  a  symbol,  a  desecrated 
symbol,  in  their  Jesuitical  orgies,  and  demagoguical  mysteries.  What  are 
the  proofs  ? 

On  the  3d  day  of  May,  1798,  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  of  Massachusetts,  a 
Federalist,  and  afterwards  a  member  of  the  infamous  Hartford  Convention, 
introduced  into  Congress  this  resolution  : — [Annals  5th  Congress,  page  1570.] 

"Resolved,  That  no  alien  born,  who  is  not  at  present  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  shall  hereafter  be  capable  of  holding  any  office  of  honor,  trust 
or  profit  under  the  United  States." 

The  Democratic  party  then,  as  now,  took  ground  against  this  most  illiberal 
exclusion.  We  shall  show  this  by  the  debates. 

Mr.  Venable,  of  Virginia,  (Democrat,)  did  not  think  the  House  were 
authorized  to  enact  such  a  principle  into  a  law.  If  taken  up  at  all  it  ought 
to  be  considered  as  a  proposition  for  amending  the  Constitution.  If  it  was 
thought  necessary  by  gentlemen  to  amend  the  Constitution  in  this  way,  why 
not  make  the  proposition  ?  After  foreigners  were  admitted  as  citizens,  Con- 
gress had  not  the  power  of  declaring  what  should  be  their  rights;  the  Consti- 
tution has  done  this.  Foreigners  must  therefore  be  refused  the  privilege  of 
becoming  citizens  altogether  or  admitted  to  all  the  rights  of  citizens. 

Mr.  Otis,  of  Massachusetts,  (Federalist,)  had  no  idea  this  proposition  could 
be  considered  as  a  proposition  to  amend  the  Constitution.  If  the  House  had 
the  power  to  amend  the  naturalization  law,  and  extend  the  time  of  residence 
necessary  to  entitle  an  alien  to  citizenship,  they  could  certainly  extend  it  to 


224 

the  life  of  a  man.  The  idea  of  citizenship  did  not  always  include  the  power 
of  holding  offices.  In  Great  Britain  no  alien  was  ever  permitted  to  hold  an 
office ;  he  wished  they  might  not  be  allowed  to  do  it  here ! 

Mr.  Venable,  in  reply.  He  did  not  believe  Congress  had  the  power  of 
saying  men  who  were  entitled  to  hold  offices  by  the  Constitution  shall  not 
hold  them. 

Mr.  Macon.  of  North  Carolina,  (Democrat.) — If  a  man  is  a  citizen  he  is 
eligible  to  office  agreeably  to  the  constitutional  rule,  and  that  could  not  be 
altered  by  law.  If  the  people  choose  to  elect  a  foreigner  as  a  member  of 
the  Legislature,  if  he  had  been  a  citizen  seven  years,  Congress  could  not  say 
he  should  not  be  eligible. 

Mr.  Otis,  in  continuation. — "  What  advantage  was  derived  to  this  country 
from  giving  foreigners  eligibility  to  office  ?  The  people  of  this  country  were 
certainly  equal  to  the  legislation  and  administration  of  their  own  government. 
He  had  no  doubt  many  aliens  would  become  very  valuable  acquisitions  to  this 
country  ;  but  he  had  no  idea  of  admitting  them  into  the  government.  Great 
Britain  was  very  careful  of  the  avenues  which  led  to  her  freedom.  Aliens 
were  there  excluded  from  holding  all  places  of  honor,  profit  or  trust.  It  had 
not  only  been  thought  good  policy  in  times  past  to  encourage  foreigners  to 
come  to  this  country,  but  also  to  admit  them  into  the  Legislature  and  impor- 
tant offices.  But  now  America  is  growing  into  a  nation  of  importance,  and 
it  would  be  an  object  with  foreign  nations  to  gain  an  influence  in  our  councils; 
and  before  such  an  attempt  was  made  it  was  proper  to  make  provision 
against  it!" 

How  many  speeches  have  we  lately  heard  which  are  like  this  one  of  Mr. 
Otis  ! 

It  seems,  too,  that  another  plea,  very  commonly  put  forward  was  then  in 
vogue  too. 

Mr.  McDowell,  of  N.  C.,  (Democrat.) — "  It  has  been  said  our  population 
was  now  sufficient,  and  that  the  privileges  heretofore  allowed  to  foreigners 
might  now  be  withdrawn.  In  some  parts  of  the  country  this  might,  in  some 
degree,  be  the  case  ;  but  he  knew  there  were  other  parts  which  wanted  popu- 
lation." 

Robert  Goodloe  Harper,  South  Carolina,  (Federalist,) — "  Believed  it  was 
high  time  we  should  recover  from  the  mistake  which  this  country  fell  into 
when  it  first  began  to  form  its  Constitution,  of  admitting  foreigners  to  citizen- 
ship. He  believed  the  time  had  now  come  when  it  was  proper  to  declare 
that  nothing  but  birth  should  entitle  a  man  to  citizenship  in  this  country. 
This  was  the  English  doctrine.  He  was  for  giving  foreigners  every  facility 
for  acquiring  property,  of  holding  this  property,  of  raising  their  families,  and 
of  transferring  their  property  to  their  families.  He  was  willing  they  should 
form  citizens  for  us;  but,  as  to  the  rights  of  citizenship,  he  was  not  willing 
they  should  be  enjoyed  except  by  persons  born  on  the  soil.  If  the  native 
citizens  are  indeed  adequate  to  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  the  govern- 
ment, he  could  not  see  for  what  reasons  strangers  are  admitted.  None  but 
persons  born  in  the  country  should  be  permitted  to  take  part  in  the  govern- 
ment. He  moved  to  amend  by  adding  the  following  words  :  '  or  of  voting  at 
the  election  of  any  member  of  the  Legislature  of  the  United  States,  or  of 
any  state.'  ' 

The  a!i;-n  law  was  then  under  consideration,  upon  which,  and  the  sedition 
law,  Vi  i  ia  passed  her  renowned  resolutions  in  1798.  We  need  not  now  al- 
lude spec  ically  to  its  provisions.  It  gave  the  president  power  to  order  all 
aliens  h  ;•  ay  judge  dangerous  to  the  United  States,  or  that  he  may  suspect  to 
be  so,  t?j  ».! opart  out  of  the  country  in  such  time  .as  he  himself  may  specify. 
And  if  -red  to  depart,  and  he  remained  without  a  license  from  the  presi- 


225 

dent,  he  was  to  be  imprisoned  for  a  term  of  three  years,  and  forever  debarred 
of  all  the  privileges  of  a  citizen. 

The  debates  show  that  the  Democratic  party  opposed  this  act,  and  it  be- 
came one  of  the  grand  lines  of  demarcation  in  1800.  The  liberal  policy 
established  by  our  fathers  was  not  sufficient  for  the  Federalists,  who  desired 
to  make  America  conform  to  Britain  in  regard  to  aliens,  in  regard  to  a  bank, 
in  regard  to  the  whole  governmental  policy.  Here,  again,  the  Democratic 
party,  in  peace  as  in  war,  were  the  American  party,  as  they  are  now,  and  as 
we  trust  ever  shall  be.  But  to  the  proofs : 

Mr.  Allen,  of  Connecticut,  Federalist,  [Annals  of  5th  Congress,  1798,] 
"  alluded  to  the  vast  number  of  naturalizations  which  lately  took  place  in  this 
city  (Philadelphia)  to  support  the  party  opposed  to  the  president  (John 
Adams)  in  a  particular  election." 

Have  we  not  heard  similar  language  used  in  our  day  by  the  hien  in  favor 
of  the  same  course  of  policy  ? 

Mr.  Sewell,  (Democrat.) — "  What  is  to  be  feared  from  the  residence  of 
aliens  among  us?  Anything  to  ruin  the  country?  He  acknowledged  many 
inconveniences  arose  from  this  circumstance,  but  more  from  their  own  un- 
natural children,  who  in  the  bosom  of  their  parent  conspired  her  .destruction." 

Then,  it  was  the  cry  of  the  French,  now  it  is  the  power  of  the  Pope,  which 
is  made  the  pretext  for  this  new  agitation.  Listen ! 

Mr.  Allen,  of  Connecticut,  (Federalist.) — A  person  in  this  city,  who  has 
too  respectable  a  standing,  and  who  is  doing  too  much  business  in  it,  has  de- 
clared that  he  wished  to  see  a  French  army  land  in  this  country,  and  that  he 
would  do  all  in  his  power  to  further  their  landing.  He  had  heard  nearly  the 
same  thing  from  another  quarter.  Not  that  he  was  himself  afraid  of  being 
assassinated  or  having  the  city  burnt. 

Mr.  Gallatin,  (Dem.)  of  Pennsylvania. — This  bill  was  not  only  contrary  to 
every  principle  of  justice  and  reason,  but  to  the  plain  provisions  of  the  Con- 
stitution. The  Constitution  says  "that  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life, 
limb  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law."  But  here  persons  may  be 
deprived  of  their  liberty  without  any  process  of  law,  or  being  guilty  of  any 
crime. 

Mr.  Livingston,  (Dem.)  of  N.  Y. — He  esteemed  it  as  one  of  the  most  for- 
tunate occurrences  of  his  life,  that  after  an  inevitable  absence  from  a  seat  in 
that  house,  he  had  arrived  in  time  to  express  his  dissent  to  this  monstrous 
bill.  It  would  have  been  a  source  of  eternal  regret  and  the  keenest  remorse 
if  any  private  affairs  had  deprived  him  of  the  opportunity  of  recording  his 
vote  against  an  act  he  believed  in  direct  violation  of  the  Constitution,  and 
marked  with  every  characteristic  of  the  most  odious  despotism.  By  this  act 
the  president  alone  is  authorized  to  make  the  law — to  fix  in  his  own  mind 
what  acts,  what  words,  what  thoughts  or  looks  shall  constitute  the  crime  con- 
templated by  the  bill,  that  is,  the  crime  of  "  being  suspected  to  be  dangerous 
to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  United  States."  This  comes  completely  with- 
in the  definition  of  despotism — an  union  of  legislative,  executive  and  judicial 
powers.  » 

Mr.  Tazewell,  (Dem.)  of  Virginia — Knew  of  but  one  power  given  to  Con- 
gress by  the  Constitution  which  could  exclusively  apply  to  aliens,  and  that 
was  the  power  of  naturalization.  Whether  this  was  a  power  which  excluded 
the  states  from  its  exercise,  or  gave  to  Congress  only  a  concurrent  authority 
over  the  subject,  he  would  not  now  pretend  to  say.  But  it  neither  author- 
ized Congress  to  prohibit  the  migration  of  foreigners  to  any  state,  nor  to  ban- 
ish them  when  admitted.  It  was  a  power  which  could  only  authorize  Con- 
gress to  give  or  withhold  citizenship.  The  states,  notwithstanding  this  power 
of  naturalization,  could  impart  to  aliens  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  the  right  to 
15 


226 

purchase  and  hold  lands.  There  was  in  this  respect  no  restraint  upon  the 
states. 

At  the  same  session  the  sedition  law  passed — a  law  aimed  at  the  natives, 
as  the.  other  was  aimed  at  the  foreigners.  It  provided  that  any  one  who 
should  write,  print,  utter  or  publish,  or  cause  or  procure  the  same  to  be  done, 
any  malicious  writing  against  the  government  of  the  United  States,  or  either 
house  of  Congress,  or  the  president,  should  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceed- 
ing two  thousand  dollars,  and  by  imprisonment  not  exceeding  two  years.  It 
is  not  necessary  now  to  dip  into  the  debates  on  this  branch  of  the  subject. 
It  would  extend  this  paper  longer  than  we  desire.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that 
the  same  principles  were  involved — the  same  division  of  parties  took  place 
— the  same  liberality  was  advocated  by  the  American  Democratic  party — 
and  the  same  narrowness  and  exclusion  found  advocates  among  those  who, 
instead  of  mapping  out  a  system  of  Americans  and  America,  looked  to  En- 
gland for  the  great  principles  of  their  public  action.  The  feeling  of  the  time 
may  be  deduced  from  a  letter  of  Timothy  Pickering  to  Alexander  Hamilton, 
both  noted  Federalists. — [6  Hamilton's  Works,  303.] 

"The  alien  bills  introduced  into  the  houses  of  Congress  have  undergone 
such  alterations  I  do  not  know  their  present  form.  Of  one  thing,  however, 
you  may  rest  assured,  that  they  will  not  err  on  the  side  of  severity,  much 
less  of  cruelty." 

Here,  perhaps,  it  may  be  well  for  a  moment  to  pause,  and  dwell  upon  a 
most  remarkable  prediction  made  by  Duncan  of  Ohio,  in  a  speech  delivered 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  19th  of  February,  1845. — [Appen- 
dix 28  Congress,  vol.  14,  page  413.] 

"  Indulge  me  while  I  expose  a  few  of  the  corrupt  and  iniquitous  measures 
which  have  ever  marked  the  course  of  the  Federal  party,  not  only  to  secure 
their  elections,  but  to  secure  their  favorite  measures.  It  is  a  fundamental 
principle  of  Federalism,  that  the  want  of  intelligence  of  the  common  people 
makes  them  unfit  for  self-government;  and  they  being  of  the  uncommon 
class,  should  of  right  be  the  governors.  Hence  it  is,  that  all  their  means  to 
secure  their  elections  and  their  favorite  measures,  are  directed  to  the  sup- 
posed ignorance  and  stupidity  of  the  people — that  they  know  nothing!  I 
will  trace  up  some  of  those  means  from  an  early  period  of  our  government, 
by  which  the  Federal  party  may  be  known  under  whatever  name  they  may 
have  assumed,  or  may  hereafter  assume  for  political  deception;  for  so  long 
as  they  shall  be  known  by  their  true  name,  and  their  principles  are  known 
to  correspond  with  their  name,  the  Democracy  must  and  will  triumph. 

"  I  begin  with  the  unprincipled  practice  they  have  of  changing  their  name. 
They  have  changed  their  name  with  the  periodical  return  of  every  presiden- 
tial election  :  and  this  for  the  purpose  of  concealing  their  principles  and 
deceiving  the  people.  Their  last  name  was  Whig,  and  that  name  they  kept 
as  long  as  it  would  answer  any  purpose;  but  they  will  never  fight  another 
battle  under  the  banner  inscribed  Whig  again.  Having  exhausted  the  polit- 
ical vocabulary,  they  will  return  to  the  abuse  and  persecution  of  the  Irish 
and  Germans  which  characterized  the  party  in  the  administration  of  the  elder 
Adams.  Nothing  is  longer  to  be  feared  from  a  change  of  name.  The  peo- 
ple contemplate  them  as  they  do  a  stranger,  who  gives  himself  a  new  or 
different  name  in  every  town  or  village  through  which  he  passes.  They  look 
upon  him  as  a  scape-gallows  or  horse-thief  who  merits  the  rope  or  the  peni- 
tentiary." 

The  best  commentary  upon  this  passage,  is  the  following  editorial  from  the 
New  York  Express,  a  Whig  paper,  of  the  date  of  the  14th  of  February  last: 

"  It  gives  us  no  pleasure  to  refer  to  the  past  glory  of  the  Whig  party,  or  to 
write  the  obituary  of  that  which  we  have  joyed  in  and  joyed  over;  but  we 
conduct  a  newspaper,  not  a  Book  of  Lamentations,  and  we  cannot  shut  our 


227 

eyes  to  continually  occurring  facts.  The  Whig  platform,  '  previously  spit 
upon,'  to  quote  the  coarse  phrase  of  a  city  contemporary,  has  now  been  so 
shattered  by  the  withdrawal  of  its  main  protective  tariff  plank,  that  there  is 
not  enough  left  of  the  corpse,  we  fear,  for  any  species  of  political  anatomiza- 
tion. Internal  improvement  is  a  vague  idea;  a  protective  tariff  is  abandon- 
ed even  in  New  England,  where  the  manufacturers  say  it  is  not  only  not 
needed,  but  has  become  an  embarrassment,  just  as  in  England  when  the 
Peelite  manufacturers  turned  their  somerset  and  flung  oat  the  banner  of  free 
trade.  Massachusetts  now  stands  with  Alabama  on  the  tariff.  The  currency 
issues  have  been  superseded  by  the  railroads  and  magnetic  telegraphs,  which 
do  away  with  all  necessity  for  any  great  regulator  of  the  domestic  exchequer. 
Indeed,  there  is  not  a  Whig  principle  that  Clay  and  Webster  fought  for,  that 
is  not  dead  and  buried !  Nevertheless,  Whig  hosts  will  hover  for  months 
over  the  tombs  of  Clay  and  Webster,  and  the  principles  buried  with  them; 
for  mourners  of  parties,  like  other  mourners,  are  the  last  to  believe  in  the 
dissolution  of  death." 

Such  being  the  condition  of  the  Whig  party,  what  course  remained  but  to 
do  what  Duncan  said  they  would  do:  go  back  to  the  old  principles  which  we 
have  shown  to  be  British,  and  not  American,  and  abuse  and  persecute  the 
Irish  and  Dutch,  with  an  addition  of  British,  not  American,  disqualifications 
against  Catholics  ?  They  hoped  in  this  way  to  seduce  off  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  unsuspecting  Protestant  Democrats  to  give  them  the  balance  of  power. 
It  was  the  last  resort  of  Federalism ;  and,  to  crown  all,  they  steal  their  very 
war-cries  of  hostility  against  the  Pope,  of  his  power  to  exempt  his  subjects 
from  the  oath  of  allegiance,  from  the  *bigotry  and  intolerance  of  England. 
This  device  was  used,  there  for  centuries,  and  after  being  reduced  so  low  that 
no  respectable  man  in  that  kingdom  will  use  it,  it  is  vamped  up  and  paraded 
here  as  something  new,  patriotic  and  American  !  I  wish  I  had  the  time  to 
go  into  this  branch  of  the  subject,  but  I  must  postpone  it  to  a  future  paper. 

On  the  slavery  question — on  the  extension  of  territory — on  foreigners — 
the  old  Federal  party  occupied  precisely  the  same  grounds  now  occupied  by 
the  Protestant  Jesuits  of  the  north.  I  design  hereafter,  if  I  can  find  the 
leisure,  to  show  this  in  detail ;  but  I  must  for  the  present  confine  myself  to 
the  latter  branch  of  the  subject  alone. 

Let  us  pursue  still  further  the  history  of  parties  on  the  alien  question. 
Virginia  declared  her  sentiments  in  the  resolutions  of  Madison  in  1798,  to 
which,  in  spite  of  Federal  jeers  and  jibes,  we  are  forced  back  more  and 
more  every  year  for  an  exposition  of  the  true  powers  and  functions  of  this 
confederacy. 

In  the  language  of  one  of  these  resolutions,  "  the  General  Assembly  pro- 
tests against  the  palpable  and  alarming  infractions  of  the  Constitution,  in  the 
late  case  of  the  alien  and  sedition  acts,  passed  at  the  last  session  of  Congress, 
which  exercise  powers  nowhere  delegated  to  the  federal  government,  and  by 
uniting  legislative  and  judicial  powers  to  those  of  executive,  subverts  the 
general  principles  of  a  free  government/' 

Alexander  Hamilton,  true  to  the  instincts  of  Federalism,  could  not  let 
these  sentiments  pass.  He  refers  to  Jefferson's  opinions  on  emigration,  ex- 
pressed in  his  notes  on  Virginia,  which  are  quoted  now  in  all  the  American 
Orange  councils  as  indicating  his  approval  of  their  work,  and  then  makes  these 
animadversions  on  th$  passage  of  the  message  \ve  have  quoted,  in  which  we 
shall  see  the  very  language  now  used  by  them  and  their  adherents  upon  this 
subject.  He  says: — [7  Hamilton's  Works,  771.] 

"  It  is  certain  that  had  the  late  election  been  decided  entirely  by  native 
citizens  and  native  votes;  had  foreign  auxiliaries  been  rejected  on  both  sides, 
the  man  who  ostentatiously  vaunts  that  the  doors  of  public  honor  and  confi- 
dence have  been  burst  open  to  him,  would  not  now  have  been  vat  the  head  of 


228 

the  American  nation.  The  pathetic  and  plaintive  exclamations,  by  which 
the  sentiment  is  enforced,  might  be  liable  to  much  criticism,  if  we  are  to 
consider  it  in  any  other  light  than  as  a  flourish  of  rhetoric.  It  might  be 
asked,  in  return,  does  the  right  to  asylum  or  hospitality  carry  with  it  the 
right  to  suffrage  and  sovereignty  ?  And  what,  indeed,  was  the  courteous 
reception  which  was  given  to  our  forefathers  by  the  savages  of  the  wilder- 
ness ?  When  did  these  humane  and  philanthropic  savages  exercise  the  poli- 
cy of  incorporating  strangers  among  themselves  on  the  first  arrival  in  the 
country?  When  did  they  admit  them  into  their  huts  to  make  part  of  their 
families  ?  And  when  did  they  distinguish  them  by  making  them  their 
sachems  and  chiefs?" 

We  have  now  traced  the  division  of  parties  on  this  subject  to  the  time  of 
Jefferson,  by  an  appeal  to  the  record,  and  by  undoubted  authorities.  We 
may  hereafter  carry  the  parallel  down  to  our  own  days.  It  can  be  done 
most  conclusively,  but  we  must  reserve  other  views  for  another  occasion. 
To  show  how  consistent  Federalism  was  on  this  subject,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  refer  to  the  proceedings  of  the  Hartford  Convention.  We  shall  select  two 
resolutions,  as  in  point. 

The  first  was,  that  "  the  most  inviolable  secrecy  shall  be  observed  by  each 
member  of  this  convention,  including  the  secretary,  as  to  all  propositions, 
debates  and  proceedings  thereof,  until  this  injunction  shall  be  removed,  sus- 
pended or  altered." 

The  next  is,  "That  no  person  who  shall  hereafter  be  a  naturalized  citizen 
o"f  the  United  States  shall  be  eligible  as  a  member  of  the  Senate,  or  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  nor  be  capable  of  holding 
any  civil  office  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States." 

At  this  point  we  must  close,  leaving  other  views  for  the  future.  We  have 
written  mainly  for  the  benefit  of  the  young  men  of  the  state,  over  whom 
this  American  Orange  organization  is  most  zealously  striving  to  obtain  con- 
trol. By  subtle  appeals  to  their  patriotism — to  their  native  pride — to  their 
holy  zeal  for  the  land  of  their  birth,  they  seek  to  draw  them  into  a  crusade 
against  the  purest  principles  of  our  constitutional  faith — against  the  very 
heart  of  the  nation.  Let  the  young  men  of  the  state  go  back  to  the  precepts 
and  doctrines  of  our  ancestors,  as  herein  delineated,  and  then  decide  for 
themselves  the  question  whether  they  will  follow  those  who  have  proven 
themselves  to  be  the  lights  of  the  universe — iinmortal  not  less  in  their  con- 
sciousness than  in  their  maintenance  of  the  right  in  religion  as  well  as  in  the 
state  ;  or  whether  they  will  forswear  the  ancient  colors  of  the  republic,  and 
go  back  in  the  history  of  the  human  race  four  hundred  years,  to  the  exclu- 
sions, the  penalties  and  disabilities,  both  political  and  religious,  which,  instead 
of  being  indigenous  to  our  soil,  a,re  but  poisonous  exotics  transplanted  from 
Great  Britain!  Believe  me,  this  is  not  an  age  to  deprive  humanity  of  any 
of  its  dear-bought  privileges.  Human  ingenuity  may  go  very  far,  but  no 
mode  can  be  devised  to  justify  persecution — to  sanctify  bigotry,  or  deify  the 
crimes  which  we  may  commit  on  our  fellow  men.  Passion  and  prejudice 
may  go  far,  very  far  too;  they  may  establish  parties,  they  may  give  them 
temporary  success,  but  they  will  realize  the  reflections  of  Sandoval  to  Henry: 

"  Always  strivest  thou  to  be  great 
By  thine  own  act, — yet  art  thou  never  great, 
But  by  the  inspiration  of  great  passion  ; 
The  whirl  blast  comes,  the  desert  sands  rise  up 
And  shape  themselves  ;  from  earth  to  heaven  they  stand 
As  though  they  were  the  pillars  of  a  temple 
Built  by  Omnipotence  in  its  own  honor  ! 
But  the  blast  pauses,  and  their  shaping  spirit 
Is  fled  :  the  mighty  columns  were  but  sand, 
•And  lazy  snakes  trail  over  the  level  ruins  !" 


229 

In  reply  to  the  arguments,  empty  declarations,  and  bold  assertions  of  the 
Know  Nothings  respecting  the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope,  the  Examiner  pub- 
lished the  following  editorial  : 

COMFORT  FOR  THE  FRIGHTENED— CHEER  FOR  THE  FAINT- 
HEARTED. 

There  is  a  convenient  provision  in  the  secret  constitution  of  the  Know  Noth- 
ing Order,  (not  promulged,  however,  in  their  published  Basis  Principles,)  allow- 
ing their  grand  National  Council  to  grant  dispensations  to  the  Councils  in  the 
States,  exempting  them  from  such  provisions  of  that  instrument  as  may  not  be 
locally  popular.  Accordingly,  the  Councils  of  Louisiana,  a  State  settled  chiefly 
by  French  Catholics,  have  a  dispensation  from  all  those  articles  of  their  consti- 
tution which  are  proscriptive  of  Catholics,  and  would  exclude  that  sect  from 
office  and  from  suffrage.  So  that  in  the  very  State  in  which — if  there  were 
real  danger  from  the  temporal  authority  of  the  Pope,  that  danger  would  be  im- 
minent and  appalling, — this  valiant  order  of  Protestant  lions  are  roaring  as 
gently  as  sucking  doves  against  the  Romish  hierarchy. 

While  the  Order  in  Louisiana  are  courting  Catholic  votes  with  commendable 
assiduity,  their  brethren  in  the  State  of  Virginia  are  in  a  terrible  state  of  alarm 
on  the  subject  of  a  Popish  invasion,  and  are  quoting  newspaper  authority  from 
Dublin,  to  show  that  the  Pope  does  clatm  the  power  to  depose  sovereigns  from 
their  thrones — a  power  that  might  be  exerted  with  dreadful  effect  upon  the 
sovereigns  of  Screamersville,  Butchertown,  and  the  Hanover  Slashes. 

When  we  hear  intelligent  Virginia  gentlemen,  entitled  to  be  respected  for 
candor  on  every  other  subject,  inveighing  against  Popes  and  Catholics,  as 
inimical  to  the  State  Government  of  Virginia,  and  threatening  to  the  official 
safety  of  Governor  Joseph  Johnson,  we  are  tempted  to  inquire  in  derision  and 
compassion,  why  this  valorous  assault  on  eight  thousand  Catholics  in  Virginia? 
while  their  order  have  not  the  honesty,  the  candor,  the  patriotism,  or  the  courage 
to  lift  a  finger  against  that  denomination  in  Louisiana,  where  they  are*  really 
numerous  and  strong,  and  where,  if  their  ascendancy  were  really  dangerous  to 
free  institutions,  it  would  deserve  their  attention. 

But  proving  the  hypocrisy  of  Know  Nothingism,  by  pointing  to  the  chang- 
ing hues  of  its  chameleon  charlatanry  in  different  quarters  of  the  Union,  may 
not  suffice,  as  it  should  do,  to  remove  the  apprehensions  of  weak  minded,  but 
well  meaning  Virginians  about  Popish  and  Catholic  machinations  against  their 
government  and  liberties.  If  these  were  indeed  in  danger  from  such  a  source, 
it  is  very  plain  from  the  conduct  of  the  Know  Nothings  in  the  State  of  Louis- 
iana that  safety  is  not  to  be  sought  in  that  weather-cock  Order,  but  that  it  rests 
where  the  safety  of  all  liberty  and  liberal  governments  rests — in  the  strong 
arms  and  brave  hearts  of  a  free  people.  This  Know  Nothing  clamor  about  the 
Pope  and  his  authority,  is  a  pusillanimous  outcry,  appealing  to  the  fears  of  the 
people  against  a  sort  of  danger  from  which  their  own  bravery  and  intelligence 
are  ever  the  sole  and  the  all  sufficient  safeguard. 

The  Know  Nothings,  for  the  want  of  better  authority,  are  parading  an  edi- 
torial article  from  a  foreign  newspaper,  entitled  the  Dublin  Tablet,  asserting 
the  power  of  the  Pope  in  temporal  affairs,  and  especially  his  power  to  depose 
rulers.  The  assertion  and  the  explanation  of  the  power  claimed  are  both  em- 
bodied in  the  following  sentence  from  the  Dublin  article : 

"  The  deposing  power  does  actually  exist  at  present;  it  is  publicly  taught  in 
every  state  that  considers  itself  free.  It  is  the  doctrine  of  Americans,  for  they 
deposed  George  III.  It  is  the  doctrine  of  Englishmen,  who  deposed  James  II.; 
and  of  Frenchmen,  for  they  have  deposed  the  dynasty  of  the  Bourbons.  The 
Spaniards  admit  it,  for  Queen  Isabella's  throne  is  in  danger.  The  difference 


230 

between  the  modern  and  mediaeval  world  consists  in  this.  We  vest  this  in  the 
people ;  our  ancestors,  more  wisely,  in  the  Pope.  In  England,  the  deposing 
doctrine  is  made  a  law  of  the  kingdom,  to  be  put  in  force  whenever  the  reign- 
ing sovereign  prefers  his  soul  to  the  sceptre.  Kings,  of  course,  have  done  their 
utmost  to  discredit  the  doctrine,  and  they  have  gained  for  themselves,  instead 
of  it,  the  scaffold  and  the  sword.  The  divine  right  of  certain  families  to  govern 
nations  according  to  their  will  is  refuted,  not  by  argument,  but  by  exile  or  a 
violent  death.  If  kings  prefer  this  solution  of  the  difficulty  to  that  which 
mediaeval  principles  offered,  that  is  their  affair.  This,  however,  is  certain,  the 
Pope  was  more  patient  and  considerate  than  the  people  are,  and  a  deposition  is 
less  injurious  to  society  than  a  bloody  revolution.  A  deposition  does  not  ne- 
cessarily involve  a  change  of  dynasty,  but  in  general,  revolution  does;  and 
perhaps  kings  might,  on  reflection,  prefer  to  lose  the  crown  to  themselves  .only, 
to  losing  it  for  the  family  as  well/' 

It  is  very  plain  that  this  witness,  whom  the  Know  Nothing  journals,  for  the 
want  of  a  better,  have  lugged  in  to  their  support,  and  are  vouching  with  so 
much  gusto,  means  to  assert  only  some  such  power  for  the  Catholic  Christians, 
under  dispensations  from  the  Pope,  as  all  free  people  claim  in  regard  to  the  ci- 
vil authority — u  the  same  power  as  does  actually  exist  among  all  people  claim- 
ing to  be  free" — a  power  like  that  which  the  South  claims,  of  secession  from 
the  Union,  and  which  the  people  of  every  free  country  claim,  of  political  revo- 
lution in  the  failure  of  all  other  means  of  redress. 

This  accidentally  discovered  and  solitary  witness  of  the  Know  Nothings,  there- 
fore, proves  no  practical  claim  of  temporal  power  on  the  part  of  the  Pope,  and  only 
raises  a  nice  question  of  political  casuistry,  the  discussion  of  which  now  would 
be  as  useless  as  a  discussion  of  the  abstract  doctrines  of  State  secession  and  of 
popular  revolution.  A  great  noise  was  made  in  England,  more  than  fifty  years 
ago,  about  this  very  idea  of  the  Pope's  temporal  authority,  and  evidence  was 
taken  which  is  certainly  entitled  to  more  weight  than  the  loose  and  irresponsible 
editorial  of  a  Dublin  editor. 

Mr.  Pitt,  as  Prime  Minister  of  England,  contemplating  an  act  of  justice  to 
the  Catholics,  solemnly  proposed  a  set  of  interrogatories  to  several  of  the  most 
celebrated  Catholic  Theological  Universities  in  Europe.  The  following  ques- 
tions were  proposed :  First,  Has  the  Pope,  or  have  the  Cardinals,  or  any  body 
of  men,  or  has  any  individual  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  any  civil  authority, 
power,  jurisdiction  or  pre-eminence  whatever,  within  the  realm  of  England? 
Second ',  'Can  the  Pope,  or  Cardinals,  or  any  body  of  men,  or  any  individual  of 
the  Church  of  Home,  absolve  or  dispense  his  Majesty's  subjects  from  their  oath 
of  allegiance,  upon  any  pretence  whatever  ?  Third,  Is  there  any  principle  in 
the  tenets  of  the  Catholic  faith,  by  which  Catholics  are  justified  in  not  keeping 
faith  with  Heretics,  or  other  persons  differing  from  them  in  Religious  opinions, 
in  ant/  transactions  either  of  a  public  or  private  nature  ?  To  these  questions 
the  Universities  of  Paris,  Louvain,  Alcala,  Salamanca  and  Valadolid,  after  ex- 
pressing their  astonishment  that  it  could  be  thought  necessary  at  the  close  of  the 
18th  century,  and  in  a  country  so  enlightened  as  England,  to  propose  such  enqui- 
ries, severally  and  unanimously  answered  :  1st,  That  the  Pope,  or  Cardinals,  or 
any  body  of  men,  or  any  individual  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  has  not  and  have 
not  any  civil  authority,  power,  jurisdiction  or  pre-eminence  whatever,  within  the 
realm  of  England.  2dly,  That  the  Pope,  or  Cardinals,  or  any  body  of  men,  or 
any  individual  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  cannot  absolve  or  dispense  his  Majesty's 
subjects  from  their  oath  of  allegiance  upon  any  pretext  whatsoever;  and  8dly, 
That  there  is  no  principle  in  the  tenets  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  by  which  Catho- 
lics are  justified  in  not  keeping  faith  with  Heretics,  or  other  persons  differing 
from  them  in  religious  opinions,  in  transactions  either  of  a  public  or  a  private 
nature.  The  Pope  himself  was  written  to  upon  the  same  questions,  and  most 


231 

solemnly  announced  that  his  See  asserted  no  such  claim.  Surely  this  is  better 
testimony  than  the  self  contradictory  declaration  of  a  Dublin  Catholic  editor. 

We  do  not  rely,  however,  in  a  matter  of  this  sort,  upon  documentary  evidence, 
or  newspaper  asseveration.  We  take  the  ground,  that  the  people  are  themselves 
sufficient  to  assert  and  maintain  their  independence  of  Popes  of  all  sorts;  and 
that  they  are  in  no  danger  of  being  deposed  from  the  sovereignty  with  which 
their  Maker  and  their  Fathers  endowed  them  in  these  States-.  Three  thousand 
and  fifty  Protestant  clergy  will  in  vain  hurl  their  anathemas  against  them  from 
Yankee  pulpits,  and  one  Dublin  editor  may  impotently  proclaim  the  Pope's  au- 
thority over  their  temporal  concerns,  but  while  they  have  the  right  to  manage 
their  own  affairs,  spite  of  Popes  and  of  secret  clubs,  they  will  always  be  ready 
and  able  to  maintain  and  support  that  sovereignty.  It  is  only  an  insult  to  the 
intelligence,  the  manliness  and  the  Christian  sentiment  of  the  Virginia  people 
to  maintain  the  possibility  of  a  priestcraft  domination  over  them  from  any  quar- 
ter or  of  any  sort. 

But  what  are  the  historical  evidences  of  the  truth  of  this  charge,  that  Catho- 
lics are  less  attached  to  civil  governments  entitled  to  their  allegiance,  than  other 
denominations?  Surely  the  Catholic  subjects  of  the  British  crown  have  had 
cause  of  offence  against  that  government  in  its  persecutions  of  Catholic  Ireland. 
Surely  the  only  Catholic  province  of  that  government,  on  this  continent,  might 
have  been  excused,  while  these  persecutions  of  their  Catholic  brethren,  in  Ire- 
land, were  going  on,  for  seeking  annexation  to  the  United  States.  Surely  the 
French  Catholics  of  Canada  have  had  incentives  of  animosity  sufficient  to  shake 
their  allegiance  to  the  British  government  in  its  numberless  and  bitter  wars 
against  Catholic  France.  Yet  what  is  the  present  political  status  of  Catholic, 
French,  colonial  Canada  ?  Hear  how  Lord  Nugent  refutes  this  idea  of  a  half 
allegiance  on  the  part  of  Catholics : 

"  Yrour  other  colonies  revolted ;  they  called  on  a  Catholic  power  to  support 
them,  and  they  achieved  their  independence.  Catholic  Canada,  with  what  Lord 
Liverpool  would  call  her  half-allegiance,  alone  stood  by  you.  She  fought  by 
your  side  against  the  interference  of  Catholic  France.  To  reward  and  encour- 
age her  loyalty,  you  endowed  in  Canada  bishops  to  say  mass,  and  to  ordain 
others  to  say  mass,  whom,  at  that  very  time,  your  laws  would  have  hanged  for 
Baying  mass  in  England;  and  Canada  is  still  yours  in  spite  of  Catholic  France, 
in  spite  of  her  spiritual  obedience  to  the  Pope,  in  spite  of  Lord  Liverpool's  ar- 
gument, and  in  spite  of  the  independence  of  all  the  States  that  surround  her. 
This  is  the  only  trial  you  have  made.  Where  you  allow  to  the  Roman  Catholics 
their  religion  undisturbed,  it  has  proved  itself  to  be  compatible  with  the  most 
faithful  allegiance.  It  is  only  where  you  have  placed  allegiance  and  religion  be- 
fore them  as  a  dilemma,  that  they  have  preferred  (as  who  will  say  that  they 
ought  not?)  their  religion  to  their  allegiance.  How  then  stands  the  imputation  ? 
Disproved  by  history,  disproved  in  all  States  where  both  religions  co-exist,  and 
in  both  hemispheres,  and  asserted  in  an  exposition  by  Lord  Liverpool,  solemnly 
and  repeatedly  abjured  by  all  Catholics,  of  the  discipline  of  their  Church." — 
Lord  Nuyent's  Letter  to  Rev.  Sir  Georye  Lee,  Bart. 

Men  might  idly  dispute  till  doomsday  over  the  nice  question  in  political  ca- 
suistry of  the  extent  of  the  Papal  claim  of  temporal  power  outside  of  Rome. 
But  here  are  facts  which  illustrate  how  devoted  Catholics  may  be  and  are  in  the 
habit  of  showing  themselves  in  the  practical  matter  of  allegiance.  Yet  it  is 
due  to  candor  to  admit  that  there  are  historical  instances  in  which  Catholics 
have  refused  to  obey  the  calls  of  the  British  Government.  The  Irish  Catholic 
Parliament  refused  to  furnish  taxes  to  support  the  war  against  the  American 
Colonies  in  their  struggle  for  freedom.  Then,  too,  there  is  this  notable  passage 
in  BOTTA,  p.  236-7. 


232 

"  General  Carleton,  finding  the  Canadians  so  decided  in  their  opposition,  had 
recourse  to  the  authority  of  religion.  He  therefore  solicited  Brand,  the  Bishop 
of  Quebec,  to  publish  a  mandament,  to  be  read  from  the  pulpit,  by  the  curates, 
in  time  of  divine  service.  He  desired  the  prelates  should  exhort  the  people  to 
take  arms,  and  second  the  soldiers  of  the  king,  in  their  enterprises  against  the 
colonies.  But  the  bishop,  l>y  a  memorable  example  of  piety  and  religious  mo- 
deration, refused  to  lend  his  ministry  in  this  work ;  saying  that  such  conduct 
•would  be  too  unworthy  the  character  of  the  pastor,  and  too  contrary  to  the  ca- 
nons of  the  Roman  Church.  However,  as  in  all  professions  there  are  indivi- 
duals who  prefer  their  interest  to  their  duty,  and  the  useful  to  the  honest,  a 
few  ecclesiastics  employed  themselves  with  great  zeal  in  this  affair;  but  all  their 
efforts  were  vain  ;  the  Canadians  (Catholics)  persisted  in  their  principles  of  neu- 
trality. The  nobility,  so  well  treated  in  the  act  of  Quebec,  felt  obligated  in 
gratitude  to  promote  in  this  occurrence  the  views  of  the  government,  and  very 
strenuously  exerted  themselves  with  that  intent  on,  but  without  any  better  suc- 
cess. The  exhortations  of  Congress  did  not  contribute  alone  to  confirm  the  in- 
habitants in  these  sentiments,  &c.  &c. 

"  General  Carleton,  perceiving  that  he  could  make  no  calculation  upon  being 
able  to  form  Canadian  regiments,  and  knowing,  withal,  that  there  existed  in  the 
province  certain  loyalists,  who  would  have  no  repugnance  to  taking  arms,  arid 
other  individuals  whom  interest  might  easily  induce  to  enlist  as  volunteers,  re- 
solved to  employ  a  new  expedient.  He  caused  the  drums  to  beat  up,  in  Que- 
bec, in  order  to  excite  the  people  to  enroll  themselves  in  a  corps  to  which  he 
gave  the  name  of  the  Royal  Highland  Emigrants.  He  offered  the  most  favo- 
rable conditions.  The  term  of  service  was  limited  to  the  continuance  of  the 
disturbances;  each  soldier  was  to  receive  two  hundred  acres  of  land,  in  any 
province  of  North  America  he  might  choose  ;  the  king  paid  himself  the  cus- 
tomary duties  upon  the  acquisition  of  lands ;  for  twenty  years,  the  new  pro- 
prietors were  to  be  exempted  from  all  contribution  for  the  benefit  of  the  crown ; 
every  married  soldier  obtained  other  fifty  acres,  in  consideration  of  his  wife, 
and  fifty  more  for  account  of  each  of  his  children,  with  the  same  privileges  and 
exemptions,  besides  the  bounty  of  a  guinea  at  the  time  of  enlistment.  In  this 
manner,  Carleton  succeeded  in  gleaning  up  some  few  soldiers  ;  but  he  was  re- 
duced to  attach  much  more  importance  to  the  movements  of  the  Indians" — 

— who  proved  themselved  genuine  "  Native  Americans." 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  when  Lord  Howe,  the  first  British  commander 
of  the  forces  designated  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  American  war  for  the  inva- 
sion of  this  country,  was  ordered  by  the  war  department  to  prepare  for  embar- 
kation, he  wrote  that  he  could  not  trust  the  Irish  Catholic  soldiers  of  his  army, 
as  all  their  sympathies  were  with  America;  and  the  British  Government  was 
forced  to  buy  Protestant  Hessians  at  the  rate  of  sixpence  a  head  from  the 
Prince  of  Hesse  Cassel.  And  the  emissaries  despatched  to  Germany  wrote 
more  than  once  to  Lord  North  complaining  bitterly  of  the  German  Catholics 
interfering  with  the  enlistment  of  soldiers  for  America. 

There  are  facts,  however,  still  later,  and,  if  possible,  still  stronger  than 
these. 

Catholic  Louisiana  fought  full  as  bravely  and  effectually  as  Know  Nothing 
Massachusetts  against  Catholic  Mexico  in  the  war  of  1846-'47.  Louisiana  fur- 
nished seven  regiments  and  7,041  troops  to  fight  against  her  brethren  of  the 
Catholic  faith  in  that  war  of  races  and  religions  ;  altho'  Know  Nothing  Massa- 
chusetts, in  the  excess  of  her  zeal  against  the  Pope  and  his  people,  furnished 
but  one  regiment  of  930  men  to  smite  the  Mexican  priests ;  and  furnished  that 
number  only  by  dint  of  most  strenuous  exertions  on  the  part  of  the  patriotic 
Democrats  in  her  borders.  If  you  ask  which  three  States  furnished  the  lar- 
gest number  of  troops  in  that  foreign  war  against  a  Catholic  nation  and  a  Cath- 


233 

olic  race,  the  archives  of  the  country  will  tell  you  that  they  were  the  Catholic 
States  of  Louisiana,  Missouri  and  Texas.  These  furnished  respectfully  7,041, 
6,441  and  6,955  men,  or  an  aggregate  equal  to  the  total  number  supplied  by 
all  the  other  States  in  the  Union  !  Besides,  it  is  notorious  that  the  regular 
army  of  the  United  States  was  made  up  during  that  war  so  exclusively  of  Irish, 
(Catholics)  that  it  was  difficult  to  find  natives  enough  for  the  non-commissioned 
officers. 

Surely  the  generous  people  of  Virginia  will  consider  the  evidence  of  the 
muster  rolls  of  the  country  a  better  tablet  of  Catholic  patriotism,  under  all 
temptations  of  religious  prejudice  and  bigotry,  than  the  newspaper  columns  of 
a  raw  Irishman  in  Dublin.  Let  tho^e  who,  for  political  purposes,  are  seeking 
to  excite  the  hatred  of  the  magnanimous  Virginia  voters  against  that,  patriotic 
people,  read  these  facts  of  history,  and  blush  for  their  lack  of  generosity. 


The  arguments  employed  in  Virginia  to  shew  that  the  Know  Nothing  party 
in  the  free  States  sympathised  and  co-operated  with  the  Abolition  or  anti- 
Nebraska  party,  were  supported  by  the  most  overwhelming  and  conclusive 
proof.  The  evidence  of  this  unholy  alliance,  we  herewith  spread  before  our 
readers  without  comment. 

CHANG  AND  ENG— SAM  AND  THE  WOOLLY-HEADS— A  CHAP- 
TER OF  DEATH  WAKRANTS. 

What  a  sad  story  are  the  accounts  from  every  quarter  of  the  North,  telling 
of  Sam's  affiliations  !  And  how  cruelly  inopportune  are  these  accounts  for  his 
followers  in  Virginia !  Behold  in  the  following  schedule  the  record  of  the 
strolling  Yankee  Abolitionist's  delinquencies  at  the  North.  We  begin  with 
New  York. 

THE  VOICE  OP  THE  NEW  YORK  LEGISLATURE. 

The  following  resolutions  were  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  New  York  before 
their  recent  adjournment.  The  negative  vote  in  the  Senate  was  five  to  nine 
out  of  some  thirty  in  the  affirmative,  and  in  the  House  it  ranged  from  about 
eleven  nays  to  sixty  yeas.  The  very  few  Democrats  in  the  Legislature  voted 
generally  against  the  resolutions,  and  the  Seward  Whigs  and  the  Know  Noth- 
ings seem  to  have  gone  in  a  body  for  them  : 

Whereas  the  passage  of  the  bill  organizing  the  Territories  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska,  and  repealing  that  portion  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  which  pro- 
hibited the  existence  of  slavery  within  their  limits,  for  the  purpose  of  permit- 
ting its  establishment  upon  their  soil,  was  a  gross  violation  of  good  faith,  and 
inflicted  grievous  wrong  upon  free  labor  and  free  principles  throughout  the 
Union ; 

[Passed — yeas  61,  nays  9.] 

And  whereas  this  act  and  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  consummated  demonstrate 
the  determination  of  the  slaveholding  interest  to  use  the  power  of  the  Federal 
Government  to  promote  the  indefinite  extension  and  permanent  establishment 
of  slavery; 

[Passed— 56  to  15.] 

And  whereas  Congress,  having  no  power  or  right  to  interfere  with  slavery  as 
it  may  exist  in  any  State,  is  expressly  commanded  by  the  Federal  Constitution 


234 

to  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  concerning  the  Territories  of  the 
United  States :  Therefore; 

[Passed— 69  to  1.] 

llesolved,  (if  the  assembly  concur,)  That  the  people  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  represented  in  senate  and  assembly,  demand  of  Congress  the  enactment 
of  a  law  declaring  that  slavery  shall  not  exist  except  where  it  is  established  by 
the  local  law  of  the  State — thus  restoring,  by  positive  statute,  the  prohibition 
of  slavery  from  the  Territories  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska. 

[Passed— 65  to  11.] 

Resolved,  (if  the  assembly  concur,)  That  the  people  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  represented  in  senate  and  assembly,  will  not  consent  to  the  admission 
into  the  Union  of  any  State  that  may  be  formed  out  of  the  Territories  of  Kan- 
sas and  Nebraska,  unless  its  constitution  shall  prohibit  the  existence  of  slavery 
within  its  limits. 

[Passed— 58  to  11.] 

Whereas  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  the  repudiation  of  a 
solemn  legislative  compact  by  the  slaveholding  interest,  for  the  extension  of 
slavery,  has  released  the  free  States  from  all  obligations  that  may  be  expressed 
or  implied  in  any  compromises  on  the  subject  of  slavery  outside  of  the  federal 
constitution  :  Therefore,  be  it 

[Passed— 55  to  12.] 

Resolved,  (if  the  assembly  concur,)  That  while  the  people  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  represented  in  senate  and  assembly,  recognize,  and  have  always 
respected,. the  obligation  of  that  prohibitory  clause  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  which  declares  that  "  no  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one 
State,  under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service 
or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service 
or  labor  may  be  due,"  they  regard  the  law  of  1850,  which  provides  for  em- 
ploying the  whole  power  of  the  federal  government  in  the  recapture  of  fugitive 
slaves,  as  a  violation  of  the  Constitution,  an  encroachment  on  the  rights  of  the 
several  States,  an  outrage  upon  the  principles  of  justice,  and  disgraceful  to  the 
spirit  and  civilization  of  the  age  in  which  we  live ;  and  that,  in  their  opinion, 
the  welfare  of  the  Union  and  the  principles  of  republican  liberty  demand  its 
repeal. 

[Passed— 53  to  15.] 

Two  other  resolutions  were  adopted  as  a  sort  of  blind  to  indicate  that  the 
Seward  party  are  not  favorable  to  the  Know  Nothings,  and  these  resolutions 
will  doubtless  be  quoted  as  such  in  the  slave  States.  They  object  simply  to 
secret  societies,  but  do  not  denounce  the  war  upon  religious  belief,  upon  emi- 
gration, or  upon  adopted  citizens. 

We  next  go  to  Massachusetts. 

MEETING   ANP    ACTION   OF   THE    KNOW    NOTHING    STATE    COUNCIL   OF   MASSA- 
CHUSETTS. 

The  Boston  Chronicle  makes  the  following  statement  of  the  transactions  of 
this  body  : 

"  Senator  Wilson  made  a  speech  in  opposition  to  debarring  all  persons  from 
office  who  are  not  native  born.  The  General  said  that  his  nativism,  when  it 
carried  him  to  an  endeavor  to  make  a  twenty-one  year  naturalization  law,  carried 
him  far  enough,  and  as  far  as  the  party  of  the  South  and  WTest  would  agree  to. 
Mr.  Ely,  of  Boston,  urged  the  propriety  of  excluding  all  aliens  from  office,  but 
the  views  of  Mr.  Wilson  seem  to  have  the  more  adherents  in  the  meeting. 

"  We  understand,  also,  that  the  delegation  from  this  State  was  instructed  to 
urge  upon  the  National  Convention  the  opening  of  the  doors  of  the  lodges  for 


235 

the  future,  and  to  do  away  with  much  if  not  all  of  the  present  secrecy.  Reso- 
lutions were,  passed  in  favor  of  the.  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Col- 
wnbia,  and  in  all  the  United  States  Territories;  declaring  that  no  more  slave 
States  can  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  but  that  slavery  may  be  unmolested  where 
it  now  exists.  Furthermore,  that  these  resolutions  MUST  BE  INSISTED  ON  at  any 
cost,  even  to  the  dissolution  of  the  Convention." 

The  Evening  Telegraph  says  of  the  election  : 

11  It  is  rumored  to-day  that  there  were  about  three  hundred  votes  thrown  for 
the  officers*  The  tone  of  the  council  was  decidedly  anti-slavery.  Plenry  J. 
Gardner,  of  Boston,  Henry  Wilson,  cf  Natick,  Edward  Buffington,  of  Fall 
Biver,  John  W.  Foster,  of  Brimfield,  Henry  H.  Bugg,  of  Dennis,  Andrew  A. 
Bichinond,  of  Adams,  and  Augustus  C.  Carey,  of  Ipswich,  were  chosen  the  del- 
egates to  the  national  council  in  June  next  at  Philadelphia.  A.  B.  Ely,  Esq., 
made  an  anti-slavery  Know  Nothing  speech.  Strong  anti-slavery  resolves  were 
passed  in  the  evening  without  a  dissenting  vote.  Some  who  were  hunkerish 
hitherto  admitted  it  was  no  use — the  order  must  take  anti-slavery  ground. 

"  It  is  evident  from  the  action  of  the  council,  if  it  is  correctly  reported,  that 
the  anti-glavery  men  in  the  Order  have  the  power,  and  will  use  it,  to  put  down 
whoever  shall  set  himself  against  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  State." 

The  Courier,  that  staunch  Whig  organ  of  the  true  Daniel  AVebster  type, 
then  adds,  and  we  commend  its  testimony  to  the  Southern  Whigs  : 

"  As  from  the  beginning,  we  have  never  looked  upon  the  Know  Nothing  or- 
ganization in  this  State  in  any  other  light  than  as  an  organization  which  was 
controlled  entirely  by  abolitionism,  we  are  not  at  all  surprised  at  the  result  of 
the  election,  which  is  fairly  set  forth  in  the  latter  paragraph  from  the  Telegraph. 
Jonathan  Pierce-,  who  voted  against  the  adoption  of  the  Loring  resolves,  is  su- 
perseded in  the  office  of  president  by  an  Abolitionist,  and  Messrs.  Warren,  of 
the  Senate,  and  Mullin,  of  the  House,  who  voted  the  same  way,  have  been  most 
unceremoniously  discarded.  No  person  who  voted  in  the  negative  upon  that 
matter  has  been  rechosen,  and  the  leaders  of  the  party  are  determined  to  make 
the  Order  in  Massachusetts  thoroughly  anti-slavery.  How  they  are  to  fellow- 
ship with  the  anti-Sewurd  '  Hindoos'  of  New  York,  and  with  such  men  as- Mr. 
Sollers,  of  Maryland,  and  Mr.  Ligon,  of  Virginia,  will  be  known  when  they 
meet  in  national  council." 

THE   KNOW   NOTHINGS   OP   NEW    HAMPSHIRE   TAKE    SIDES   WITH   FRED.    DOUG- 
LASS  AND   THOS.    JAMES,    FREE   NEGROES   AND   FREE    SOILERS. 

The  American  party  of  this  State  have,  in  State  Council,  adopted  resolutions 
'  protesting  against  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  against  the  Ne- 

Ibraska  bill  and  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  pledging  the  party  to  resist  the  further 
extension  of  slavery. 
The  following  are  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  State  Council,  at  a  meeting 
held  at  Concord,  on  the  first  and  second  days  of  May.     They  are  published  by 
a  vote  of  the  Council : 

Whereas,  there  appear  to  exist  in  the  minds  of  a  portion  of  the  community 
some  doubts  as  to  the  position  of  the  American  party  in  regard  to  slavery  and 
its  extension  over  new  territories,  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  American  organization,  as  constituted  and  existing  in 
New  Hampshire,  is  not  based  on  one  idea  alone,  but  comprehends  every  princi- 
ple that  will  promote  the  political  welfare  of  a  free  people. 

Besolved,  That  the  declaration  of  Independence,  the  tones  and  deeds  of  the 
ft  founders  of  the  Bepublic,  all  indicate  that  our  forefathers  intended  that  slavery 
if  should  be  sectional,  not  national — temporary,  not  permanent. 


236 

Resolved,  That  as  a  political  party,  pledged  to  regard  and  watch  over  the 
best  interests  of  the  whole  Union,  and  to  labor  for  its  integrity  and  perpetuity, 
we  solemnly  protest  against  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  the  Kan- 
sas-Nebraska bill,  and  the  Fugitive  Slave  law,  as  violations  of  the  spirit  of  the 
Constitution,  and  tending  to  disunion  and  the  destruction  of  the  free  institu- 
tions of  the  country. 

Resolved,  That  we  never  will,  under  any  circumstances,  consent  to  the  ad- 
mission of  slavery  into  any  portion  of  the  territory  embraced  in  the  compact  of 
1820,  and  from  whicb  it  was  then  excluded  by  the  mutual  agreement  of  both 
the  Northern  and  Southern  States. 

Resolved,  That  any  attempt  to  commit  the  American  party  of'New  Hamp- 
shire to  the  advancement  of  the  interest  of  slavery,  to  ignore  it  as  a  political 
question,  or  to  enjoin  silence  upon  us  in  regard  to  its  evils  and  encroachments, 
deserves  and  shall  receive  our  earnest  and  unqualified  disapprobation. 

ELECTION    OF   A   KNOW   NOTHING     GOVERNOR    IN   CONNECTICUT — HIS    OPPOSI- 
TION TO  THE  KANSAS-NEBRASKA  ACT. 

The  Legislature  of  Connecticut  last  Thursday  elected  Wm.  T.  Minor,  Amer- 
ican, for  Governor  for  the  ensuing  year.  The  vote  was  as  follows :  Minor, 
117  ;  Ingraham,  (dem.,)  70. 

The  telegraph  says  that  the  message  of  the  Governor  recommends  that  the 
proposed  amendment  to  the  constitution  extending  the  right  of  suffrage  to 
colored  persons,  and  requiring  persons  to  be  able  to  read  and  write  before  be- 
ing admitted  as  electors,  be  allowed  to  go  to  the  people.  ,  He  considers  that, 
in  the  recent  election,  the  people  reiterated  their  emphatic  condemnation  of 
the  act  organizing  the  Territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas.  He  enters  largely 
into  the  consideration  of  the  pernicious  influence  arising  from  the  extent  and 
character  of  the  foreign  immigration. 


SENATOR  WILSON,  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  STILL  AS  THOROUGH 
A  KNOW  NOTHING  AS  VILE  AN  ABOLITIONIST,  AND  THE 
ALLEGATION  THAT  HE  HAS  ABANDONED  THE  ORGANIZA- 
TION PRONOUNCED  A  FALSEHOOD  AND  A  FORGERY. 

When  the  notorious  Henry  Wilson  was  first  elected  Senator  of  the  United 
Statesby  Hiss  and  his  brethren  of  the  ""American"  party  in  the  Massachu- 
setts Legislature,  the  Southern  Know  Nothing  press  vociferated  witb  one 
united  voice  his  soundness  on  the  Slavery  question. 

The  new  Senator  soon  dashed  these  fine  asseverations  by  attending  a  lecture 
of  Burlingame,  the  Abolitionist,  in  Boston,  and  volunteering  to  endorse  with 
savage  emphasis,  as  cruel  as  it  was  defiant  and  insulting  to  his  Southern  adula- 
tors, every  word  that  lecturer  had  said  in  a  rabid,  red  hot  abolition  diatribe. 

This  was  not  enough  to  satisfy  the  more  incredulous  and  infatuated  of  his 
Southern  admirers,  and  when  Senator  Henry  Wilson,  the  Abolitionist  and 
leader  of  the  u  American"  party,  reached  Washington,  one  of  the  high  priests 
of  the  Councils  of  the  Order  there,  sought  him  out,  conversed  with  him  cheek 
by  jowl  in  a  long  sitting,  discovered  to  his  great  delight  that  the  Boston  Sena- 
tor was  a  great  stickler  for  State  Rights,  and  at  once  addressed  him  a  letter  en- 
quiring his  views  on  the  whole  subject  of  inter  State  and  federal  and  State 
interference. 

^The  reply  was  written,  and  was  very  full  and  explicit  in  proclaiming  doc- 
trines of  State  Rights,  coupled  and  combined  with  ill-disguised  Abolitionism 
cf  the  most  rabid  sort.  Forthwith,  a  few  of  the  Southern  Know  Nothing 


237 

press  began  to  claim  Wilson  as  safe  and  trustworthy  on  State  Rights  principles, 
notwithstanding  his  endorsement  of  Burlingamc;  but  the  knowing  ones,  more 
astute  than  the  common  herd,  discovered  a  cat  in  the  meal.  The  State  Rights 
doctrines  of  Wilson  sounded  grateful  enough  ;  but  the  legs  and  claws  and  head 
and  teeth  of  Abolitionism  were  too  apparent,  and  they  advised  against  meddling 
with  Wilson. 

It  turns  out  since,  by  the  by,  that  the  advocacy  of  State  Rights  principles  as 
laid  down  in  the  Know  Nothing  basis  platform,  has  suddenly  become  a  univer- 
sal thing  among  the  Abolitionists.  They  are  driven  to  assert  those  doctrines, 
as  they  construe  them,  as  the  only  means  of  nullifying  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law 
in  the  free  States.  There  is  a  notable  difference,  however,  between  their  doc- 
trine of  State  Rights  and  the  Virginia  doctrine.  They  assert  the  right  of  the 
States  to  the  exclusive  regulation  of  all  their  affairs  notwithstanding  the  Fede- 
ral Constitution :  whereas  the  true  Virginia  doctrine  asserts  the  right  of  the 
States  to  regulate  their  internal  affairs  under  the  Constitution  strictly  con- 
strued. 

The  vapid  and  meaningless  generalities  of  the  State  Rights  clause  in  the 
Know  Nothing  basis  of  principles  render  that  article  acceptable  to  the  most 
violent  Abolitionists  of  the  North,  while  they  tend  to  beguile  into  a  false  se- 
curity and  confidence  the  honest  members  of  the  Order  at  the  South.  Gid- 
dings  himself  is  a  State  Rights  man  in  the  radical,  Abolition  sense  of  the  word, 
as  well  as  Wilson.  Every  vile  Aolitionist  of  the  North  endorses  the  Know 
Nothing  article  of  faith  upon  this  subject. 

Well,  revenons  a  montons,  Wilson's  State  Rights  letter  of  February  last, 
"written  in  Washington,  to  Vespasian  Ellis,  afforded  a  crumb  of  comfort  to  his 
Southern  confreres,  the  less  scrupulous  of  whom  pronounced  him  safe  though  an 
Abolitionist;  and  so  the  matter  stood  until  sometime  after  the  adjournment 
of  Congress,  and  Wilson's  return  home,  when  this  State  Rights  Know  Nothing 
and  Abolition  Senator  broke  out  afresh  somewhere  in  Massachusetts  with  the 
most  fierce  and  vindictive  declarations  of  Abolitionism  and  hatred  to  the  South. 

Of  course  nothing  was  left  to  his  Southern  Know  Nothing  "  brethren"  but  to 
repudiate  him  outright.  And  that  was  done  in  a  summary  and  convenient 
manner;  for,  in  the  great  secret  laboratory  of  lies  which  Sam  operates  some- 
where underground,  a  paragraph  was  concocted,  which  is  found  below,  for  gen- 
eral circulation  through  the  Southern  Know  Nothing  papers,  alleging  that  Wil- 
son had  denounced  and  renounced  the  "  American  party"  as  "  perilous  to  the 
anti-slavery  sentiment."  The  forged  paragraph  was  attributed  to  the  Boston 
Telegraph,  and  quoted  by  all  of  Sam's  journals  in  Virginia  as  from  that  news- 
paper. Many  of  them  were  hoaxed — badly  hoaxed — we  are  sure ;  but  somo 
of  them  must  have  been  particeps  criminis  in  the  falsehood  and  forgery.  It  is 
incumbent  upon  them  all  to  make  their  peace  with  an  honest  public  by  explain- 
ing the  fact  of  their  palming  the  forgery  upon  their  readers. 

Now  read  the  following  extract  from  the  Boston  Telegraph  itself,  in  its  issue 
of  Friday,  May  4,  1855.  The  italics  are  its  own  : 

"  The  latest  manoeuvre  of  the  Know  Nothings  in  Virginia,  consists  in  a  rep- 
resentation that  Senator  Wilson  of  this  State  has  abandoned  the  organization. 
We  find  the  following  in  the  Petersburg  (Va.)  Intelligencer : 

'But  our  object  in  writing  this,  article  was  not  to  discuss  the  comparative  un- 
worthiness  of  Wilson  and  Sumner,  but  to  congratulate  the  American  party 
upon  the  welcome  intelligence  that  has  reached  us  of  the  abandonment  of  their 
ranks  by  this  man  Wilson.  The  Boston  Telegraph  is  first  rate  authority  on 
this  point,  for  it  is  the  Abolition  organ  in  Massachusetts,  and  a  special  admirer 
of  Wilson.  What  will  the  anti-Americans  of  the  Wise  school  say  to  the  fol- 
lowing refreshing  and  cheering  announcement  ?  We  give  it  to  them  as  a  sweet 
morsel  to  roll  under  their  tongues  : 


238 

gENATOR  WILSON    DENOUNCES    THE   AMERICAN   TARTY. 
[From  the  Boston  Telegraph.] 

'  Gen.  Wilson  gave  the  closing  lecture  of  the  anti-slavery  course,  last  eve- 
ning, at  the  Temple.  He  explained  for  himself  the  position  wfth  regard  to 
slavery  that  he  had  occupied  for  twenty  years,  and  called  upon  all  to  oppose 
any  party  that  should  try  to  smother  the  anti-slavery  sentiment.  He  assumed 
that  this  course  had  been  the  death  of  the  two  great  parties,  and  must  be  of 
the  other  party  now  forming.  He  said  this  parti/  ivas  perilous  to  the  anti- 
slavery  sentiment,,  and  called  upon  the  anti-slavery  party  to  kill  off  the  American 
dough  faces,  as  they  had  the  others. 

'  Let  it  be  remembered  by  the  people  of  Virginia  that  Senator  Wilson  has 
within  the  last  ten  days  publicly  proclaimed  in  Boston  that  the  American  parti/ 
was  perilous  to  the  anti-slavery  sentiment!  Put  this  in  you  pipes  and  smoke  it 
at  your  leisure,  ye  devotees  of  Henry  A.  Wise  !' 

Gen.  Wilson  has  never  made  any  such  declaration  as  is  above  attributed  to 
him,  and  the  extract  which  is  credited  to  the  Boston  Telegraph  never  appeared 
in  this  paper  until  now.  We  are  unable  to  say  whether  it  is  a  forgery,  or 
whether  it  did  appear  in  one  of  the  other  Boston  papers. — Boston  Telegraph. 

Such  is  the  indignant  repudiation,  by  the  Boston  Telegraph  itself,  of  this 
unblushing  fabrication ;  and  the  appointment,  by  the  Know  Nothing  State 
Council  of  Massachusetts,  last  week,  at  Boston,  of  this  same  Henry  Wilson  as 
one  of  their  delegates  to  the  Philadelphia  National  Convention,  finishes  the 
whole  story.  We  have  already  published  the  following  announcement : 

BOSTON,  May  2. — The  Know  Nothing  State  Convention  met  this  evening, 
and  was  largely  attended,  and  its  action  was  decidedly  anti-slavery.  Governor 
Gardner  and  Senator  Henry  Wilson  are  among  the  delegates  appointed  to  attend 
the  Know  Nothing  Convention  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia  in  June.  A.  B. 
Ely  made  an  anti-slavery  Know  Nothing  speech.  Strong  anti-slavery  resolu- 
tions were  passed,  and  it  is  generally  admitted  that  the  Order  must  take  posi- 
tion upon  the  anti-slavery  platform. 

Wilson,  the  Abolitionist,  is  not  only  still  in  full  communion  with  the  Order, 
but  one  of  its  chosen  and  most  exalted  exponents.  He  will  meet  the  delegates 
from  Virginia  at  the  approaching  National  Convention,  and  will  there  maintain 
the  necessity  of  Abolitionizing  the  Order,  and  "taking  position  upon  the  anti- 
slavery  platform."  We  shall  see  whether  he  succeeds ;  and  we  have  this  to 
say,  that  if  delegates  from  the  Virginia  Councils  shall  consent  to  sit  in  delibe- 
ration with  Wilson  and  his  Abolition  colleagues  from  the  North,  it  will  be  an 
insult  to  Judas  Iscariot  to  call  them  traitors. 

JUDGE  IT   BY   ITS   FRUITS. 

If — according  to  it  the  only  boon  it  asked  in  the  outset — we  judge  it  by  its 
fruits,  it  can  only  be  pronounced  a  rabid  Abolition  and  Freesoil  party  every- 
where North  of  the  Potomac — which  is  everywhere  that  it  has  borne  fruit  at 
all.  The  triumph  in  which  it  won  the  greatest  eclat  was  the  election  of  Pollock, 
in  Pennsylvania,  over  Gov.  Bigler,  the  Democrat  and  leading  champion  in  that 
State  of  the  Nebraska-Kansas  act.  In  the  first  Message  of  this  first  eleve  of 
the  Order,  and  as  the  first  fruit  of  the  tree,  he  denounced  the  Nebraska  Bill  as 
"an  attempt  to  extend  the  institution  of  slavery,"  and  "a  violation  of  the 
plighted  faith  and  honor  of  the  country ;"  expressed  his  "  opposition  to  the 
extension  of  slavery  into  territory  now  free ;"  demanded  for  the  fugitive  slave 
"  the  trial  by  jury  and  the  writ  of  habeas  corpm;"  and  summed  up  his  farrago 


239 

of  abolition  with  the  declaration  that  all  these  abominable  incendiarisms  were 
sanctioned  by  his  election.  To  fill  up  the  cup  of  disgust  and  execration  as  to 
Pennsylvania,  a  Know  Nothing  member  of  the  Legislature  at  Harrisburg,  hating 
the  South  more  than  the  foreigner,  and  by  way  of  demonstrating  his  conviction 
that  the  black  race  whom  the  South  enslaves,  are  more  capable  of  citizenship  than  " 
men  of  his  own  color  and  blood,  introduced  a  bill  for  giving  "  all  male  colored 
persons,  of  African*  or  mixed  blood,  all  political,  civil  and  religious  rights  as 
fully  and  amply  as  they  are  held  and  enjoyed  by  any  person  or  persons"  in  that 
Commonwealth. 

As  to  the  State  of  New  York,  the  news  is  gone  abroad  that  many  of  the  Free- 
soil  members  of  the  Order  have  determined  to  secure  the  re-election  of  Seward 
to  the  Senate,  by  casting  the  requisite  number  of  Know  Nothing  votes  in  his 
favor ;  and  the  bitter  deprecations  of  the  New  York  Herald  of  so  damning  a 
result,  confirm  the  well-grounded  apprehension. 

In  Ohio,  the  complicity  of  the  Order  with  the  worst  enemies  of  the  South  in 
the  recent  elections  is  notorious.  The  State  Journal,  organ  of  the  Frcesoil,  fu- 
sion party  in  the  State,  declares  and  avows  in  plain  terms : 

"  So  far,  in  this  State,  and  in  the  free  States  generally,  the  "  Know  Nothings'1 
have  co-operated  and  worked  faithfully  with  the,  anti-Nebraska  and  anti-slavery 
feeling  of  the  people.  They  have  shown  themselves  true  republicans  by  casting 
their  weight  uniformly  in  favor  of  freedom." 

In  Massachusetts,  which  seems  to  be  as  emphatically  the  cradle  of  treason  iu 
this  its  day  of  infamy,  as  it  was  the  cradle  of  liberty  in  the  day  of  its  honor, 
the  Order  has  elected  a  low-bred,  presumptuous,  unlettered  JACK  CADE  to  the 
Executive  office ;  and  elected  to  the  Legislature,  some  sixty  out  of  those  three 
thousand'and  fifty  clergymen  of  New  England,  who  lust  year  protested  against 
the  Nebraska  Bill,  and  threatened  Congress  with  the  vengeance  of  Almighty 
God  for  meditating  a  simple  act  of  justice  to  the  South.  This  Governor  Gard- 
ner— the  seedy  fruit  of  this  tree  of  evil — makes  haste  in  his  first  message  to 
urge  the  restoration  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  to  claim  for  the  fugitive 
negro  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  and  the  trial  by  jury — in  the  same  breath  that 
he  urges  the  disbanding  of  that  very  Irish  soldiery  who  defied  the  rescuers  of 
Burns,  anathamatizes  foreigners  in  bad  English,  and  urges  the  dispulsion  of 
every  foreign  language  from  popular  use  as  tending  to  preserve — horrible  to  re- 
late ! — "  uuassimilating  elements  of  character." 

11  Jack  Cade.  Fellow  Kings,  that  Lord  Say  has  gelded  the  Commonwealth, 
and  made  it  an  eunuch ;  and,  more  than  that,  he  can  speak  French,  and  there- 
fore is  a  traitor. 

"  Stafford.     0,  gross  and  miserable  ignorance. 

"  Cade.  Nay,  answer,  if  you  can ;  the  Frenchmen  are  our  enemies  :  go  to, 
then,  I  ask  but  this :  can  he  that  speaks  with  the  tongue  of  an  enemy  be  a  good 
counsellor,  or  no  ? 

"  Dick,  Smith  and  all.     No,  no ;  and  therefore  we'll  have  his  head." 

This  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  composed  of  three  hundred  and  seventy-six 
Know  Nothings  to  one  Democrat,  have  elected  Henry  Wilson,  one  of  the  most 
rabid  Freesoil  demagogues  in  all  New  England,  to  the  Federal  Senate,  as  the 
successor  of  Edward  Everett.  In  the  Know  Nothing  caucus  which  decreed  the 
election  of  Wilson  to  the  Senate,  the  chief  officer  of  the  Order  iu  Massachusetts 
avowed  that  they  were,  "  all  Freesci/ers  ;"  and  other  members  asseverated  that 
the  overwhelming  success  of  the  Order  in  the  elections  of  that  State  had  .been 
due  "to  the  passage  of  the  iniquitous  Nebraska  bill" 

The  evidence  of  the  complicity  of  this  Secret  Order  with  the  enemies  of  the 
South  in  the  Northern  States  is  overwhelming  and  irresistible.  The  Southern 
man  who  refuses  to  believe  a  fact  attested  by  such  palpable  results — who  refuses 


240 

to  accept  the  Order's  own  challenge,  and  to  judge  it  by  potent  and  notorious 
facts — is  willingly  blind  to  the  truth,  and  like  the  five  living  brethren  of  Dives 
in  hell,  would  not  be  persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the  dead. 

The  Hon.  L.  M.  Keitt,  of  South  Carolina,  in  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  on  the  3rd  of  January  1855,  thus  strongly  arrays  the  evi- 
dence of  the  identity  of  the  Abolition  and  the  Know  Nothing  parties  of  New 
England. 

What,  too,  have  been  the  practical  results  of  this  new  party  ?  Tn  Massachu- 
setts alone  it  has  been  victorious  through  its  own  strength ;  and  what  see  we 
there?  m  Is  not  the  abolition  and  free-soil  flag  the  only  one  flying  ?  How  stand 
its  members  elect  ?  I  read  an  extract  from  the  correspondent  of  the  National 
Era  (an  abolition  paper)  of  November  23,  1853.  The  writer  is  stated  to  be 
John  G.  Whittier,  co-editor,  I  believe,  of  the  Era,  and  a  distinguished  aboli- 
tionist of  Massachusetts,  who,  as  much  as  any  man,  is  booked  up  in  reference  to 
its  politics,  particularly  freesoil  : 

"  C.  L.  Knapp,  of  the  eight  district,  is  an  old  liberty-man,  true  as  steel. 
DeWitt  in  the  Worcester  district,  Trafton  in  the  eleventh,  Comins  in  the  fourth, 
Damrell  in  the  third,  and  Burlingame  in  the  fifth  district,  are  also  free-soilers. 
N.  P.  Banks,  Jr.,  is  triumphantly  re-elected  from  the  seventh  district  against 
the  combined  opposition  of  the  Pierce  democracy  and  the  whigs.  He  goes  back 
to  Washington  an  anti-administration  fusionist.  Buffington,  of  the  second  dis- 
trict, and  Morris,  of  the  tenth,  are  reliable  anti-slavery  whigs.  Of  Davis,  of 
the  sixth,  and  Hall,  of  the  first,  we  have  no  very  definite  knowledge. 

"  Gardner,  the  governor  elect,  stands  openly  pledged  against  the  Nebraska 
fraud  and  the  fugitive-slave  law.  His  past  history  has  been  evidently  that  of  a 
pro-slavery  whig  ;  but  we  speak  now  only  of  his  present  position.  Brown,  lieu- 
tenant governor,  is  a  free-soil  democrat  and  fusionist.  Of  the  senators  and  rep- 
resentatives elected,  enough  is  known  to  be  tolerably  certain  that  a  reliable  man 
will  be  chosen  to  the  United  States  Senate,  and  effectual  provision  made  for  pro- 
tecting the  inhabitants  of  the  State  against  the  fugitive-slave  hunt." 

Thus  have  acted  the  Know  Nothings  of  Massachusetts.  How  spoke  they.  I 
will  read  the  resolutions  of  a  Know  Nothing  convention  in  Norfolk,  Massachu- 
setts : 

"  Resolved,  That  we  hail  with  hope  and  joy  the  recent  brilliant  successes  of  the 
republican  party  in  the  States  of  Maine,  Iowa,  Indiana,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio, 
and  we  trust  those  victories  are  a  foreshadow  of  others  soon  to  come,  by  which 
the  free  States  shall  present  one  solid  phalanx  of  opposition  to  the  aggression  of 
slavery. 

"  Resolved,  That  in  the  present  chaotic  condition  of  parties  in  Massachusetts, 
the  only  star  above  the  horizon  is  the  love  of  human  liberty  and  the  abhorrence 
of  slavery,  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  anti-slavery  men  to  rally  around  the  repub- 
lican party  as  an  organization  which  invites  the  united  action  of  the  people  on 
the  one  transcending  question  of  slave  dominion  which  now  divides  the  Union." 

"  Whereas  Roman  Catholicism  and  slavery  being  alike  founded  and  supported 
on  the  basis  of  ignorance  and  tyranny,  and  being,  therefore,  natural  allies  in 
every  warfare  against  liberty  and  enlightenment :  therefore,  be  it 

"  Resolved,  That  there  can  exist  no  real  hostility  to  Roman  Catholicism  which 
does  not  embrace  slavery,  its  natural  co-worker  in  opposition  to  freedom  and  re- 
publican institutions." 

How  spoke  Gardner,  their  governor  elect,  in  reply  to  the  charge  that  he  had 
aided  in  the  rendition  of  Burns  ?  He  says,  iii  a  letter  to  Mr.  Wilson,  a  free- 
soil  leader? 


241 

.  "  Were  the  same  charge  made  against  yourself,  it  could  not  be  more  ground- 
less than  it  is  against  me.  The  power  of  language  does  not  permit  me  to  ex- 
press the  utter  loathing  I  have  for  the  conduct  attributed  to  me.  Far  sooner 
would  I  be  the  poor  quivering  wretch  on  the  road  again  to  the  agony  of  bon- 
dage than  a  volunteer  guard  to  aid  in  his  return.  He  who  invented  the  charge 
grossly  slandered  me;  they  who  repeat  it,  or  believe  it,  do  not  know  me. 

"  It  is  not  true  that  I  am,  or  have  ever  been,  in  favor  of  the  fugitive-slave 
bilk  1  never  voted  for  a  man  who  favored  it,  knowing  such  to  bu  his  views, 
and  I  must  very  much  change  before  I  ever  do.  I  never,  by  word,  act,  or  vote, 
favored  its  passage,  and  I  am  an  advocate  of  its  essential  modification,  or,  in 
lieu  thereof,  its  unconditional  repeal.  Returning  from  Canada  last  June,  I 
read  in  the  cars  that  there  was  a  petition  for  its  repeal  at  the  Exchange  News 
Room,  and  on  my  arrival,  before  even  going  to  my  place  of  business,  I  hastened 
to  the  Exchange,  and  signed  the  petition." 

Among  the  most  prominent  leaders  of  the  Know  Nothing  party  in  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1855,  was  the  Hon.  Amos  Burlingame,  now  a  member  of  Congress 
from  that  State. 

The  Boston  Telegraph,  of  the  3rd  of  February  1855,  gave  the  following 
sketch  of  the  anti-slavery  lecture  delivered  by  that  gentleman  at  the  Tretnont 
Temple,  on  the  evening  of  the  2d  of  February  : 

Before  introducing  Mr.  Burlingame,  Dr.  Howe  stated  that  a  letter  had  been 
received  from  Hon.  N.  P.  Banks,  in  which  he  announced  his  inability  to  deliver 
any  lecture  in  the  anti-slavery  course,  on  account  of  the  necessity  for  his  pre- 
sence at  Washington  during  the  coming  week.  In  his  place  Frederick  Douglass 
has  been  engaged  for  next  week. 

Mr.  Burlingame  was  received  with  hearty  applause.  He  commenced  by  say- 
ing, that  in  speaking  for  freedom  he  should  not  be  choice  in  the  selection  of 
terms  by  which  to  characterize  slavery.  Slavery  had  betrayed  us,  and  the  time 
had  come  for  an  outraged  people  to  express  their  sentiments  in  language  not  to 
be  misunderstood.  Mr.  B.  ascribed  the  origin  of  slavery  to  Pope  Martin  V., 
who  issued  a  bull  sanctioning  African  slavery.  It  was  also  sanctioned  by  seve- 
ral of  his  successors.  It  was  brought  to  this  country  under  the  cross,  and  in 
the  garb  of  humanity,  but  it  never  was  sanctioned  here  by  positive  law.  He 
then  asked  what  is  slavery  ?  In  the  language  of  Wesley  he  would  answer, 
tl  The  sum  of  all  villanies."  The  fitness  of  this  description  was  then  shown  by 
a  reference  to  facts.  '  Our  fathers  hated  it,  and  hoped  it  would  soon  die  away. 
But  Colten  gave  it  a  pecuniary  power,  and  the  slave  representation  a  political 
power,  which  has  controlled  the  whole  country,  and  prevented  its  advancement. 
But  for  its  influence,  this  nation  of  twenty-five  millions  would  have  been  forty 
millions.  The  prosperity  of  the  North  was  contrasted  with  the  poverty  of  the 
South.  The  idea  of  force  being  used  by  the  South  to  extend  slavery  was  ridi- 
culed. The  power  of  the  South  is  a  political  one,  and  with  that  she  has  smitten 
our  commerce,  our  manufactures,  and  every  interest  of  freedom.  The  very 
nullification  buttons  worn  by  the  South  Carolinians  in  1832  were  made  in 
Connecticut,  and  their  cannon  came  from  Woonsocket,  and  were  cast  off  guns 
at  that.  He  alluded  to  the  mobbing  of  Judge  Hoar  in  Charleston,  and  the 
neglect  of  the  government  to  protect  him  and  the  cause  he  represented,  while 
to  enforce  an  odious  law  in  this  city,  a  cannon  manned  by  aliens  was  planted  ia 
Court  square,  while  our  own  brothers  were  called  out  by  illegal  orders  to  be  a 
body  guard  to  them.  Some,  he  said,  censured  the  soldiers  on  that  occasion, 
but  the  censures  should  rather  fall  on  those  who  issued  the  illegal  orders.  On 
the  chief  magistrate  they  had  already  fallen  like  a  thunderbolt.  In  this  con- 
nection Dr.  Adams  was  spoken  of  as  being  disloyal  to  every  Northern  senti- 
16 


242 

ment.  The  means  by  which  slavery  has  secured  the  control  of  the  general 
government  were  then  spoken  of.  The  men  of  the  South  are  men  of  one 
idea.  They  make  politics  their  study,  while  at  North  the  reverse  is  true.  As 
a  remedy  for  all  this,  we  must  study  politics.  He  could  not  agree  with  Wen- 
dell Phillips  in  his  plan  of  dissolving  the  Union,  nor  with  Ralph  Waldo  Emer- 
son in  his  proposition  to  purchase  the  slaves,  as  a  remedy  for  slavery.  If  asked 
to  state  specifically  what  he  would  do,  he  would  answer — 1st,  repeal  the  Ne- 
braska bill ;  2d,  repeal  the  fugitive  slave  law  ;  3d,  abolish  slavery  in  the  "dis- 
trict of  Columbia;  4th,  abolish  the  inter-State  slave  trade;  next  he  would  de- 
clare that  slavery  should  not  spread  to  one  inch  of  the  territory  of  the  Union ; 
he  would  then  put  the  government  actually  and  perpetually  on  the  side  of  free- 
dom— by  which  he  meant  that  a  bright-eyed  boy  in  Massachusetts  should  have 
as  good  a  chance  for  promotion  in  the  navy  as  a  boy  of  one  of  the  first  families 
in  Virginia.  He  would  have  our  foreign  consuls  take  side  with  the  noble  Kos- 
suth  and  against  the  papal  butcher  Bedim.  He  would  have  judges  who  believe 
in  a  higher  law,  and  in  anti-slavery  constitution,  an  anti-slavery  Bible  and  an 
anti-slavery  G-od  !  Having  thus  denationalized  slavery,  he  would  not  menace 
it  in  the  States  where  it  exists,  but  would  say  to  the  States,  it  is  your  local  in- 
stitution ;  hug  it  to  your  bosoms  until  it  destroys  you.  But  he  would  say  you 
must  let  our  freedom  alone.  (Applause.)  If  you  do  but  touch  the  hem  of 
the  garment  of  freedom  we  will  trample  you  to  the  earth.  (Loud  applause.) 
This  is  the  only  position  of  repose,  and  it  must  come  to  this.  He  was  en- 
couraged by  the  recent  elections  in  the  North,  and  he  defended  the  "  new  move- 
ment/' which  he  said  was  born  of  Puritan  blood,  and  was  against  despotism  of 
all  kinds.  This  new  party  should  be  judged,  like  others,  by  its  fruits.  It  had 
elected  a  champion  of  freedom  to  the  United  States  Senate  for  four  years,  to 
fill  the  place  of  a  man  who  was  false  to  freedom  and  not  true  to  slavery.  For 
himself  he  could  say  that  so  long  as  life  dwelt  in  his  bosom,  so  long  would  he 
fight  for  liberty  and  against  slavery.  In  conclusion,  he  expressed  the  hope 
that  soon  the  time  might  come  when  the  sun  should  not  rise  on  a  master  nor  set 
on  a  slave. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  Henry  Wilson  was  elected  to  the  United  States 
Senate  by  the  Know  Nothing  members  of  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts. 

Upon  the  occasion  of  Mr.  Burlingame's  lecture,  in  response  to  a  call  from  the 
audience,  he  responded  as  follows  : 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — This  is  not  the  time  nor  the 
place  for  me  to  utter  a  word. .  You  have  listened  to  the  eloquence  of  my  young 
friend,  and  here  to  night  I  endorse  every  sentiment  he  has  uttered.  In  public 
or  in  private  life,  in  majorities  or  in  minorities,  at  home  or  abroad,  I  intend  to 
live  and  to  die  with  unrelenting  hostility  to  slavery  on  my  lips.  I  make  no 
compromises  anywhere,  at  home  or  abroad.  I  shall  yield  nothino-  of  my  anti- 
slavery  sentiments  to  advance  my  own  personal  interests,  to  advance  party  inte- 
rests, or  to  meet  the  demands  of  any  State  or  section  of  our  country.  I  hope 
to  be  able  to  maintain  on  all  occasions  these  principles,  to  comprehend  in  my 
affections  the  whole  country  and  the  people  of  the  whole  country,  and  when  I 
say  the  whole  country,  I  want  everybody  to  understand  that  I  include  in  that 
term  Massachusetts  and  the  North.  This  is  not  the  time  for  me  to  detain  you. 
You  have  called  on  me  most  unexpectedly  to  say  a  word,  and  having  done  so,  I 
will  retire,  thanking  you  for  the  honor  of  this  occasion. 

The  "  American  Organ,"  the  central  organ  of  the  Know  Nothing  party  of 
the  United  States,  published  at  Washington,  thus  endorsed  the  senator  from 
Massachusetts : 


243 

We  know  too  little  of  the  antecedent  of  Mr.  Wilson,  to  say  that  he  has  or  has 
not  been  hitherto  regarded  as  a  freesoiler  in  his  political  proclivities,  but  we  do 
know  enough  to  say  that  within  the  last  year  a  mighty  revolution  has  been  in 
progress,  and  that  thousands  upon  thousands  have  abandoned  their,  former  poli- 
tical platform,  and  now  stand  upon  the  national  platform  of  the  "  American 
party !"  We  know,  also,  that  our  friends,  as  well  in  Massachusetts  as  here, 
believe  that  whatever  may  have  been  the  former  opinions  of  Mr.  Wilson,  he 
will  now  sustain  the  National  platform  of  our  party. 

But  again  :  The  u  American  Reformation/'  now  in  progress,  is  sustained  by 
men  of  all  the  various  political  complexions  that  have  existed  in  our  country. 
All  meet  and  harmonize  upon  the  great  platform  of  the  American  party,  with- 
out enquiry  into  the  antecedents  of  any  member  of  this  party.  Whoever  binds 
himself  to  sustain  the  principles  of  our  party,  becomes  an  "  American,"  and  is 
admitted  into  full  communion  with  "  Americans."  We  have  formed  this  party 
on  the  basis  of  a  total  abandonment  of  all  former  party  ties,  and  the  adoption 
of  a  common  standard  of  faith  and  action. 

Who,  then,  shall  deny  the  right  of  Mr.  Wilson,  or  of  any  other  man,  to 
leave  other  affiliations,  and  to  associate  with  men  who  are  pledged  to  sustain 
"American"  doctrines,  and  to  repudiate  former  affiliations? 

******** 

We  freely  welcome  all  patriotic  Americans  into  our  ranks,  and  we  only  ask 
that  they  adopt  and  carry  into  practice  our  "  American  principles,"  and  stand 
firmly  upon  our  American  platform.  That  Mr.  Wilson,  as  an  lf  American" 
senator,  will  faithfully  and  firmly  adhere  to  our  principles,  wo  entertain  no  man- 
ner of  doubt.  v 

We  copy  from  the  Washington  correspondent  of  the  Philadelphia  North 
American,  the  points  which  Hon.  Henry  Wilson  elaborated  in  a  speech  delivered 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  soon  after  his  entrance  into  that  body : 

"  He  wishes  the  fugitive  act  repealed. 

"  He  wishes  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  abolished. 

"  He  wishes  the  Wilmot  proviso  established. 

"  He  wishes  all  new  slave  States  excluded. 

"  He  wishes  all  connection  between  the  general  government  and  slavery 
abolished. 

"  He  wishes  agitation  of  slavery  continued  until  these  objects  are  accom- 
plished. 

"  He  understands  these  views  to  correspond  with  those  of  the  Know  Nothings 
as  a  party,  so  far  as  they  have  taken  any  position  on  the  question." 

The  Richmond  Enquirer,  speaking  of  the  Abolitionism  of  Senator  Wilson, 
and  of  the  Massachusetts  Know  Nothings,  presented  thu  evidence  upon  which 
it  based  its  charges  in  the  following  forcible  manner. 

Now,  let  us  examine  what  mighty  reasons  the  South  has  to  "rejoice"  over 
the  election  of  such  a  man.  The  Boston  Courier,  one  of  the  most  respectable 
Whig  papers  in  the  country,  says  of  Wilson,  the  Senator  elect : 

"  lie  does  not.  renounce  one  iota  of  the  ultra  Abolition  principles  which  he  has 
been  inculcating  throughout  his  political  career,  and  by  ichich  he  has  approached 
his  present  eminence,  but  he  adopts  certain  vague  ideas,  which  may  be  holden 
.by  men  of  any  party,  and  sends  them  forth  as  the  sum  and  substance  of  his 
conversion  to  Americanism." 


244 

The  Boston  Advertiser,  another  influential  Whig  paper,  questions  Wilson's 
claims  to  be  regarded  as  an  exponent  of  the  principles  of  the  new  "  American" 
organization  ;*  for  in  one  of  his  speeches  he  asserted  distinctly,  "  I  care  nothing 
about  the  place  where  a  man  was  born,"  and  he  was  enthusiastic  in  the  recep- 
tion of  Kossuth,  an  ''imported  political  demagogue,"  a  class  of  people  who, 
the  Know  Nothing  Governor  Gardner  says,  should  be  discouraged.  Again,  in 
the  summer  of  1852,  the  Freesoil  National  Convention  at  Pittsburg,  of  which 
Gen.  Wilson  was  President,  unanimously  adopted  the  following  resolution  : 

"Resolved,  That  ' emigrants  and  exiles  from  the  Old  World  should  find  a 
cordial  welcome  to  homes  of  comfort  and  fields  of  enterprise  in  the  new ;  and 
every  attempt  to  abridge  their  privilege  of  becoming  citizens  and  owners  of  the 
soil  among  us,  ought  to  be  resisted  with  inflexible  determination.' ' 

It  seems,  therefore,  that  it  was  Wilson's  unadulterated  abolitionism  that 
cleansed  him  of  his  anti-"  American"  principles,  and  secured  his  election.  This 
is  farther  made  manifest  by  the  developments  in  the  Know  Nothing  caucus  to 
nominate  an  United  States  Senator.  We  have  once  before  published  these  start- 
ling facts,  but  we  do  so  again,  to  refute  the  Jesuitical  efforts  of  Southern  Know 
Nothing  organs  to  blind  the  South  to  the  damning  anti-slavery  movements  of 
their  New  England  "  American"  allies  : 

"  Mr.  Prince  of  Essex  took  the  floor.  He  spoke  strongly  in  favor  of  Gen. 
Wilson's  election,  and  deprecated  any  yielding  to  the  South  upon  this  ques- 
tion. 

"  Senator  Pillsbury  of  Hampden,  humorously  alluded  in  medical  terms  to 
the  pumping  process  which  had  been  made  by  the  Senator  from  Suffolk  (War- 
ren) on  Wilson.  It  would  seem  that  he  was  not  satisfied  with  what  he  pumped 
out ;  but,  to  his  mind,  the  candidate  came  out  of  that  contest  as  bright  as  light 
from  a  taper,  and  he  might  say,  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  tempter."  Relative  to 
the  argument  of  the  Senator  from  Middlesex,  (Baker)  he  wished  to  say  that  he, 
nor  no  man  from  his  section,  could  have  come  here,  if  he  had  been  only  an 
American.  It  was  because  the  party  was  anti- Slavery,  as  well  as  American, 
that  it  had  got  the  majority. 

"  Jonathan  Pierce,  Esq.,  the  head  of  the  Order  in  Massachusetts,  next  spoke. 
It  had  been  said  if  he  opposed  Wilson,  he  himself  would  be  ruined.  He 
thanked  God,  no  party  of  men  had  power  to  do  that  to  him.  He  only  wished 
Gen.  Wilson  was  as  good  a  Native  American  as  himself.  It  had  been  said  this 
Free  Soil  movement  would  cut  us  up  ;  I  doubt  it,  for  we  are  all  Free  Sorters 
ourselves.  He  had  been  advised  to  close  the  doors  and  keep  certain  men  out 
of  the  Order.  He  had  said  no — let  them  all  come  in.  A  man  is  not  a  Senator 
for  a  single  State,  he  is  a  Senator  of  the  whole  Union. 

"  J.  Q.  Griffin,  Esq.,  of  Charlestown,  said  :  Now,  relative  to  Wilson's  ante- 
cedents, he  submitted  there  was  no  statute  of  limitations  bearing  upon  the  posi- 
tion or  sentiments  of  members  of  this  party.  There  was  as  much  need  of  this 
party  before  last  year  as  during  that  year.  And  he  would  say,  and  all  would 
bear  him  out,  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  passage  of  the  infamous  Nebraska 
bill,  and  the  utter  meanness  of  Pierce's  National  Administration,  the  revolution 
•would  not  have  so  speedily  taken  place,  though  it  might  have  come  in  time. 
He  wanted  a  man  right  on  this  question — the  one  now  prominent,  worthy  to 
stand  by  the  side  of  CHARLES  SUMNER  !" 

Here  is  one  of  the  sweet  "fruits  of  the  mighty  revolution,"  over  which  the 
Washington  Organ  "  rejoices,"  and  which  has  sent  to  the  U.  S.  Senate  an  abo- 
litionist, "  worthy  to  stand  by  the  side  of  Charles  Sumner  !"  Will  not  Vir- 
ginians turn  away,  with  alarm  and  disgust,  from  an  association  whose  Northern 
brethren  perpetrate  such  monstrous  acts  and  are  whitewashed  therefor,  by 
Southern  Know  Nothing  organs  ? 


245 

Among  the  first  triumphs  of  the  Know  Nothings,  were  the  election  of  their 
gubernatorial  candidates  in  the  States  of  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware;  and  in  the 
inaugural  addresses  of  Governor  Pollock  of  Pennsylvania,  and  of  Governor 
Causey  of  Delaware,  we  have  the  first  official  enunciation  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  anti-slavery  Know  Nothings  of  the  free  states.  We  therefore  publish  ex- 
tracts from  their  inaugural  addresses  : 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS    OF   GOVERNOR   POLLOCK,  OF   PENNSYLVANIA,    TUESDAY, 

JAN.    16,    1855. 


Republican  institutions  are  the  pride,  and  justly  the  glory  of  our  country. 
To  enjoy  them  is  our  privilege,  to  maintain  them  our  duty.  Civil  and  religious 
liberty — freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  the  rights  of  conscience  and  freedom 
of  worship — are  the  birthright  and  the  boast  of  the  American  citizen.  No  royal 
edict,  no  pontifical  decree,  can  restrain  or  destroy  them.  In  the  enjoyment  of 
these  blessings,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  high  and  the  low.  meet  together — the 
constitution,  in  its  full  scope  and  ample  development,  shields  and  protects  them 
all.  When  these  rights  are  assailed,  these  privileges  endangered,  either  by  mad 
ambition,  or  by  influences  foreign  to  the  true  interests  of  the  nation,  and  at  war 
with  love  of  country — that  noble  impulse  of  the  American  heart,  which  prompts 
it  to  revere  home  and  native  land  as  sacred  objects  of  its  affections — it  is  then 
the  ballot  box  in  its  omnipotence,  speaking  in  thunder  tones  the  will  of  the  peo- 
ple, rebukes  the  wrong,  and  vindicates  the  freedom  of  the  man — the  indepen- 
dence of  the  citizen.  To  the  American  people  have  these  blessings  been  com- 
mitted as  a  sacred  trust ;  they  are,  and  must  ever  be,  their  guardians  and  de- 
fenders. The  American  citizen,  independent  and  free,  uninfluenced  by  partizan 
attachments,  unawed  by  ecclesiastical  authority  or  ghostly  intolerance — in  the 
strength  of  fearless  manhood,  and  in  the  bold  assertion  of  his  rights — should  ex- 
hibit to  the  world  a  living  illustration  of  the  superior  benefits  of  American  repub- 
licanism ;  proclaiming  a  true  and  single  allegiance  to  his  country,  and  to  no  other 
power  but  u  the  God  that  makes  and  preserves  us  as  a  nation." 

Virtue,  intelligence  and  truth  are  the  foundation  of  our  republic.  By  these 
our  institutions  and  privileges  can  and  will  be  preserved.  Ignorance  is  not 
the  mother  of  patriotism,  or  of  republics.  It  is  the  enemy  and  destroyer  of 
both.  Education,  in  its  enlightening,  elevating  and  reforming  influences,  in  the 
full  power  of  its  beneficent  results,  should  be  encouraged  by  the  State.  Not 
that  mere  intellectual  culture  that  leaves  the  mind  a  moral  waste,  unfit  to  un- 
derstand the  duties  of  the  man  or  citizen,  but  that  hither  education,  founded 
upon,  directed,  and  controlled  by  sound  and  elevated  moral  principle — that  re- 
cognizes the  Bible  as  the  foundation  of  true  knowledge,  as  the  text-book  alike 
of  the  child  and  the  American  statesman,  and  as  the  great  charter  and  bulwark 
of  civil  and  religious  freedom.  The  knowledge  thus  acquired  is  the  proper  con- 
servative of  States  and  nations ;  more  potent  in  its  energy  to  uphold  the  insti- 
tutions of  freedom  and  the  rights  of  man,  than  armies  and  navies  iu  their  proud- 
est strength. 

The  framers  of  our  constitution  understood  this,  and  wisely  provided  for  the 
establishment  of  schools  and  "  the  promotion  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  in  one  or 
more  seminaries  of  learning,"  that  the  advantages  of  education  might  be  enjoyed 
by  all. 

To  improve  the  efficiency  of  this  system,  not  only  by  perfecting  our  common 
schools,  lout  by  encouraging  and  aiding  "  one  or  more"  higher  literary  institu- 
tions, in  which  teachers  can  be  trained  and  qualified ;  and  to  increase  the  fund 
appropriated  to  educational  purposes,  are  objects  which  will  at  all  times  receive 
my  willing  approval.  Money  liberally,  yet  wisely,  expended  in  the  pursuit  and 


246 

promotion  of  knowledge,  is  true  economy.  The  integrity  of  this  system  and 
its  fund  must  be  preserved.  No  division  of  this  fund  for  political  or  sectarian 
purposes  should  ever  be  made  or  attempted.  To  divide  is  to  destroy.  Party 
and  sectarian  jealousies  would  be  engendered  ;  the  unity  and  harmony  of  the 
syatem  destroyed,  and  its  noble  objects  frustrated  and  defeated.  Bigotry  might 
rejoice,  patriotism  would  weep  over  such  a  result. 

%.%%.**•%.•%'% 

Pennsylvania,  occupying  as  she  does  an  important  and  proud  position  in  the 
sisterhood  of  States,  cannot  be  indifferent  to  the  policy  and  acts  of  the  national 
government.  Her  voice,  potential  for  good  in  other  days,  ought  not  to  be  dis- 
regarded now.  Devoted  to  the  Constitution  and  the  Union — as  she  was  the  first 
to  sanction,  she  will  be  the  last  to  endanger  the  one  or  violate  the  other.  Re- 
garding with  jealous  care  the  rights  of  her  sister  States,  she  will  be  ever  ready 
to  defend  her  own.  The  blood  of  her  sons,  poured  out  on  the  many  battle  fields 
of  the  revolution,  attests  her  devotion  to  the  great  principles  of  American  free- 
dom— the  centre-truth  of  American  republicanism.  To  the  constitution  in  all 
its  integrity;  to  the  Uoion  in  its  strength  and  harmony;  to  the  maintenance  in 
its  purity,  of  the  faith  and  honor  of  our  country.  Pennsylvania  now  is,  and 
always  has  been,  pledged — a  pledge  never  violated,  and  not  to  be  violated,  until 
patriotism  ceases  to  be  a  virtue,  and  liberty  to  be  known  only  as  a  name. 

Entertaining  these  sentiments,  and  actuated  by  an  exclusive  desire  to  promote 
the  peace,  harmony  and  welfare  of  our  beloved  country,  the  recent  action  of  the 
National  Congress  and  Executive,  in  repealing  a  solemn  compromise,  only  less 
sacred  in  public  estimation  than  the  constitution  itself — thus  attempting  to  ex- 
tend the  institution  of  domestic  slavery  in  the  territorial  domain  of  the  nation, 
violating  the  plighted  faith  and  honor  of  the  country,  arousing  sectional  jealou- 
sies, and  renewing  the  agitation  of  vexed  and  distracting  questions — has  received 
from  the  people  of  our  own  and  other  States  of  the  Union,  their  stern  and  mer- 
ited rebuke. 

With  no  desire  to  restrain  the  full  and  entire  constitutional  rights  of  the 
States,  nor  to  interfere  directly  or  indirectly  with  their  domestic  institutions, 
the  people  of  Pennsylvania,  in  view  of  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise, 
the  principle  involved  in  it,  and  the  consequences  resulting  from  it,  as  marked 
already  by  fraud,  violence  and  strife,  have  re-affirmed  their  opposition  to  the  ex- 
tension of  slavery  into  territory  now  free,  and  renewed  their  pledge  "  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  act  of  1780,  which  relieved  us  by  constitutional  means  from  a 
grievous  social  evil;  to  the  great  ordinance  of  1787,  in  its  full  scope  and  all  its 
beneficient  principles;  to  the  protection  of  the  personal  rights  of  every  human 
being  under  the  constitution  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  by  maintaining  inviolate  the  trial  by  jury,  and  the  writ  of  habeas  cor- 
pus ;  to  the  assertion  of  the  due  rights  of  the  North  as  well  as  of  the  South, 
and  to  the  integrity  of  the  Union/' 

The  declaration  of  these  doctrines  is  but  the  recognition  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  freedom  and  human  rights.  They  are  neither  new  nor  startling. 
They  were  taught  by  patriotic  fathers  at  the  watchfires  of  our  country's  defen- 
ders, and  learned  arnid  the  bloody  snows  of  Valley  Forge  and  the  mighty  throes 
of  war  and  revolution.  They  were  stamped  with  indelible  impress  upon  the 
great  charter  of  our  rights,  and  embodied  in  the  legislation  of  the  best  and 
purest  days  of  tho  republic;  have  filled  the  hearts,  and  fell  burning  from  the 
lips  of  orators  and  statesmen,  whose  memories  are  immortal  as  the  principles 
they  cherished.  They  have  been  the  watchword  and  the  hope  of  millions  who 
have  gone  before  us — are  the  watchword  and  hope  of  millions  now,  and  will  be 
of  millions  yet  unborn. 

In  many  questions  of  national  and  truly  American  policy,  the  due  protection 
of  American  labor  and  industry  against  the  depressing  influence  of  foreign  labor 


247 

. 

?md  capital  —  the  improvement  of  our  rivers  and  harbors  —  the  national  defences  — 
the  equitable  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  among  the  States, 
in  aid  of  education  and  to  relieve  from  debt  and  taxation  —  a  judicious  Homestead 
bill  —  reform  in  the  naturalization  laws,  and  the  protection  of  our  country  against 
the  immigration  and  importation  of  foreign  paupers  and  convicts  in  all  these, 
we,  as  a  State  and  people,  are  deeply  interested  ;  and  to  their  adoption  and  pro- 
motion every  encouragement  should  be  given. 

INAUGURAL   ADDRESS   OF   GOV.    PETER  F.  CAUSEY,    OF   DELAWARE,    AT   DOVER, 

JANUARY    16,    1855. 


As  the  servant  of  a  gallant  and  patriotic  people  —  as  the  Chief  Magistrate  of 
a  State,  whose  spirit  and  genius,  and  not  her  rnetes  and  bounds,  have  deter- 
mined her  position  in  the  national  estimate  —  -it  would  not  become  me  to  com- 
ment upon  the  conflicts  of  faction.  Not  such  was  the  recent  election  in  this 
State.  But  the  history  of  the  popular  mind  of  a  commonwealth  is  the  history 
of  its  life,  its  honor  and  its  fortunes,  and  a  great  organic  movement  of  that 
mind,  such  as  we  now  witness  —  one  that  uplifts,  sweeps,  and  bears  onward  with 
it  the  community  and  its  interests  —  may  not,  upon  such  an  occasion,  be  ignored. 
We  have  seen  a  re-assertion  of  the  declaration,  and  a  re-enactment  of  the  strug- 
gle for  independence.  It  would  be  injustice  to  the  people  of  Delaware  to  be 
silent  on  the  progress  and  triumph  of  that  sentiment  which,  kindled  at  the 
altar-fires  of  the  revolution,  has  spread  with  miraculous  speed  from  heart  to 
heart  ;  has  united  our  American  people  in  the  holy  brotherhood  of  patriotism, 
and  has  secured  the  triumph  —  not  mine  —  not  any  man's  —  not  the  victory  of  art 
or  eloquence,  of  parties  or  politicians  —  but  of  a  free  people,  in  whose  hearts  the 
American  spirit,  too  long  smothered  under  the  ashes  of  exhausted  factions,  hag 
burst  forth,  and  asserted  its  own  purity  and  power.  This  affords  just  grounds 
for  an  exultation,  in  which  every  American  is  privileged  and  may  be  proud  to 
sharo,  for  in  it  no  old  party  has  been  exalted  ;  it  brings  to  no  true  American 
citizen  occasion  for  regret  or  mortification,  no  memory  of  wrong,  and  no  fear  of 
injustice.  As  a  broad  and  bright  assertion  of  the  principles  of  American  lib- 
erty—the only  true  liberty  which  the  world  knows,  or  has  known  —  springing 
freshly  from  the  people,  and  faithful  to  all  the  noble  and  time-abiding  sentiments 
that  render  the  voice  of  native  masses,  when  spontaneous  and  unperverted,  the 
voice  of  eternal  right  —  it  must  be  recognized  as  a  triumph  in  which  every  real 
American  has  an  equal  interest,  and  an  equal  claim. 

When,  under  the  influence  of  a  sentiment  so  lofty,  the  people  of  a  State 
confide  their  highest  office  to  the  hands  of  one  of  themselves,  in  trust  that  it 
shall  be  administered  in  the  same  pure  and  exalted  spirit,  his  solicitude  must 
bear  some  relation  to  the  exultation  of  his  patriotic  pride,  and  the  fervor  of  his 
gratitude.  Such  is  the  anxiety  with  which  I  approach  the  duties  that  must,  for 
a  time,  be  mine.  He  whose  task  it  is  to  guard  the  untarnished  honor  of  Dela- 
ware, has  a  high  and  holy  trust.  The  stranger  who  consults  the  chart  of  our 
Continental  Republic,  hardly  discovers  our  State  amid  her  leviathan  sisters  ; 
but  he  who  studies  the  history  of  American  valor,  American  devotion,  and 
American  statesmanship,  sees  her  pictured  a  giant  on  every  page.  Those  who 
won  the  laurels  of  our  liberty  in  our  revolutionary  struggle,  who  saw  the  dec- 
laration carried  by  her  vote,  and  knew  no  field  from  Long  Island  to  Camden 
and  Eutaw  where  Delaware  did  not  leave  her  martyrs,  and  always  nearest  the 
foe  —  no  crisis  in  her  councils  where  Delaware  did  not  maintain  the  cause  of  the 
country  —  no  exigency  where  Delaware  was  not  among  the  foremost  of  the  con- 
federacy in  defence  of  the  Union  —  have  done  her  ample  justice  }  and  their 
children,  of  whatever  section  of  our  common  country,  will  rejoice  that,  in  the 
present  crisis,  when  the  cause  of  American  independence  against  foreign  domi- 


248 

nation  has  again  invoked  the  patriot  spirits  of  the  land,  Delaware  has  been  the  • 
foremost  State  to  record  her  vote  openly  and  boldly  on  the  side  of  her  country. 
Sister  commonwealths  have  followed  and  will  follow  with  a  noble  ardor,  and,  in 
after  times,  when  the  children  of  our  little  State  shall  exult  over  the  many  tri- 
umphs of  her  patriotism,  it  will  not  be  forgotten  that,  in  the  gathering  of  the 
nation's  millions  for  the  public  and  fearless  re-assertion  of  unshackled  indepen- 
dence, Delaware,  as  a  State,  led  the  van ;  Delaware  struck  the  first  blow — Del- 
aware won  the  first  victory. 

The  issue  which  has  been  so  harshly  forced  from  abroad,  upon  our  people, 
has  no  feature  in  common  with  our  past  political  controversies — the  mere  do- 
mestic contests  which  have  recognized  a  generous  and  fraternal  difference  of 
opinion  among  those  who  agree  in  a  united  devotion  to  our  native  land.  The 
present  is  a  resistance  to  invaders  who  unite  foreign  minds  and  hearts  in  alle- 
giance to  a  foreign  prince  and  pontiff,  and  standing  between  the  American 
parties  have  dictated  their  own  terms,  and  asserted  their  own  superiority.  Un- 
der these  influences  the  ballot  box  has  been  corrupted  by  their  frauds,  or  sub- 
jected to- their  violence;  American  politics  have  been  stained  with  vices  foreign 
to  the  American  character;  and  a  large  portion  of  our  most  virtuous  citizens 
have  revolted  in  disgust  from  the  exercise  of  privileges  so  shared,  and  so  de- 
graded; and  the  highest  places  of  the  republic  have  been  abandoned  to  foreign- 
ers or  their  flatterers,  some  of  whom  have  dared  to  assert  the  alleged  prerogative 
of  a  foreign  pontiff  to  free  American  citizens  from  their  allegiance  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  their  country.  In  our  foreign  policy,  the  settled  principles  of 
American  statesmanship  are  well  nigh  lost  sight  of;  foreigners  have  been  se- 
lected to  represent  the  country  at*  the  principal  courts  of  Europe ;  and  in  the 
gratification  of  feelings  unshared  by  our  people,  they  have  made  the  American 
name  a  reproach  throughout  a  large  part  of  the  civilized  world.  American 
principles  and  policy,  feelings  and  interests,  have  been  merged  in  their  alien 
opposites ,  and  in  the  press  and  on  the  platform,  foreign  influences  have  over- 
swayed  the  control  and  directed  the  action  of  parties  and  the  selection  of  candi- 
dates. The  result  of  this  conspiracy  against  the  original  and  native  American 
liberty  has  been  to  establish,  in  this  country,  a  foreign-political  party,  substan- 
tially, though  not  nominally,  devoted  to  foreign  interests,  and  preferring  per- 
sons of  foreign  birth.  If  its  recognized  advocates  have  as  yet  failed  to  pro- 
claim allegiance  to  a  foreign  monarch,  they  have  made,  in  most  of  the  States, 
efforts  to  overthrow  the  American  system  of  public  instruction  ;  have  sought  to 
exclude  the  Bible  from  the  American  schools ;  and  have  freely  denounced  the 
most  cherished  principles  of  American  religious  liberty ;  and  all  this,  it  should 
be  remembered,  has  sprung  from  those  to  whom  all  that  our  fathers  have  won, 
and  that  is  dear  to  us,  was  freely  offered;  all  this  was  foreign  in  its  origin, 
authors  and  acts — all  this  was  unprovoked,  wanton,  long  and  patiently  endured 
— endured  till  foreign  demagogues  claimed  our  country  as  their  own,  and  made 
our  right  and  our  safety  the  counters  with  which  they  played  the  game  of 
foreign  politics. 

At  length  the  reaction  and  the  rescue  came.  Its  history  is  an  exalted  evi- 
dence of  the  fitness  of  the  American  people,  for  the  most  trying  exigencies  of 
self  government.  No  son  of  the  soil  can  regard  it,  and  its  proof  of  American  in- 
telligence,' patriotism  and  virtue  without  pride  and  exultation.  It  borrowed  no 
aid,  it  knew  no  leader,  it  sought  no  counsel.  The  movement  burst,  like  a  bolt, 
from  the  overcharged  cloud  of  American  wrongs — sudden,  spontaneous  and  uni- 
versal ;  it  knew  no  parent  but  the  old  and  ever  true  American  heart.  It  had, 
and  it  needed,  no  organ,  no  orator,  no  oracle,  no  leader,  no  aid.  The  American 
people,  North  and  £outh,  East  and  West,  finding  the  cup  of  foreign  arrogance 
and  usurpation  overrunning,  quietly  stepped  forth  by  myriads  from  their  homes, 
and  recorded  the  decree.  It  can  never  be  revoked.  It  can  never  be  regretted. 
Hereafter  it  will  be  pointed  to  as  the  noblest  evidence  of  American  intelligence, 


249 

patriotism  and  independence ;  and  when  so  remembered,  Delaware  will  not  be 
forgotten  as  the  foremost  to  impress  upon  the  cause  the  broad  seal  of  a  com- 
monwealth's sanction. 

That  triumph,  should  it  prove  to  be  national,  will  impose  many  and  majestic 
duties.  The  first  will  be  to  surround,  as  with  a  wall  of  fire,  which  no  pollution 
can  invade,  that  Holy  of  Holies — the  ballot  box,  and  closely  succeeding  will 
rise  the  duty  of  regulating  immigration  }  of  closing  the  avenues  which  have 
communicated  with  the  prisons  and  lazar-houses  of  Europe ;  of  defeating  the 
ungenerous  policy  by  which  foreign  princes  force  us  to  receive  the  moral  abomi- 
nations which  their  overcloyed  country  vomits  forth,  constraining  us  to  support 
their  paupers,  and  to  expose  the  propert^  and  lives  of  our  people  to  the  ruffian 
skill  and  desperation  of  their  transported  felons.  As  a  tax  and  a  peril  the 
heaviest  and  worst,  as  a  wanton  wrong  and  outrage,  it  should  be  redressed  in 
the  first  hours  of  realized  national  American  victory. 

But  the  more  pervading  and  vital  triumphs  of  the  second  American  revolu- 
tion will  be  those  which  wTll  establish,  as  the  settled  policy,  foreign  and  domestic, 
of  the  nation,  the  saving  principle  of  American  Independence,  as  applied,  not 
only  to  the  right  of  suffrage,  but  to  the  -privileges,  sacred  and  inestimable,  of 
our  honest  hardhanded  home  labor.  The  policy  by  which  our  country  has  been, 
in  its  trade,  its  currency,  its  varied  industrial  pursuits,  agricultural,  mechanical, 
and  otherwise,  and  in  its  social  habits  of  expenditure,  and  luxury,  thrust  into 
and  made  a  part  of  Europe,  is  a  treason  against  American  honor  and  American 
interests.  It  is  a  repudiation  of  all  the  peculiar  advantages  bestowed  by  Prov- 
idence, in  requital  of  the  virtues  of  our  fathers  upon  our  young  and  then  un- 
burthened  country.  We  have,  to  gratify  the  schemes  of  politicians,  and  to 
glut  the  greediness  of  money  changers,  invited  and  drawn  upon  our  country  a 
common  and  almost  an  equal  share  of  the  evils  which  attend,  as  their  parasite 
and  clinging  curses,  the  wasting  crimes  and  vices  of  Europe.  Our  true  inde- 
pendence, real  happiness  and  secure  policy  are  to  be  realized  only  by  fostering 
our  own  American  homes — their  industry,  mutual  relations,  and  mutual  self- 
reliance.  In  regard  to  every  political  virtue  and  hope,  to  all  of  pride  and  com 
fidence  associated  with  that  American  liberty  which — as  the  earthquake  shakes 
and  the  tempest  overshadows  all  else  of  the  civilized  world — grows  brighter  and 
dearer  to  us,  it  is  apparent  that  the  time  has  arrived  when  our  country  must 
separate  her  policy  from  the  intrigues  and  machinations  of  Europe — from  the 
strategy  and  corruption  l»y  which  European  councils  and  interests  boastfully  be- 
trayed the  independence  of  American  industry,  and  made  our  land  a  tri- 
butary, as  it  now  unhappily  is,  to  England  and  France;  forced  upon  us,  with 
their  luxuries,  their  vices;  and  added  to  the  usurpation,  the  heavy  imposition 
of  a  monstrous  and  perpetual  debt — a  debt  shared  by  every  American ;  a  debt 
which  drains  our  country  of  its  specie,  and  which  subjects  it,  throughout  every 
fibre  of  its  giant  frame,  to  the  agony  of  such  a  financial  convulsion  as  that 
which  now  afflicts  us.  Vain  will  be  the  patriotic  throbbing  of  the  great  Amer- 
ican heart,  and  vain  the  vigor  of  the  American  arm  to  re-achieve  American  In- 
dependence, until  our  land  shall  have  been  made  independent  in  that  form, 
which  all  power  has  its  source — her  industry. 

Then,  and  only  then,  will  she  cease  to  be  a  European  colony ;  then  will  sho 
be  the  America  of  our  fathers — truly  independent — rich  in  her  own  resources 
— secure  in  her  own  strength,  and  happy  in  her  own  freedom.  The  crimes  and 
oppression?,  the  wrongs  and  wars  of  Europe  may  terrify  and  torture  their  own 
world;  but  not  a  ripple  of  the  storm  will  break  upon  our  shores.  Till  that  con- 
summation shall  have  been  effected,  our  duty  will  be  unfulfilled,  and  our 
triumph — however  glorious — incomplete;  the  oracles  of  our  American  patriarchs 
and  prophets  will  remain  empty,  and  the  real  mission,  holy,  calm  and  beneficent, 
of  our  American  destiny  unachieved. 


250 

In  the  federal  Union,  the  general  and  State  governments,  revolving  in  their 
appropriate  orbs,  neither  unite  nor  clash — their  mutual  influence  induces  a  mu- 
tual interest,  and  the  individual  States  watch  with  anxiety  the  disk,  darkened  or 
lustrous  as  her  councils  determine,  of  the  central  orb.  The  history  of  Dela- 
ware, in  her  relations  with  the  general  government,  has  always  been  interesting 
and  conspicuous  ;  and  in  every  crisis  it  has  been  her  fortune  to  prove — as  the 
most  illustrious  republics  of  the  past,  not  excelling  Delaware  in  extent  of  ter- 
ritory have  also  shown — that  real  greatness  consists  in  the  exaltation  of  virtue 
and  spirit,  and  not  in  vastness  of  proportion.  In  the  present  aspect  of  our 
general  government,  there  is  more  for  hope — that  hope  which  always  abides 
with  a  confidence  in  the  people — than  for  present  felicitation.  Abroad  and  at 
home,  the  government  has  been  so  administered,  as  to  leave  to  the  people  am- 
ple scope  for  the  exercise,  through  their  representatives,  of  tbeir  wisdom  and 
love  of  country.  In  the  trials  which  the  feebleness  and  faults  of  an  unhappy 
administration  have  imposed  upon  the  country,  Delaware  will  again,  we  may 
confidently  trust,  be  found  as  in  all  the  past,  at  her  post — true  to  the  exalted 
obligations  of  the  constitution.  But  it  may  be  remarked,  as  an  illustration  of 
the  extraordinary  power  and  success  of  our  system,  and  of  the  entire  re- 
liance due  to  American  prudence  and  patriotism — that  never  has  our  coun- 
try been  so  secure  as  when  her  danger  seemed  greatest.  The  perils  which 
were  imagined  in  regard  to  the  Union,  only  demonstrated  manifestly  that 
it  was  immovable  as  the  hills;  every  indication  of  weakness  or  folly  in  the 
government  has  given  to  the  people  an  opportunity,  never  expected,  of  proving 
the  all  sufficiency  of  th'eir  wisdom  and  devotion. 

The  New  YorJc  Herald  was  regarded  in  1855,  as  the  most  powerful,  danger- 
ous, and  influential  Organ  of  the  Know  Nothing  party  in  the  United  States. 
We  therefore  publish  an  editorial  from  that  paper,  regretting  the  alliance  whfch 
existed  between  the  Know  Nothing  and  Abolition  parties  in  the  free  States. 
• 

THE  KNOW  NOTHINGS -OF  THE  NORTH — MOVEMENTS  ON  THE  SLAVERY 

QUESTION. 

We  published,  some  days  ago,  the  inaugural  message  of  Mr.  Gardner,  the 
Know  Nothing  Governor  of  Massachusetts.  Our  readers  will  remember  that 
upon  the  Nebraska  question  he  betrays  the  wrath  of  a  Freesoiler,  and  boldly 
declares  himself  in  favor  of  the  restoration  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  We 
give  to-day  an  extract  on  the  Slavery  question,  from  the  inaugural  of  Mr.  Pol- 
lock, the  Know  Nothing  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  in  which  we  are  informed 
that  Pennsylvania,  in  her  late  election,  has  repudiated  the  Nebraska  bill,  re- 
affirmed the  Missouri  interdict,  and  decreed  a  radical  modification  of  the  Fugi- 
tive Slave  law,  notwithstanding  which  the  Governor  has  no  recommendation  to 
make  upon  the  subject. 

THese  declarations,  "  by  authority,"  from  the  elect  of  the  Know  Nothings  of 
the  North,  go  very  far  to  show  that  this  new  American  party  are  still  embar- 
rassed, to  a  considerable  extent,  with  the  widely  diffused  anti-slavery  sentiment 
of  the  Northern  States,  and  especially  with  the  remains  of  the  anti-Nebraska 
epidemic,  which  entered  so  largely  into  the  late  elections  from  Massachusetts  to 
Kansas.  The  same  Freesoil  concessions  have  been  exhibited  in  the  late  nomi- 
nation, by  a  caucus  of  the  Massachusetts  Know  Nothing  Legislature,  of  Gene- 
ral Henry  Wilson,  heretofore  a  leading  anti-slavery  man,  as  their  candidate  for 
the  United  States  Senate.  There  has  been  a  rebellion,  however,  and  a  split 
upon  this  nomination,  and  the  final  result  will  probably  be  the  election  of  a 
Senator  less  decidedly  tinctured  with  anti-slavery  antecedents  and  principles 
than  Wilson.  At  all  events,  the  trouble  concerning  this  gentleman,  shows  that 


251 

the  Know  Nothings  of  Massachusetts  are  aware  of  the  importance  of  maintain- 
ing, as  far  as  possible,  in  this  Senatorial  election,  the  attitude  of  non-interven- 
tion upon  the  slavery  question. 

In  these  Know  Nothing  messages  of  Messrs.  Gardner  and  Pollock,  and  in 
this  nomination  of  Wilson,  there  is  a  manifest  disposition  to  conciliate  the  free- 
soil  and  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  North.  Nor  is  it  surprising  that  this 
should  be  the  case,  considering  the  fact  that  the  Know  Nothings  entered  into 
the  lute  elections  side  by  side  with  the  anti-slavery  forces  rallied  throughout  the 
North  upon  the  anti-Nebraska  furor.  In  the  outset,  all  great  revolutions  are 
crude  and  encumbered,  more  or  less,  with  incongruities  and  inconsistencies.  So 
this  new  party,  from  the  throes  of  parturition;  comes  into  the  world  somewhat 
lacking  the  elements  of  perfect  symmetry  and  harmony,  although  the  bantling 
possesses  a  vigorous  vital  system,  and  all  the  requisites  of  superior  manly 
strength.  Now,  the  anti-Nebraska  agitation  is  dying  out — the  popular  mind 
soon  wearies  of  impracticable  abstractions.  Public  opinion  in  these  United 
States  is  eminently  practical  and  utilitarian,  national,  patriotic  and  conserva- 
tive. A  little  resolution  and  unity  of  action  on  the  part  of  the  Northern  Know 
Nothings  are  all  that  is  now  wanted  to  cleanse  their  skirts  of  the  last  remaining 
vestiges  of  anti-slavery  doctrines  and  affiliations. 

Since  our  November  election  there  has  been  some  trouble  among  the  Know 
Nothings  of  this  State,  traceable  to  the  slavery  controversy.  Hence  those  out- 
side Know  Nothing  Lodges,  the  object  of  which  is  a  diversion  from  this  new 
party  in  favor  of  the  re-election  of  Wm.  II.  Seward.  And  so,  in  Iowa,  an  anti- 
slavery  Whig  has  been  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  from  the  support  of 
the  Know  Nothings,  in  the  place  of  Dodge,  Nebraska  a  ^ministration  Democrat. 
Such  combinations  of  anti-slavery  men  and  Know  Nothings  have  had  in  view 
the  great  object  of  "  crushing  out"  the  greatest  imbecile  spoils  coalition  at 
Washington,  and  in  this  light  they  may  be  considered  as  the  necessary  prelimi- 
nary steps  in  clearing  the  track  for  the  projected  national  revolution  of  1856. 

The  Examiner  summed  up  the  acts  of  the  Know  Nothings  of  the  free  States 
during  the  years  185-1  and  1855  in  the  following  admirable  manner. 

VHAT    HAVE    THEY  DONE? 

The  Know  Nothings  have  within  the  last  twelve  months  made  sufficient  pro- 
gress, in  many  of  the  State  and  city  elections,  to  develope  their  plans  and  inau- 
gurate their  men  ;  and  from  Maine  to  California  we  challenge  the  friends  of  the 
Order  to  point  to  a  single  instance  of  their  having  performed  the  first  creditable 
act  of  reform.  In  Massachusetts  their  triumph  was  complete  and,  with  a  half 
dozen  exceptions,  the  Legislature  is  there  composed  of  members  of  the  new 
Order.  In  that  State  they  have  removed  Judge  Loring  for  enforcing  the  Fugi- 
tive Slave  law — they  have  taken  the  first  step  toward  practical  amalgamation  by 
placing  negro  and  white  children  in  their  common  schools  upon  terms  of  equal- 
ity— they  have -elected  to  the  Senate  a  man -who  endorses  the  horrid  blasphemy 
of  a  wretch  who  wants  an  anti-slavery  God,  and  an  ^anti-slavery  Bible — they 
have  violated  the  sanctity  of  the  dwelling  of  a  few  unprotected  females  and 
offered  rudeness  to  the  persons  of  sick  children  and  helpless  women — they  have 
legislated  with  closed  doors,  disbanded  the  Irish  companies  who  protected  the 
person  of  Col.  Suttle,  and  placed  his  fugitive  slave,  Anthony  Burns,  safely  on 
board  a  vessel  bound  for  Alexandria — and  elected  to  the  Legislature  sixty  or 
seventy  of  the  Clergymen  who  signed  the  famous  anti-Nebraska  protest. 

In  New  Hampshire,  led  on  by  a  fugitive  slave  and  the  notorious  John  P. 
Hale,  they  have  crushed  the  National  Democratic  party,  and  the  re-election  of 
Hale  to  the  U.  S.  Senate,  is  regarded  as  a  fixed  fact. 


252 

In  New  York  they  have  elected  William  H.  Seward,  and,  by  uniting  with 
the  fanatical  Maine  Liquor  Law  men,  destroyed  a  legitimate  branch  of  business 
employing  40,000,000  of  dollars  per  annum,  and  thrown  out  of  employment 
150,000  laborers/ 

In  Maine  they  have  passed  the  following  resolutions,  breathing  the  fiercest 
spirit  of  hostility  to  the  South  : 

Resolved, 

"  1.  That  slavery  has  no  legal  tenure  either  under  State  or  Federal  jurisdiction, 
and  therefore  exists  only  by  sufferance. 

"f  2.  That  our  Senators  in  Congress  be  instructed  and  our  Representatives  re- 
quested to  use  all  practicable  means  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  following  en- 
actments : 

"  First.  An  act  repealing  all  laws  of  the  United  States  authorizing  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

"Second.  An  act  repealing  the  act  of  1850  known  as  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law. 

11  Third.  An  act  forever  prohibiting  slavery  or  involuntary  servitude,  except 
for  crime,  within  the  territories  of  the  United  States." 

In  Michigan  they  have  passed  resolutions  precisely  similar  to  those  of  Maine. 
In  Illinois  and  Iowa  they  have  elected  to 'office  the  boldest  and  most  odious  of 
the  Abolition  party.  They  have  Abolitionized  Pennsylvania.  In  Ohio  they 
mobbed  that  true  friend  of  the  South,  the  chivalrous  Mitchell,  and  in  Rhode 
Island  they  attempted  to  destroy  the  house  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  and  were 
checked  by  the  military  companies  of  the  city  of  Providence. 

They  have  already  destroyed  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  American  people, 
arraying  neighbor  against  neighbor,  and  son  against  father.  They  have,  by 
persecution  and  intolerance,  alienated  the  affections  of  loyal  and  patriotic  fo- 
reigners from  our  institutions,  and  declared  the  Constitution  and  the  act  of  re- 
ligious toleration  null  and  void.  In  the  brief  history  of  this  new  Order  there 
is  nothing  good.  Its  career  has  been  one  of  fanaticism  and  folly,  its  progress 
that  of  a  deadly  enemy  of  our  institutions,  over  the  ruins  of  all  which  we  hold 
sacred  in  history  and  tradition. 


THE   FOUR   ISMS   UNITED. 

In  the  free  States  the  Democratic  party  in  1855  had  to  contend  against  an 
alliance  of  Maine-lawism,  Know  Nothingism,  Abolitionism  and  the  remnants  of 
the  old  Whig  party. 

The  Nashua  Gazette  drew  the  following  admirable  picture  of  the  allied  forces 
of  1855 : 

Temperance,  Know-Nbthirigism,  Niggerism,  and   Whiggery. 

In  this  vicinity,  Temperance,  Know-Nothingism,  Niggerism  and  Whiggery 
are  all  united  and  acting  cordially  together  for  the  overthrow  of  the  Democracy ; 
and  doubtless  the  same  is  true  of  other  sections  of  the  State.  The  chief  mana- 
ger of  the  Temperance  organization,  the  man  of  all  work,  imported  from  the 
West  to  direct  our  political  affairs  under  the  pretence  of  promoting  the  temper- 
ance cause,  (Rev.  E.  W.  Jackson,)  is  devoting  his  whole  time  and  efforts  in 
perfecting  this  combination  to  break  down  the  Democratic  party.  It  is  stated, 
upon  good  authority,  that  he  offered  his  services  and  the  influence  of  the  Tem- 
perance organization  to  the  Whigs,  some  weeks  ago,  before  they  concluded  to 


253 

go  into  the  "  Order."  He  is  a  Know-Nothing,  and  attended  the  late  Conven- 
tion of  that  Order  at  Great  Falls;  a  "  leaky"  Temperance  Know-Nothing  says 
he  was  a  delegate  to  the  Know-Nothing  State  Convention,  which  met  on  Tues- 
day last  at  Manchester,  for  the  nomination  of  candidates  for  State  officers,  mem- 
bers of  Congress,  £c.  He  is  a  professed  Abolitionist,  and  a  political  priest  and 
Pharisee  of  the  most  Jesuitical  type.  He  declares  in  the  Temperance  organ 
that  he  and  his  friends  will  support  no  candidate  who  is  not  an  open  and  relia- 
ble friend  of  a  stringent  prohibitory  liquor  law.  Yet  when  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Know-Nothing  organization  he  took  the  following  oath  : 

"  Obligation. — You,  and  each  of  you,  of  your  own  free  will  and  accord,  in 
the  presence  of  Almighty  God  and  these  witnesses,  your  right  hand  resting  on 
this  Holy  Bible  and  Cross,  and  your  left  hand  raised  towards  Heaven,  or  if  it 
be  preferred,  your  left  hand  resting  on  your  breast,  and  your  right  hand  raised 
toward  Heaven,  in  token  of  your  sincerity,  do  solemnly  promise  and  swear,  that 
you  ivill  not  make  known  to  any  person  or  persons  any  of  the,  siyiiSj  secrets,  mys- 
teries, or  objects  of  this  organization,  unless  it  be  to  those  whom,  after  due  exa- 
mination, or  lawful  information,  you  shall  find  to  be  members  of  this  organiza- 
tion in  good  standing;  that  you  will  not  cut,  carve,  print,  paint,  stamp,  stain, 
or  in  any  way,  directly  or  indirectly,  expose  any  of  the  secrets  or  objects  of  this 
Order,  nor  suffer  it  to  be  done  by  others  if  in  your  power  to  prevent  it,  unless 
it  be  for  official  instruction ;  that  so  long  as  you  are  connected  with  this  organi- 
zation, if  not  regularly  dismissed  from  it,  you  will,  in  all  things,  POLITICAL 
or  SOCIAL,  so  far  as  this  Order  is  concerned,  comply  with  the  will  of  the  ma- 
jority, when  expressed  in  lawful  manner,  though  it  may  conflict  with  your  per- 
sonal preference,  so  long  as  it  does  not  conflict  with  the  Grand  State  or  Subor- 
dinate Constitutions,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America,  or  that 
of  the  State  in  which  you  reside;  that  you  will  not,  under  any  circumstances 
whatever,  knowingly  recommend  an  unworthy  person  for  initiation,  nor  suffer  it 
to  be /done  if  in  your  power  to  prevent  it.  You  furthermore  promise  and  de- 
clare that  you  will  not  vote  nor  give  your  influence  for  any  man  for  any  office 
in  the  gift  of  the  people,  unless  he  be  an  American-born  citizen,  in  favor  of 
American-born  ruling  America;  nor  if  he  be  a  Roman  Catholic;  and  that  you 
will  not,  under  any  circumstances,  expose  the  name  of  any  member  of  this  Or- 
der, nor  reveal  the  existence  of  such  an  organization.  To  all  the  foregoing  you 
bind  yourselves,  under  the  no  less  penalty  than  that  of  being  expelled  from 
this  Order,  and  of  having  your  name  posted  and  circulated  throughout  the  dif- 
ferent Councils  of  the  United  States  as  a  perjurer,  and  as  a  traitor  to  God  and 
your  country  ;  as  being  unfit  to  be  employed  and  trusted,  countenanced  or  sup- 
ported)  in  any  business  transaction;  as  a  person  totally  unworthy  the  confidence 
of  all  good  men,  and  as  one  at  whom  the  finger  of  scorn  should  ever  be  pointed. 
So  help  me  God." 

By  this  oath  this  reverend  politician  and  all  other  members  of  the  Order  have 
sworn,  "in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God/'  to  vote  for  such  candidates  as  may 
be  selected  by  the  Know-Nothing  Convention.  If  they  nominate  the  greatest 
rumsellers  ever  defended  by  Jack  Hale,  this  leader  of  the  Temperance  cause 
has  sworn  to  support  them  !  If  they  select  open  and  notorious  rum-drinkers 
and  opponents  of  a  prohibitory  law,  he  is  bound  by  a  most  solemn  oath  to  sup- 
port them  !  He  is  a  ranting  Abolitionist  and  anti-Nebraska  man;  yet  if  they 
nominate  avowed  Nebraska  men,  he  has  sworn  before  God  to  give  them  his  cor- 
dial support !  And  such  is  the  position  of  every  other  Temperance  man  and 
Abolitionist  who  belongs  to  this  Order — a  position  which  this  reverend  gentle- 
man has  knowingly  induced  very  many  of  them  to  place  themselves  in. 

Now,  who  can  doubt,  when  an  intelligent  man  pursues  such  a  course,  that  he 
designs  just  what  must  inevitably  follow  ?  liev.  Mr.  Jackson  has  not  been  the 


254 

dupe  of  others  in  this  matter,  but,  on  the  contrary,  has  designedly  used  the  in- 
fluence of  his  position  to  thus  virtually  force  Temperance  men  into  the  support 
of  the  factions  now  banded  against  the  Democratic  party. 

But  has  he  used  nothing  but  his  influence  ?  It  is  known  that  efforts  have 
been  made  to  raise  "a  million  fund,"  upon  which  a  certain  per  cent,  may  be 
assessed  to  be  expended  in  promoting  the  success  of  the  Temperance  party. 
Quite  a  large  sum  has  been  subscribed  towards  that  fund,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Jack- 
son is  said  to  be  the  sole  manager,  depositary,  and  disbursing  agent  of  the  mo- 
ney paid  in.  And  for  what  purpose,  and  in  what  manner,  is  that  money  now 
being  used  ?  Is  it  true  that  it  is  being  expended  for  political  purposes — to  pay 
his  salary  and  expenses  and  "  incidentals,"  while  engaged  mainly  in  promoting 
the  schemes  of  the  political  organizations  opposed  to  the  Democracy  ?  This  is 
openly  stated  to  be  the  fact;  and  ths  course  of  Mr.  Jackson  but  tends  to  corro- 
borate the  statement.  Let  true,  honest,  and  single-minded  Temperance  men 
enquire  into  these  matters  before  they  lend  themselves  further  to  the  promotion 
of  the  political  and  mercenary  schemes  of  the  demagogues  for  whose  use  the 
Temperance  organization  is  now  being  perverted. 

We  learn  that  among  the  delegates  from  Concord  to  the  Know-Nothing  Con- 
vention at  Manchester,  besides  Rev.  Mr.  Jackson,  was  Ephraim  Hutchiris,-  late 
Whig  postmaster  there,  a  leading  member  of  the  Whig  State  committee,  and 
an  active  member  of  the  Convention  which  nominated  James  Bell  for  Governor  ! 
Among  them  were,  also,  some  of  the  leading  Freesoilers.  Thus  the  heads,  "  the 
central  cliques,"  of  Whiggery,  Niggerism,  and  Temperance  are  united  and  ac- 
tive in  this  dark  conspiracy  against  the  rights  of  the  people  and  the  Republican 
institutions  of  the  country.  Let  honest  men  of  all  parties,  and  especially  De- 
mocrats, look  and  reflect  upon  this  fact,  and  let  it  nerve  their  arms  and  confirm 
their  resolution  to  fight  manfully  against  this  corrupt  and  wicked  combination  of 
unprincipled  men  for  the  promotion  of  mercenary  objects. 


THEIR  PLATFORM  IN  VIRGINIA. 

Having  now  shown  the  attitude  of  the  Know  Nothing  Party  in  the  Northern 
States,  we  close  this  review  by  publishing  their  officially  promulgated  Basis  of 
Principles  in  Virginia.  It  was  an  emanation  from  the  Winchester  Convention. 

THE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PARTY  OF  VIRGINIA, 

Which  met  at  Winchester,  on  Tuesday,  the  13th  of  March,  appointed  the 
undersigned  a  committee,  to  make  publication,  over  their  names,  of  the  follow- 
ing: 

Basis  Principles  of  the  American  Parti/  of  Virginia. 

Determined  to  preserve  our  political  institutions  in  their  original  purity  and 
vigor,  and  to  keep  them  unadulterated  and  unimpaired  by  foreign  influence, 
either  civil  or  religious,  as  well  as  by  home  faction  and  home  demagogueism  ; 
and  believing  that  an  American  policy,  religious,  political  and  commercial,  ne- 
cessary for  the  attainment  of  these  ends,  we  shall  observe  and  carry  out  in 
practice,  the  following  principles  : — 

1.  That  the  suffrages  of  the  American  people  for  political  offices,  should 
not  be  given  to  any  others  than  those  born  on  our  soil,  and  reared  and  matured 
under  the  influence  of  our  institutions. 

2.  That  no  foreigner  ought  to  be  allowed  to  exercise  the  elective  franchise, 
till  he  shall  have  resided  within  the  United  States  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to 
have  become  acquainted  with  the  principles  and  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  our 


255 

institutions,  and  until  he  shall  have  become  thoroughly  identified  with  the  great 
interests  of  our  country. 

3.  That  whilst  no  obstacle  should  be  interposed  to  the  immigration  of  all  fo- 
reigners of  honest  and  industrious   habits,  and   all  privileges  and  immunities 
enjoyed  by  any  native  born  citizen  of  our  country  should  be  extended  to  all  such 
immigrants,  except  that  of  participating  in  any  of  our  political  administrations; 
yet  all   legal  means  should  be  adopted  to  obstruct  and  prevent  the  immigration 
of  the  vicious  and  worthless,  the  criminal  and  pauper. 

4.  That  the  American  doctrine  of  religious  toleration,  and  entire  absence  of 
all  proscriptions  for  opinion's  sake,  should  be  cherished  as  one  of  the  very  fun- 
damental principles  of  our  civil  freedom,  and  that  any  sect  or  party  which  be- 
lieves and  maintains  that  any  foreign  power,  religious  or  political,  has  the  right 
to  control  the  conscience  or  direct  the  conduct  of  a  freeman,  occupies  a  position 
which  is  totally  at  war  with  the  principle  of  freedom  of  opinion,   and  which  is 
mischievous  in  its  tendency;  and  which  principle  if  carried  into  practice  would 
prove  wholly  destructive  of  our  religious  and  civil  liberty. 

5.  That  the  Bible  in  the  hands  of  every  free  citizen,  is    the  only  permanent 
basis  of  all  true  liberty  and  genuine  equality. 

6.  That  the  intelligence  of  the  people  is  necessary  to  the  right  use  and  the 
continuance  of  our  liberties,  civil  and  religious,  hence  the  propriety  and  impor- 
tance of  the  promotion  and  fostering  of  all  means  of  moral  culture,  by  some 
adequate  and  permanent  provision  for  general  education. 

7.  That  the  doctrine  of  availability  now  so  prevalent  and  controlling,  in  the 
nomination  of  candidates  for  office,  in  total  disregard  of  all  principles  of  right 
of  truth,  and  of  justice,  is  essentially  wrong,  and  should  be  by  all  good  men 
condemned. 

8.  That  as  a  general  rule,  the  same  restrictions  should  be  proscribed  to  the 
exercise  of  the  power  of  removal  from   office,  as  are  made  necessary  to  be  ob- 
served in  the  power  of  appointment  thereto  j  and  that  executive  influence  and 
patronage,  should  be  scrupulously  conferred  and  jealously  guarded. 

9.  That  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  should  be  supreme  in  the  exercise  of 
all  powers  not  expressly  delegated  to  the  Federal  Government,  and  which  may 
not  be  necessary  and  proper  to  carry  out  the  powers  so  delegated,  and  that  thfs 
principle  should  be  observed  and  held  sacred  in  all  organizations  of  the  Ameri- 
can -party. 

10.  That  all  sectarian  intermeddling  with  politics  and  political  institutions, 
coming  from  whatever  source  it  may,  should  be  promptly  resisted   by  all  such 
means  as  seem  to  be  necessary  and  proper  for  this  end. 

11.  That  whilst  the  perpetuity  of  the  present  form  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  is  actually  necessary  for  the  proper  development  of 
all  the  resources  of  this  country,  yet  the  principle  of  non-intervention,  both  on 
the  part  of  the  Federal  Government  and  of  the  several  States  of  the  Union,  in 
the  municipal  affairs  of  each  other,  is  essential  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of 
our  country,  and  to  the  well   being  and  permanence  of  our  institutions,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  only  reliable  bond  of  brotherhood  and  union. 

12.  That  lied  Republicanism  and  licentious  indulgence  in  the  enjoyment  of 
civil  privileges,  are  as  much  to  be  feared  and  deprecated,  by  all  friends  to  well 
jcgulatcd  government  and  true  liberty  as  any  of  the  forms  of  monarchy  and 
despotism. 

18.  That  the  true  interest  and  welfare  of  this  country,  the  honor  of  this  na- 
tion, the  individual  and  private  rights  of  its  citizens,  conspire  to  demand  that 
all  other  questions  arising  from  party  organizations,  or  from  any  other  source, 
should  be  held  subordinate  to  and  in  practice  made  to  yield  to  the  great  princi- 
ples herein  promulgated. 

ANDREW  E.  KENNEDY,  of  Jeiferson, 
GEORGE  D.  GRAY,  of  Culpeper. 
JOSIAH  DABBS,  of  Halifax. 


256 


THE  METROPOLITAN  DISTRICT. 

Various  circumstances  combined  to  render  the  canvass  in  the  Richmond  or 
Metropolitan  Congressional  District,  one  of  profound  interest  to  the  whole  State. 
The  great  circulation  of  the  Democratic  press  published  in  Richmond,  and  the 
fact  that  the  Know  Nothing  party  boasted  of  its  perfect  invincibility  in  that 
district,  attracted  all  eyes  to  its  candidates  and  aspirants  for  Congress. 

As  an  entertaining  and  amusing  chapter,  illustrative  of  the  party  feeling  in 
the  district,  we  give  two  of  the  Examiner's  articles  upon  the  factions  and  rival- 
ries which  disturbed  the  tranquility  of  the  Know  Nothing  councils  of  Rich- 
mond : 

The  Know  Nothings,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  have  to  brave  a  sea  of 
trouble.  Rampant  and  perfectly  ungovernable  aspirants  for  the  nomination  for 
Congress,  render  the  councils  as  tempestuous  as  the  cave  of  .^Eolus.  If  what 
we  hear  is  true,  the  friends  of  Messrs.  Botts,  Crane  and  Sco-tt,  are  in  a  precious 
stew.  Messrs.  Crane  and  Scott  have  not  left  their  destinies  to  be  controlled  by 
the  stars  and  their  friends.  Both  have  sought,  by  deeds  of  mighty  valor,  to 
build  up  reputations  in  the  provinces.  They  have  held  forth  long  and  frequently 
to  admiring  audiences,  and  the  people  have  been  left  in  great  uncertainty  as  to 
their  respective  merits.  Scott  makes,  we  learn,  usually  a  speech  of  one  hour 
and  a  quarter,  well  digested,  full  of  facts  and  scraps  from  newspapers  and  alma- 
nacs. All  of  this  materiel  he  has  carefully  and  systematically  arranged,  and 
he  runs  out  with  the  regularity  of  an  hour  glass.  When  the  exigencies  of  the 
debate  require  a  reply,  he  reverses  his  hour  glass  and  the  sands  of  his  discourse 
pour  back  again.  lie  is  courteous  and  gentlemanly,  but  deficient  in  vivacity 
and  fluency.  Mr.  Adoniram  J.  Crane,  on  the  contrary,  is  affluent  of  words, 
and  really  has  gotten  together  a  large  collection  of  clap  trap,  broken  beads,  bits 
of  tinsel,  fragments  of  red  wax,  pieces  of  differently  colored  glass,  and  other 
odds  and  ends,  which,  when  he  pours  them  forth,  do  look  very  pretty  and  daz- 
zlin<»1  to  the  eye  of  the  r.nthinkiug.  There  is  neither  logic  nor  connection  iu 
his  ideas,  but  he  has  a  great  deal  more  declamation  than  Scott,  and  possesses  a 
creditable  share  of  intellectual  cultivation.  He  does  not  measure  his  discourses 
by  the  hour,  but  runs  like  an  endless  chain  pump — the  same  buckets  and  the 
same  links  coming  up  every  few  minutes.  Hence,  when  we  attend  public 
meetings  in  Richmond,  and  the  disciples  of  Sam  want  a  regular  blow  out,  we 
hear  the  name  of  "  Crane  !"  "  Crane  !"  "  Crane  !"  frequently  repeated — but 
we  never  hear  the  first  feeble  cry  for  Scott.  Scott  is  strong  in  the  provinces 
where  the  people  like  the  strong  pork  and  beans  of  "  facts  and  arguments;" 
but  Crane's  fancy  touches  tickle  the  descendents  of  Botts'  old  guard.  They 
shout  for  Judson  Crane,  just  as  their  fathers  used  to  scream  for  Botts — when 
his  envious  lieutenants  used  to  sit  neglected  on  the  back  benches,  without  a  call. 
Besides,  Scott  is  regarded  as  a  sort  of  interloper,  having  recently  made  a  de- 
scent upon  Richmond  from  the  hills  of  Powhatan.  His  sign  still  glistens,  on 
Governor  street,  with  the  fresh  paint  of  yesterday,  whilst  A.  Judson  Crane's 
shingle  looks  as  old  and  veteran  as  his  services  to  Botts.  Scott  has  not  figured 
in  our  city  courts,  whereas  the  professional  services  of  Crane  arc  frequently 
called  into  requisition  by  the  unwashed  of  the  extremities  of  the  city.  Scott's 
affection  for  Botts  is  said  to  be  of  a  doubtful  character,  whereas  Crane  has  il- 
lustrated his  devotion  in  a  thousand  ways.  He  has  sat  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel 
long  and  faithfully.  In  times  gone  by,  he  is  said  to  have  perpetrated  a  biogra- 
phy of  his  majesty,  and  being  a  man  of  classical  education,  which  Botts  is  not, 
he  is  supposed  to  have  often  taken  the  Immortal's  thunderbolts  in  a  rough 


257 

state,  and  polished  them  for  general  circulation.  We  have  long  thought  that 
Botts'  ragged  mantle  would  sit  becomingly  on  Crane.  Scott's  services  to  the 
party  are  acknowledged  in  the  counties,  but  the  sages  who  deliberate  at  the  Af- 
rican church  know  him  not.  He  has  again  and  again  ravaged  the  counties  of 
the  district,  devouring  Democratic  electors  and  candidates  for  Congress,  like  a 
new  Dragon-  of  Wantly — but  the  people  of  -Richmond  have  never  seen  him 
doit. 

He  was  reported,  during  the  Congress  of  1852,  to  have  swallowed  our. Con- 
gressional elector,  Mr.  Robert  Gr.  Scott,  eleven  times,  and  to  have  skinned  him 
alive  eight  times — albeit  a  mild  tempered  man.  During  the  present  canvass  he 
has  devoured  Judge  Caskie  in  a  great  many  instances,  but  yet  the  city  people 
are  skeptical,  and  do  not  put  much  faith  in  the  correspondents  of  newspapers. 
If  Scott  would  make  arrangements  to  swallow  Judge  Caskie  some  evening  at 
the  African  church,  it  would  put  his  stock  up  amazingly.  Adoniram's  pros- 
pects would  also  be  improved,  if  he  was  to  demolish  Mr.  Aylett  in  that  sacred 
edifice.  Both  had  better  try  it  at  an  early  day.  We  believe  the  victims  are 
prepared  to  mee$  their  fate  with  becoming  resignation. 

But  Crane  has  not  been  at  all  behind  Scott  in  the  Dragon  of  Wantly  line. 
He  went  to  Petersburg  one  afternoon  to  sup  upon  the  remains  of  Senator  Ma- 
son, and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  he  was  kept  from  his  atrocious  and 
cannibal  designs  upon  that  estimable  gentleman's  body.  The  kindness  of  the 
Democracy  of  Petersburg  having  rescued  Senator  Mason,  and  deprived  our 
friend  of  his  anticipated  supper,  he  hastened,  hungry  as  a  boa  constrictor,  to. 
Caroline,  and  in  the  sight  of  a  great  crowd,  crushed  and  skinned  our  Congres- 
sional elector,  Mr.  Aylett,  and  ravenously  swallowed  his  mangled  remains. 
Scarcely  had  we  recovered  from  the  shock  of  this  bereavement,  when  we  heard 
of  his  frightening  to  death  two  or  three  Democratic  orators  in  New  Kent,  and 
the  very  next  evening  he  was  in  Petersburg,  unmercifully  devouring  Senator 
Mason's  speech,  and  speaking  so  eloquently  that  a  letter  writer  mentions  an 
unfortunate  man  who,  having  had  his  jaw  fractured  by  the  accidental  discharge 
of  a  pistol,  quite  forgot  the  pain  in  his  ecstatic  admiration  of  Mr.  Crane's 
harangue. 

It  will  thus  be  seen,  from  this  hasty  parallel  after  the  manner  of  Plutarch, 
that  both  Scott  and  Crane  have  great  claims  at  this  time,  and  that  both  of  them 
have  performed  eminent  services.  Crane  and  Scott  are  the  Achilles  and  Hector 
of  the  aspirants.  There  are  others  who  are  said  also  to  hone  after  the  fleshpots 
in  a  very  meek  and  quiet  manner,  but  who  are,  we  fear,  mouldering  in  the 
shade  of  Scott's  greatness  and  Crane's  eloquence.  An  occasional  groan  from 
an  old  Botts  man  evinceth  the  wrath  of  a  few  of  the  faithful  q|  Crane's  having, 
tired  of  long  waiting,  now  set  up  shop  for  himself  with  a  fair  prospect  of  sup- 
planting his  old  patron  in  business. 

Mr.  Harmer  Grilmer  having  won  many  laurels  by  his  manly  and  patriotic 
correspondence  with  "  A  Southern  Matron"  and  achieved  all  that  a  diploma- 
tist could,  in  his  famous  negotiations  for  Mt.  Vernon,  would  not,  it  is  supposed, 
indignantly  reject  a  nomination  for  Congress,  provided  that  accomplished  un- 
known, "  The  Southern  Matron,"  does  not  desire  it.  But  Mr.  Gilmer  has  only 
made  one  speech  of  half  an  hour's  length,  whereas  Messrs.  Crane  and  Scott 
have  expended  many  thousand  cubic  feet  of  gas  for  their'country.  There  is  a 
fitness  of  things  in  Crane's  succeeding  to  the  fading  glories  of  Botts,  which  the 
Know  Nothings  will  certainly  recognize.  Mark  the  prediction.  We  stand 
ready  to  welcome  the  young  phoenix  when  he  springs  from  the  ashes  of  the 
old. 

17 


258 


«  HURRAH  FOR  BOTTS  I"* 

Gordon  Cummings,  the  celebrated  lion  killer,  who  spent  seven  years  in  Africa 
slaying  all  sorts  of  wild  animals,  somewhere  describes  the  consternation  produced 
among  all  inferior  wild  beasts  by  the  appearance  and  roar  of  a  full  grown, 
tawny  lion.  One  evening  when  he  was  anxiously  awaiting  near  a  pool  ot  water 
for  his  game,  he  was  amused  by  the  performances  of  sundry  jackalls,  wolves, 
hyenas,  and  other  subordinate  beasts  of  prey.  The  jackalls  lorded  it  in  quite  a 
niagnificient  manner  over  a  pack  of  timijl  wild  dogs ;  the  hyenas  treated  the 
rascally  looking  wolves  with  aristocratic  contempt,  and  the  wolves  revenged 
themselves  by  their  contemptuous  treatment  of  a  few  stray  foxes.  Suddenly, 
in  the  midst  of  this  entertaining  comedy,  a  terrific  roar  is  heard,  and  a  huge 
lion  bounds  into  the  throng,  with  flaming  eyes,  and  erect,  vibrating  tail.  In  a 
moment  the  whole  scene  changes — the  hyenas  skulk  off,  the  jackalls  take  to  their 
heels,  the  wolves  disappear,  and  the  wild  dogs,  protected  by  their  insignificance, 
retire  to  a  neighboring  hill  and  bay  alternately  at  the  rising  moon  and  the  hun- 
gry lion. 

Since  our  last  issue  a  somewhat  similar  scene  has  been  eqacted  in  this 
Congressional  district.  Presuming  that  the  immortal  Botts  was  looking  so  in- 
tently upon  the  glittering  frrage  of  a  prospective  nomination  for  the  Presidency, 
that  he  had  forgotten  this  Congressional  district,  a  choice  assortment  of  subor- 
dinate aspirants  had  appeared  upon  the  stage,  and  were  furnishing  a  capital  gra- 
tuitous entertainment  for  the  people  of  the  surrounding  counties.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  razor  strap  orators,  and  greased  rope  itinerants,  these  gentlemen  afforded 
huge  amusement  to  our  unsophisticated  country  friends.  And  the  rivalry  of 
these  gentlemen  was  so  transparent  that  it  was  seriously  apprehended  that  after 
they  had  devoured  all  of  the  Democratic  electors  and  candidates,  they  would 
swallow  each  other  and  produce  "an  aching  void,"  such  as  that  which  the  Kil- 
kenny feline  combatants  are  said  to  have  created  at  the  termination  of  their  little 
controversy.  Botts  out  of  the  way,  this  Congressional  district  seemed  a  "  pent 
up  Utica,"  too  small  to  contain  two  such  Caesars  as  A.  Judson  Crane  and  Wm. 
C.  Scott.  Two  suns  or  two  moons,  would  not  have  surprised  people  more  than 
the  appearance  of  two  men  of  such  transcendant  ability  at  the  same  time. 
Their  reputation  was  the  growth  of  a  day.  It  took  their  most  intimate  friends 
by  surprise.  The  moment  the  rumor  spread  that'  Botts  was  out  of  the  way, 
these  gentlemen  outgrew  their  small  clothes,  and  their  greatness  spread  over  the 
land  with  marvellous  rapidity.  Their  inflation  was  as  rapid  as  that  of  a  balloon, 
and  Jack's  wonderful  bean  stalk  was  rather  a  slow  affair  when  compared  with 
the  rise  of  these  gentlemen.  Until  yesterday,  never  were  the  chances  of  suc- 
cess more  nicely  balanced,  than  between  Crane  and  Scott.  One  reigned  supreme 
in  the  city,  whilst  the  other  lauded  it  in  the  provinces.  One  wore  the  scalp  of 
a  United  States  Senator,  of  a  candidate  for  the  mayoralty,  and  of  a  Congres- 
sional elector  at  his  girdle;  the  other  scoured  the  counties  with  the  skin  of  ano- 
ther Congressional  elector,  for  a  waistcoat,  and  the  legs  of  a  distinguished  can- 
didate for  Congress  dangling  out  of  his  mouth.  Both  were  working  with  an 
energy  that  prompted  success,  but  we  fear  that  both  have  been  suddenly  cut 
down  in  the  flower  of  their  youth.  On  Tuesday  morning,  Botts  gave  one  of  his 
old  fashioned  roars,  and,  by  nine  o'clock  the  same  day,  Crane  and  Scott  needed 
the  services  of  Coroner  Wicker.  Thus  we  have  seen,  on  a  bright  spring  morning, 
two  belligerent  turkey  cocks  writhing  and  twisting  each  other's  necks  in  deadly 
conflict,  struck  down  by  the  fowling  piece  of  a  cruel  sportsman.  Botts  again  in 
the  field,  Crane  falls  prostrate  before  his  omnipotent  I  am,  and  poor  Mr.  Scott 
retreats  to  Powhatan  to  digest  his  bloody  repasts  in  private.  Vanity  of  vanity, 

*  Old  Screarnersville  war  cry. 


259 

all  is  vanity  !  Who  knoweth  what  a  day  may  bring  forth  ?  Yesterday,  Crane 
and  Scott  were  Sam's  greatest  pets  ;  to  day,  and  none  so  poor  as  to  do  them  re- 
verence. Oh,  cruel  Botts  !  oh,  unhappy  Crane  !  oh,  miserable  Scott ! 

We  had  just  announced  the  speedy  appearance  of  the  young  phoenix  when  the 
old  bird,  with  a  few  lusty  blows  from  his  still  vigorous  wings,  extinguishes  the 
funeral  pile,  and  with  slightly  singed  plumage,  drives  his  dreadful  beak  and  ter- 
rible claws  plump  through  the  tender  body  of  the  aspiring  lieutenant. 

For  no  one  can  read  the  wrathful  manifesto  of  Botts  and  not  recognize  the 
willingness  of  that  gentlemao.  to  accept  the  nomination  ;  and  as  he  stands  head 
and  shoulders  above  such  men  as  Crane  and  Scott,  and  as  there  is  more  capacity 
in  the  parings  of  his  nails  than  in  all  the  rest  of  the  Whig  party  together,  his 
nomination  may  be  regarded  as  most  probable.  For,  although  at  this  time, 
when  the  people  are  given  to  doing  funny  things,  and  when  the  political  caul- 
dron is  boiling,  we  may  expect  strange  things  to  happen  and  queer  nominations 
to  come  to  the  surface,  there  is  nevertheless  a  weight  of  Whig  consistency  and 
genuineness  in  the  ring  of  Botts'  metal  that  the  subordinates  cannot  resist. 
They  may  scour  the  district,  and  illustrate  their  "  gift  of  the  gab"  at  every 
cross-road,  but  when  the  old  lion  (dilapidated  as  he  is)  of  Whiggery  sends 
forth  one  of  his  terrible  roars  and  treads  the  accustomed  war  path  with  as  firm 
a  tread  as  ever,  in  an  instant  Adomiram  and  the  gentleman  "  late  of  Poichatan" 
are  forgotten,  and  the  old  guard,  the  veterans  of  Screamersville,  the  heroes  of  ever 
faithful  Butchertown,  the  patriots  of  Kocketts,  and  the  partisans  of  the  Slashes, 
instinctively  send  up  the  old  shout  of  "hurrah  for  Botte."  There  is  an  affec- 
tion, a  faithfulness  about  these  old  chaps  which  the  juveniles  who  yell  for  Crane, 
and  the  old  country  people  to  whom  Scott  administers  almanacs  and  newspaper 
scraps,  never  dreamt  of.  The  hearts  of  the  old  respectable,  consistent  Clay 
Whigs,  still  belong  to  Botts.  He  is  the  embodiment  of  the  most  respectable 
elements  of  Whiggery,  and  in  this  district  he  is  still  invincible.  He  possesses 
stores  of  strength  that  the  fire  flies  who  have  recently  sought  to  illumine  the 
dark  subject  of  Know  Nothingism  never  dreamt  of. 

Look  at  the  weight  and  respectability  attached  to  the  card  in  which  Botts 
has  just  crushed  out  the  prospects  of  the  Cranes  and  Scotts  of  this  district. 
They  indicate  that  the  nomination  will  bo  given  to  John  Minor  Botts  beyond  a 
question  of  doubt.  The  old  spirit  flames  out  in  his  pronunciamento.  Know 
Nothingism  has  not  purified  him  of  a  drop  of  his  deep  rooted  prejudice,  and 
we  find  the  usual  slap  at  the  enemies  who  have  always  beset  his  path. 

The  unconquerable  Whiggery  of  the  venerable  and  invincible  gleams  forth 
in  striking  contrast  with  the  cowardly  silence  of  the  Know  Nothings  upon 
great  principles  and  measures.  He  grapples  with  the  sub-treasury  and  the 
tariff  in  the  real  old  fashioned  way  ;  as  Whigs  were  wont  to  do  in  the  days  of 
Clay  and  Webster.  He  pitches  into  Democracy  boldly  and  courageously,  and 
feeling  that  he  is  a  foeman  worthy  of  our  blade,  we  are  inclined  to  yell  out,  as 
his  old  guard  used  to  do,  '•  Hurrah  for  Botts." 

If  Botts  receives  the  nomination,  as  no  doubt  he  will,  we  shall  have  to  u?e 
longer  artillery  than  we  had  designed  employing  in  this  district.  Small  fowl- 
ing pieces,  with  dimunitive  loads  of  ordinary  powder  and  mustard  seed  shot, 
we  had  deemed  sufficient  for  the  game  which  was  anticipated.  But  we  must 
get  a  Minnie  rifle  and  Dupont's  best,  now,  for  Botts  is  very  different  game 
from  that  which  we  had  expected  to  hunt  after. 

The  appearance  of  Botts  renders  it  necessary  that  we  should  take  an  affec- 
tionate farewell  of  those  disconsolate  young  gentlemen,  Crane  and  Scott,  to 
whom  we  recommend  an  attentive  perusal  of  "  Love's  Labor  Lost."  They 
will  now  have,  we  fear,  nothing  to  remind  them  of  their  labors  but  indigestions 
and  nightmares,  those  inevitable  consequences  of  cannibal  feasts  and  indis- 
criminate gluttony.  When  Scott  had  no  one  to  oppose  him  but  Crane,  the  of- 
fence of  his  squatting  upon  Adoniram's  property  was  denounced  as  a  most 


260 

grievous  intrusion.  But  wbcn  the  ferocious  old  guard  of  Botts  open  upon  him 
there  will  be  no  mercy  shown.  With  brief  recollections  of  the  manner  in  which 
they  used  to  crucify  Botts'  ambitious  and  refractory  lieutenants,  we  compas- 
sionate poor  Mr.  Scott — we  do  indeed.  We  almost  imagine  that  we  already 
hear  the  ever  faithful  and  eloquent  Perrin,  the  friend  of  Clay,  and  the  fidus 
Achates  of  Botts,  in  classic  alternations  from  Latin  to  English,  pouring  his 
lard  like  streams  of  burning  invective  upon  Mr.  Scott,  for  moving  into  the  Im- 
uiprtal's  district  to  get  to  Congress.  Gods  !  what  a  theme  for  the  Old  Guard — 
what  an  offence  in  the  estimation  of  the  faithful — what  a  scarlet  crime  in  the 
eyes  of  indignant  Screamersville — a  stranger  seeking  to  reign  in  the  kingdom 
of  his  Serene  Highness,  Botts  I.  ! 

And  Adoniram,  young  friend  by  adoption,  "  well  beloved  of  Mahomet," 
Luther's  .ever  faithful  Malanothon,  biographer,  thunderbolt  polisher  to  his  Ma- 
jesty, will  you  swallow  you  disappointment,  and,  with  a  face  expressive  of  cas- 
tor oil,  salts  and  senna,  love  and  disappointment,  affection  and  desperation, 
conceal  your  griefs,  and  cry  with  the  rest,  "  Hurrah  for  Botti  !"  How  will 
you  bear  this  cruel  treatment  of  him  to  whom  you  have  devoted  so  many  years 
o£  useful  friendship  ? 

We  know  that  this  trial  of  temper  and  test  of  devotion  is  a  terrible  one,  but 
take  the, advice  of  a  well-wisher.  Stick  to  Botts — never  hoist  the  flag  of  rebel- 
lion— show,  as  you  have  always  done,  the  loyalty  of  your  friendship — wait  but 
a  little  longer,  and  you  will  bask  in  the  sunshine  of  the  Immortal's  eternal  grati- 
tude— sacrifice  your  very  excellent  prospects — go  in  heart  and  soul  for  Botts — 
and  the  Old  Guard  will  agree  with  their  sons,  that  you  deserve  to  succeed  to  all 
of  Botts'  popularity  and  honor.  The  present  is  a  critical  period  in  your  for- 
tunes, and  no  man  ever  lost  by  a  graceful  and  timely  act  of  magnanimous  self- 
sacrifice  for  a  frieni.  You  could  have  swallowed  Scott  and  Gilmer,  but  no  one 
ever  expected  that  you  could  resist  the  will  of  the  political  Gamaliel,  seated  at 
whose  feet  you  have  drank  in  so  much  wisdom  and  statesmanship.  We  entreat 
you,  don't  be  rasJt. 


THE  POLITICAL  ENTOMOLOGY  OF  "  OUR  DISTRICT." — We  must  solicit 
the  indulgence  of  our  readers  for  furnishing  them  in  each  issue  of  our  paper 
with  a  fresh  chapter  upon  the  ever  changing  phases  of  the  Congressional 
nomination  battle  of  the  bats  and  owls  of  this  district.  We  must,  however, 
beg  them  to  remember  that,  in  devoting  so  much  time  to  such  trivial  matters, 
we  humbly  imitate  the  examples  of  many  most  illustrious  authors  and  emi- 
nent men.  Have  we  not  the  elaborate  epic  of  the  "Battle  of  the  Frogs 
and  Mice;"  Gulliver's  account  of  the  wars  of  the  Blufuscans  and  the  Lilli- 
putians, about  the  best  method  of  breaking  an  egg ;  a  classic  author's  his- 
tory of  the  feuds  of  the  cranes  and  pigmies ;  Dickens's  sketch  of  the  rival 
candidates  for  the  office  of  Beadle;  Shakspeare's  "Mid-Summer's  Night 
Dreams,"  and  "Much  Ado  about  Nothing?"  Have  we  not  in  every  issue 
of  Bell's  Life  in  London  carefully  prepared  reports  of  fights  between  rats 
and  terriers  ?  and  are  there  not  well  authenticated  accounts  of  men  having 
lost  and  won  thousands  of  pounds  upon  a  fight  between  crickets,  or  a  race 
between  two  maggots  extracted  from  a  rotten  hazlenut?  Let  these  prece- 
dents be  our  excuse.  We  take  the  same  pleasure  in  the  political  entomology 
of  this  district,  that  naturalists  do  in  studying  the  habits  of  beetles,  and  bed 
bugs. 

We  are  happy  in  the  refreshing  conviction,  that  the  Know-Nothing  coun- 
cils of  this  district  are  about  as  harmonious  as  were  the  famous  cats  of  Kil- 
kenny. An  army  of  candidates  for  the  nomination  have  scattered  dismay 
and  discord  through  the  ranks  of  the  enemy.  Sampson's  foxes  with  fire 


261 

• 

brands  fastened  to  their  tails,  never  produced  such  wide-spread  alarm  and 
consternation  as  these  vociferous  candidates  have  done.  We  have  already 
recorded  the  mighty  deeds  of  the  famous  squatter  from  Powhatan,  Scot;, 
and  the  not  less  valorous  and  voracious  pet  of  the  hungry  Adoniram,  who 
has  achieved  greatness  in  a  day.  We  have  now  to  announce  that  Mr.  Harmar 
Gilmer  has  recently  greatly  distinguished  himself  by  his  cannibal  perform- 
ances on  the  South-Side — having  somewhere  near  Farmviile  swallowed  the 
Hon.  Kidder  Meade,  one  day,  and  lunched  upon  the  attenuated  remains  of 
the  Hon.  Wm.  0.  Goode  the  next;  thus  depriving  of  his  legitimate  food  the 
facetious  and  jocose  Tazewell,  who  is  announced  by  the  Know-Nothing 
papers  as  "running  with  his  tail  curled,"  a  compliment  which  he  doubtless 
deserves  and  appreciates. 

Abandoning,  for  a  time,  the  patriotic  and  man-milliner  duties  of  his  high 
diplomatic  connection  with  the  treaty  for  the  cession  of  Mount  Vernon,  he 
is  said  to  have  snapped  up  our  unfortunate  friends,  Meade  and  Goode,  like  a 
hungry  pike.  We,  therefore,  hail  him  as  an  honorable  member  of  that  order 
of  cannibals,  of  which  Messrs.  Scott  and  Crane  are  the  founders.  He  has 
proved  himself  their  equal,  and  we  take  the  liberty  of  entering  him  for  the 
nomination.  It  is  distinctly  understood  that  no  man  can  become  a  candidate 
for  the  nomination  unless  he  can  furnish  to  the  Convention  satisfactory  evi- 
dence of  having  swallowed  or  skinned  a  Democratic  orator  within  the  six 
weeks  preceding  the  5th  of  May.  Have  Messrs.  Coleman,  Perrin,  Rhodes 
and  Griffin,  either  skinned  or  swallowed  any  one  yet.  If  they  have  not,  the 
sooner  they  begin  the  better. 

We  have  been  assured  by  a  friend,  that  the  Whig  did  not  slay  Botts  on 
last  Tuesday  morning,  but  that  its  rifle  bail  merely  stunned  him.  "it  is  sus- 
pected that  he  was  restored  to  consciousness  by  the  felonious  attempts  of 
two  distinguished  cannibals  to  skin  and  swallow  him,  whilst  he  lay  upon  the 
Potter's  field  where  the  Whig  had  cast  his  apparently  lifeless  remains.  We 
regret  to  say,  that  Messrs.  Crane  and  Scott  are  strongly  suspected  of  this 
horrible  crime.  They  are  supposed  on  Tuesday  morning  to  have  been  wan- 
dering about  seeking  for  fresh  victims,  when  at  the  same  instant  they  espied 
the  prostrate  body  of  the  "Immortal,"  and  both,  with  a  cannibal  yell  of 
joy,  pounced  upon  him,  Adoniram  making  an  incision  between  the  ears  to 
skin  him  scientifically,  whilst  Mr.  Scott,  in  his  eagerness  to  swallow  him, 
and  not  wishing  to  disturb  Mr.* Crane,  commenced  with  the  supposed  de- 
funct's feet.  These  violations  of  his  sacred  person,  restored  the  Immortal 
to  consciousness.  They  were  like  the  application  of  volatile  salts  to  a  faint- 
ing woman's  nose.  One  blow  and  a  kick  sent  the  luckless  swallower  and 
the  ungrateful  skinner  fifty  feet  in  opposite  directions,  and  the  Immortai 
sprang  to  his  feet,  irritated  beyond  measure  by  the  treatment  which  he  had 
suslained. 

We,  therefore,  take  pleasure  in  announcing  that  our  illustrious  friend,  is 
not  yet  dead,  and  that  he  again  treads  the  old  war  path,  in  a  most  wrathful 
and  dangerous  mood.  These  attempts  to  rule  him  off,  and  diabolical  efforts 
to  skin  and  swallow  him,  have  merely  irritated  him,  as  gad  flies  excite  the 
rage  of  mighty  bulls.  We  delight  to  believe  that  Botts  knows  his  rights  as 
a  freeman  and  a  Know-Nothing,  and  that  he  does  not  intend  to  be  ruled  off. 
The  bullet  of  the  Whig  merely  flattened  against  his  intellectual  skull,  as  do 
those  of  a  western  hunter  against  the  frontal  bones  of  the  hardy  buffalo. 
We  believe  that  he  will  now  wage  a  war  of  extermination  "on  the  faction 
which  has  always  sought  (his)  my  destruction  and  overthrow,"  and  that  he 
will  be  backed  by  the  very  strongest  and  most  efficient  men  of  the  order. 
He  will  make  the  district  too  hot  for  the  squatter  from  Powhatan,  and  hang 
the  rebellious  Adoniram  in  chains,  or  quarter  him,  as  the  old  king's*  of  En<*- 


262 

land  used  to  do  their  enemies.  Long  may  Botts  live,  for  there  are  many  uses 
to  which  he  can  be  turned. 

The  indications  of  a  Know-Nothing  now  of  no  ordinary  magnitude,  cannot 
be  mistaken.  If  Botts  does  not  receive  the  much  coveted  nomination,  he 
will  leave  the  order  so  shattered  and  torn  by  dissensions,  that  there  will 
be  no  chance  for  any  one  else.  The  members  of  the  Old  Guard  whom  we 
occasionally  meet  on  the  street,  wear  a  grim,  firm,  defiant,  air— a  rule  or 
ruin  look,  that  leaves  no  question  as  to  what  they  will  do  if  the  Immortal  is 
cast  overboard.  We  have  a  right,  as  Botts'  most  consistent  and  faithful  or- 
gan, having  always  hailed  his  nominations  with  pleasure,  and  felt  inexpres- 
sibly gratified  when  he  was  soundly  beaten  by  Judge  Caskie,  to  insist  that 
he  shall  not  be  killed  off.  When  the  post  of  danger  requires  a  man  of  nerve 
and  pluck,  an  interesting  protege  is  always  placed  in  the  front  rank.  Upon 
such  occasions  the  Scotts  stay  quietly  enough  in  Powhatan,  and  the  Cranes 
are  models  of  humble  devotion  to  the  Immortal.  But  now  that  there  is  some 
remote  prospect  of  success,  Botts  is  to  be  inhumanly  sacrificed,  and  all 
Screamersville  thrown  into  convulsions  of  grief  at  the  massacre  of  her  noble 
son.  As  the  only  organ  of  the  neglected  Botts,  we  call  upon  the  Old  Guard 
to  rally,  and  if  the  rebels  with  Adoniram,  Gilmer  and  Scott  at  their  head, 
continue  to  resist,  we  command  them  to  "  head  them  or  die."  Let  this  lan- 
guage of  your  illustrious  leader  be  inscribed  upon  your  banners,  and  the 
dangers  now  menacing  your  chieftain  will  disappear  like  morning  clouds. 
Let  the  Slashes  be  aroused,  let  Hell  town  wax  hot,  let  Rocketts  take  the 
field,  let  Screamersville  move  forth  like  an  army  with  banners,  let  Butcher- 
town,  led  on  by  the  faithful  Heckler,  emulate  Darby  town  in  deeds  of  mighty 
valor,  and  Bot'ts  will  win  the  nomination, 

As  it  is  not  in  mortals,  however,  always  to  command  success,  should  the 
indignant  order  prove  too  strong  for  our  protege,  and  eject  him  from  their  cul- 
vert hissing  like  a  red  hot  shot  from^a  cannon's  mouth,  we  again  affectionately 
proffer  to  him  the  sanctuary  of  Democracy.  If  the  high  honor  of  taking 
Botts,  the  most  incorrigible  of  sinners,  to  the  altar  of  Democracy  is  vouch- 
safed to  us,  it  will  constitute  the  proudest  duty  of  our  life.  We  shall  lead 
forward  the  sobbing  and  penitent  old  gentleman,  blubbering  over  the  recol- 
lection of  his  unnumbered  political  transgressions  with  the  delight  of  a  pious 
parson  who  has  at  last  beaten  down  the  last  barrier  erected  by  Satan  around 
the  soul  of  a  hardened  reprobate.  , 

We  now  confess — what  we  have  long  concealed  within  our  owrn  breast — 
that  the  great  object  of  our  life  has  been  the  conversion  of  Botts.  We  have 
always  had  a  mysterious  presentiment  that  he  would  die  a  good  Democrat, 
and  as  the  carniverous  Adoniram  says  that  "the  Whig  party  has  died  of 
corruption,"  we  feel  assured  that  if  the  Know-Nothings  kick  Botts  out,  he 
will  petition  to  lay  his  battered  head  on  the  great  bosom  of  Democracy. 

It  is  all  nonsense  to  say  that  Botts  is  too  old  to  turn  Democrat,  and  that 
gentlemen  at  sixty  are  not  equal  to  feats  of  ground  and  lofty  tumbling. 
There  have  been  instances  of  men  commencing  the  study  of  the  law  at  that  age, 
and  becoming  eminent  jurists.  Would  it  not  be  a  cheering  spectacle  to  be- 
hold Botts  a  regular  attendant  at  Democratic  gatherings  and  love-feasts, 
working  on  vigilant  committees,  attending  nominating  conventions,  and  ap- 
plauding the  speeches  of  our  young  orators,  from  a  modest  back  bench  in  the 
African  church.  Promotion,  we  admit,  would  be  slow  in  the  Immortal's 
case,  but  if  he  was  to  join  us  now,  and  live  to  the  good  old  age  of  ninety, 
we  would  make  him  chairman  of  a  ward  committee,  or  use  our  influence  to 
have  him  rewarded  by  some  post-office  appointment  in  the  provinces. 

P.  S.— -Since  writing  the  above  we  have  seen  the  Lynchburg  Virginian's 
awful  account  of  the  manner  in  which  Adoniram,  on  Thursday  night,  in  the 


263 

presence  of  the  goodly  people  of  Lynchburg,  swallowed  our  friend,  Mr. 
Shelton  F.  Leake.  The  account  should  have  been  headed  "  How  Jonah 
swallowed  the  Whale ;"  and  be  interpreted  by  contraries  as  Irish  dreams 
are  interpreted.  The  astonishing  rapidity  with  which  this  modern  scourge  ol' 
Democracy  thins  our  ranks  is  frightful.  Boa-constrictors,  after  they  have 
crushed  and  swallowed  their  prey,  remain  torpid  for  weeks,  whilst  the  slow 
work  of  digestion  is  going  on ;  but  Crane  snaps  up  the  most  plethoric  ora- 
tor, swallows  him  whole,  as  if  he  were  a  minnow,  digests  him  in  five  minutes, 
and  at  once  proceeds  to  transfix  the  next  victim,  as  if  he  had  eaten  nothing 
for  a  month.  Like  Tamerlane,  he  has  reared  a  pyramid  of  scalpless  skulls, 
which  far  surpasses  in  height  those  of  even  Scott  or  Gilmer.  Look  at  the 
following  pyramidical  statement,  and  see  how  Adoniram  leads  the  column. 
To  Judson's  list  we  ought  to  add  the  prospective  victims,  Hunter,  Judge 
Douglas,  and  six  other  U.  S.  Senators: 
Tamerlane  j?donira?n's  Scoffs.  Gilmer1  s. 

S.  F.  Leake, 
J.    M.   Mason, 

P.  Henry  Aylett,  0  0 

John    D.   Munford,  00  00  - 

Douglass  of  New  Kent,  000  Goode, 

Douglass  of  King  William,  Caskie,  R.  K.  Meade. 


THE  SCRUB  RACE  FOR  THE  NOMINATION. — The  scrub  race  for  the  Know- 
Nothing  nomination  for  Congress  in  this  district  is  becoming  every  day  more 
and  more  ludicrous  and  amusing.  A  new  pony,  or  an  ambitious  Shetland, 
is  entered  almost  every  morning,  and  the  excitement  promises  to  become 
terrific  before  the  5th  of  May,  when  the  judges  propose  making  the 
award.  There  have  been  many  entries  recently  from  the  provinces.  For- 
getting that  he  was  merely  put  forward  to  be  well  beaten  in  the  last  election, 
the  friends  of  Clayton  G.  Coleman  have  entered  that  highly  respectable  but 
rather  slow  horse.  Chesterfield,  we  learn,  proposes  to  put  forward  Holden 
Rhodes,  and  we  imagine  that  the  ever  faithful,  eloquent  and  full  blooded 
Whig,  Samuel  Perrin,  of  Hanover,  and  the  not  less  faithful  Fendal  Griffin, 
will  be  duly  put  upon  the  turf. 

Our  last  article  upon  this  subject  left  the  indomitable  Botts  with  erect 
mane,  vibrating  tail,  and  unearthly  roar  like  a  lion  in  the  path,  frightening 
into  the  jungles  such  small  fry  as  the  exotic  Scott  and  the  vociferous  Crane. 
But,  sad  to  relate,  whilst  this  dilapidated,  although  still  formidable  lion  was 
frightening  all  the  inferior  rivals  out  of  their  wits,  the  Gordon  Cummings  of 
the  Whig  was  taking  a  deadly  and  unerring  aim  at  him,  and  at  the  report  of 
that  sportsman's  editorial  rifle,  on  last  Tuesday  morning,  Botts  keeled  "over 
dead  as  a  mackerel,  and  his  conquerer  at  once  dragged  his  carcase  to  the 
nearest  Potter's  field,  where,  we  fear,  by.  this  time,  under  the  hot  suns  of  the 
last  three  days,  it  is  becoming  animated  with  insect  life.  In  the  name  of  all 
that  remains  of  Botts,  in  the  name  of  the  old  guard,  in  the  name  of  the  few 
floating  fragments  of  the  old  Whig  party,  we  ask  why  did  our  friend  of  the 
Whig  kill  Botts  by  an  editorial  filled  with  damning  hints  of  his  want  of 
availability,  and  suspicions  of  his  being  chest  foundered  and  spavined.  We 
fear  that  there  is  a  conspiracy  in  this  district  to  deprive  Botts  of  his  rights, 
to  declare  him  dead,  to  publish  his  obituary  notice  as  Dean  Swift  did  that  of 
Partridge,  the  almanac  maker,  whilst  the  man  was  alive  and  hearty.  We 
begin  to  fear  that  Know-Nothingism  in  this  district  is  a  diabolical  conspiracy 
against  Democracy  and  Botts,  that  the  Whig  party  has  been  disbanded  to  get 


264 

rid  of  that  brave  and  glorious  old  Whig,  and  that  he  is  to  be  cast  adrift  for 
the  sake  of  the  shoal  of  minnows  now  nibbling  at  Judge  Caskie.  How  can 
the  old  Clay  Whigs  give  in  their  adhesion  to  a  new  party  which  thus  turns 
the  cold  shoulder  upon  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  old  Whig  party  of 
this  state  ?  If  the  new  order  actually  proposes  to  confer  the  offices  of  the 
country  upon  their  ablest  men,  how  supremely  funny  is  it  to  thrust  Botts 
aside,  refuse  to  allow  him  to  be  entered  for  the  race,  and  to  wrangle  about 
the  men  whom  the  boiling  cauldron  of  Know-Nothingism  have  brought  to 
the  surface  in  this  district  within  the  last  few  weeks. 

Let  al!  who  have  been  prominent  in  the  Whig  party  read  their  fate  in  that 
of  the  ''Immortal,"  whose  immortality  has  been  snuffed  out.  Botts'  "ex- 
treme opinions"  we  take  to  have  been  a  bold,  manly  vindication  of  Whig 
measures,  when  men  of  less  moral  courage  had  fled  into  the  dark  caves  of 
the  new  order.  The  new  order  has  treated  Botts  most  inhumanly,  and,  to 
all  intents  and  purposes,  has  ostracised  him,  as  if  he  was  a  "foreigner  or  a 
Roman  Catholic."  For  we  expect  that  in  the  oath  of  the  third  degree, 
recently  instituted,  there  is  a  provision  that  Botts  is  never  to  be  elected  to 
office.  All  of  our  poor  friend's  advances  having  been  rejected,  his  want  of 
qualifications,  having  been  officially  announced,  we  cannot  see  how  he  can — 
even  if  they  will  allow  him — remain  in  such  an  order. 

They  have  disbanded  the  party  of  his  long  and  never  changing  affections 
— they  have  buried  Whiggery — even  the  ungrateful  Adoniram  declaring  that 
"it  has  died  of  corruption" — and  why  should  Botts  be  chained,  like  a  blind 
Samson,  in  this  new  temple  of  the  enemy,  to  be  made  the  sport  and  laugh- 
ing-stock of  boys  and  renegade  Democrats  ?  Why  does  he  not  grasp  the 
pillar  to  which  he  is  chained,  imitate  the  slayer  of  the  Phillistines,  topple  over 
the  temple,  and  crush  the  bats  and  owls  that  infest  it.  Has  Botts  turned  a 
priest  or  a  woman,  that  he  will  permit  these  slights  and  insults  to  go  unpun- 
ished ? 

Would  it  not  be  best  for  him,  if  he  is  in  this  humble  and  Christian  mood,  to 
put  on  the  apparel  and  take  the  staff  of  a  pilgrim,  and  with  feeble  steps  and 
supplicating  voice,  petition  for  admission  into  the  sheepfold  of  Democracy  ? 
Often  times  has  he  devoured  our  flock  and  laid  waste  to  our  lambs,  teut  it  was 
always  as  a  bold,  hungry  wolf — never  as  an  assassin  in  sheep's  clothing.  We 
can  offer  him  no  office,  but  the  sanctuary  of  Democracy  is  always  open  to 
the  penitent  and  destitute.  He  has  no  organ  in  this  city — the  Know-Nothing 
papers  repel  his  advances — but  has  the  Examiner  ever  deserted  him  ?  Have 
we  not  for  seven  years  cheered  him  on  in  his  wars  against  the  rebellious 
lieutenants,  and  against  that  faction  which,  we  are  informed  in  all  of  his 
epistles  to  the  public,  "is  seeking  his  (my)  destruction  at  the  expense  of  the 
party."  Is  there  an  instance  of  the  Examiner  having  deserted  Botts  ?  For 
a  time  we  had  but  one  rival  in  consistent  affection  for  Botts — and  that  was 
Adoniram.  But  we  feel  proud  of  the  fact,  that  our  advocacy  of  Botts  has 
survived  even  the  love  of  Adoniram,  for  we  fear  that  he  will  not  follow  our 
advice  by  clinging  to  the  shipwrecked  fortunes  of  his  old  commander.  Of 
all  of  Botts'  friends,  the  Examiner  alone  remains  consistently  faithful.  W"e 
have  seen  Screamersville  and  Rocketts  desert — Darby  Town  deny  its  lord — 
Hell  Town  grow  cold  in  its  affections — and  even  Adoniram  hoist  the  flag  of 
rebellion,  but  the  Examiner  stands  firm.  "  Hurrah  for  Botts !" 


265 


OVERTHROW  OF  THE  LEGITIMISTS — DOWNFALL  OF  BOTTS — TRIUMPH  OF 
TYLERISM — SQUATTER  SOVEREIGNTY  ABOVE  PAR. — On  Saturday  night  the 
Know-Nothings  met  in  council  to  immolate  Botts,  to  inaugurate  squatter  sov- 
ereignty and  Tylerism,  and  to  exterminate  the  last  vestige  of  Whiggery  from 
this  district.  The  result  tells  how  complete  was  the  overthrow  of  the  old 
regime.  That  Corsican  usurper,  the  squatter  from  Powhatan,  has  seized 
upon  the  throne  of  the  Bourbons,  and  Botts,  Perrin,  Griffin  and  Crane,  have 
been  exiled  from  the  land  of  their  fathers.  The  provinces  proved  too  strong 
for  Botts'  st/ongholds  in  this  city,  and  Butchertown,  Screamersville  and 
Rocketts  were  routed  by  the  regiments  from  the  rural  districts.  The  Old 
Guard,  demoralized,  dispirited  and  disheartened  by  the  defection  of  lieutenant 
Adoniram,  fought  not  with  their  accustomed  valor,  and  unused  to  the  bush- 
ranging  tactics  of  the  new  order,  were  no  match  for  Scott's  squirrel-hunting 
militia  from  Louisa  and  Goochland. 

It  is  rumored  that  the  content  waged  most  fiercely  between  the  friends  of 
Scott,  Botts  and  Adonirain,  but  we  have  not  heard  it  hinted  that  Messrs. 
Gilmer,  Perrin,  Rhodes  and  Coleman  were  suggested  to  the  Convention  in 
the  very  mildest  manner.  Nor,  from  what  we  have  heard,  do  we  imagine 
that  the  merits  and  services  of  Adoniram  were  properly  appreciated  by 
that  august  body,  which  played  the  part  of  Paris,  and  awarded  the  prize, 
to  the  disgruntlement  of  the  rest  of  the  neglected  goddesses,  to  the  fair  claim- 
ant from  Powlratan.  We  fear,  had  Mr.  Crane  sedulously  harangued  at  our 
country  court-houses  respecting  the  cleansing  virtues  of  grease-extracting 
soap,  or  beaten  a  tin  pan  for  the  delectation  of  his  provincial  auditors,  that 
either  of  those  enlivening  and  intellectual  recreations  would  have  furthered 
his  prospects  fully  as  much  as  his  carniverous  performances  appear  to  have 
done.  The  people  appear  to  have  fancied  Scott's  facts,  figures,  scraps,  alma- 
nacs and  paragraphs  far  more  than  they  did  the  damp  oratorical  pyrotechnics 
of  the  neglected  Crane. 

We  tender  to  our  disconsolate  friend  Adoniram  our  affectionate  condolences, 
and  the  solemn  assurances  of  our  most  distinguished  commiseration.  It  is 
only  with  the  aid  of  a  slop  bucket  to  receive  the  briny  freshet  of  one  eye, 
and  of  a  sponge  and  large  red  bandanna  to  absorb  the  lachrymose  deluge  of 
the  other,  that  we  are  able  to  pen  this  doleful  narrative  of  his  death  and  suf- 
ferings. It  is  painful — it  is  heart-rending — it  is  grief  absolutely  insupport- 
able— to  reflect  that  all  of  his  labors  were  thrown  away  upon  a  perverse  and 
ungrateful  generation  of  vipers.  Our  blood  boils  with  indignation  at  the 
thoughts  of  the  infamous  treatment  which  he  has  received  from  those  for 
whom  he  abandoned  the  civilized  duties  of  his  profession  and  turned  canni- 
bal. For  naturally  our  friend  is  not  addicted  to  swallowing  human  beings 
like  a  boa  constrictor,  scalping  them  like  a  lawless  Mohawk,  or  to  devouring 
steaks  fresh  from  the  thighs  of  fat  Democratic  orators,  as  if  they  were  from 
the  rump  of  a  prize  ox. 

This  dietetic  system  we  know  must  have  been  repugnant  k>  all  the  civilized 
instincts  of  his  refined  nature.  And  what  has  been  his  reward  for  thus  can- 
nibalizing and  gorging  himself  with  the  bodies  of  men,  whose  disconsolate 
wives  and  fatherless  children  will  hand  down  the  name  of  Adoniram,  black 
with  curses  and  wet  with  the  tears  of  the  afflicted,  to  posterity.  Tamerlane, 
like  Adoniram,  erected  a  pyramid  of  human  skulls  ;  but  the  bloody  Tartar 
won  empires  and  wealth,  whereas  Adoniram  has  won  nothing  but  indigestion, 
night-mares  and  a  sore  throat.  Without  knowing  what  was  to  be  his  melan- 
choly fate,  he  was  setting  the  districts  to  rights  and  devouring  the  enemies  of 
the  man  who  has  squatted  on  his  domain,  and  robbed  him  of  his  anticipated 
congressional  laurels.  It  turns  out  that  poor  Adoniram  was  merely  a  hard- 


266 

working,  energetic  laborer  for  a  gentleman  who,  although  not  twelve  months 
a  resident  of  the  district,  has  managed  to  triumph  over  the  leaders  of  the 
old  Whig  party. 

What  melancholy  evidence  does  this  nomination  afford  of  the  decay  of 
Whig  greatness  in  the  metropolitan  district.  Here,  where  for  twenty-five 
years  the  city  orators  and  lawyers  have  looked  down  and  sneered  contempt- 
uously at  their  provincial  brethren,  we  have  an  ordinary  country  gentleman, 
with  none  of  the  graces  of  metropolitan  oratory,  plain  and  prosy  as  the 
heaviest  of  county  court  lawyers,  respectable,  honorable,  and  decent,  but 
nothing  more,  squatting  in  the  midst  of  all  the  Whig  lights  of  the  bench,  the 
bar  and  the  hustings,  and  bearing  off  the  palm,  when  there  was  not  one  of 
the  late  prominent  Whigs  of  the  district  who  wrould  not  have  given  his  eyes 
for  the  nomination. 

Mr.  Scott,  from  what  we  have  seen  and  heard  of  his  history  and  antece- 
dents, is  a  gentlemanly,  educated,  middle-aged  man,  of  some  forty-five  or 
fifty  years  of  age,  who  served  a  term  or  two  in  the  Legislature  very  many 
years  ago,  and  again  represented  Powhatan  in  the  House  of  Delegates  within 
the  recollection  of  ourselves.  His  private  virtues  have  secured  him  many 
devoted  personal  friends,  and  to  these  unobtrusive  virtues  he  is  doubtless 
indebted  for  his  nomination.  Through  life  we  learn  that  he  has  been  the 
victim  of  a  very  entertaining  delusion,  to  the  effect  that  nature  designed  him 
for  a  public  speaker,  wrhen  she  intended  nothing  of  the  sort.  His  life  has 
been  a  prolonged  struggle  and  dispute  with  nature  upon  this  subject,  but  like 
.Mrs.  Partington  in  her  celebrated  contest  for  supremacy  with  the  Atlantic 
ocean,  nature  has  thus  far  held  her  own,  and  Mr.  Scott,  although  well  inform- 
ed and  thoroughly  posted,  speaks  in  a  very  spavined  and  deplorably  dull 
manner.  Adoniram  is  equal  to  a  dozen  of  him  on  the  stump,  and  Botts  to 
fifty  thousand  of  him  anywhere  but  in  the  caucus  of  the  culvert. 

A  forgotten  circumstance  in  the  history  of  Mr.  Scott,  as  related  to  us  by  a 
friend,  furnishes  a  clue  by  which  his  nomination  can  be  explained  and  cleared 
up.  It  was  to  crush  poor  Botts  to  the  very  earth,  to  add  insult  to  injury,  to 
add  that  last  straw  under  which  the  back-bone  even  of  the  camel  snaps,  that 
Mr.  Scott  was  nominated,  if  the  following  statement  be  correct — if  it  is  not, 
we  shall  correct  it  in  our  next  issue.  It  has  been  stated  to  us  by  a  gentle- 
man of  this  city:  "That  Mr.  Wm.  C.  Scott  was,  in  1844,  a  red  hot  ultra 
Tylerite,  and  was  a  member  of  that  funny  little  convention  which  nominated 
John  Tyler  for  re-election  in  opposition  to  Henry  Clay  and  James  K.  Polk." 
Was  or  was  he  not  a  member  of  that  convention ?  Did  he  or  did  he  not 
occupy,  in  1844,  for  a  time,  a  position  of  antagonism  to  Botts  and  all  the 
leaders  of  the  Whig  party  of  this  district  in  his  devotion  to  the  fortunes  of 
John  Tyler  ? 

The  information  which  we  have  received  comes  in  such  a  form  and  from 
such  a  source  that  we  feel  constrained  to  propound  these  questions  :  If,  when 
Botts  and  the  old  guard,  in  the  prime  and  vigor  of  the  Immortal's  best  days, 
were  thus  bearded  by  the  squatter  from  Powhatan,  and  the  latter  was  then  a 
Tylerite,  and  committed  the  deadly  and  unpardonable  sin  for  which  Mr.  Wise 
has  been  so  often  and  unmercifully  denounced,  what  will  the  Botts  men  do? 
How  will  they  brook  this  most  humiliating  of  all  the  insults  yet  thrown  in 
the  face  of  Botts  ?  To  forget  the  transcendent  talent  of  Botts,  to  fail  to 
reward  the  gluttony  of  Crane,  to  pass  by  the  splendid  claims  of  Perrin,  Gil- 
mer,  Griffin,  Coleman,  Rhodes,  were  detestable  crimes, — but  for  the  Know- 
Nothings  to  import  a  Tylerite  from  Powhatan,  and  make  an  idol  of  the  man, 
was  a  more  hideous  iniquity  than  infanticide  or  parricide. 

Gentlemen  of  the  old  guard,  indomitable  survivors  of  the  grand  Clay  army, 
behold  your  leader — a  stranger  and  a  Tylerite  !  Oh,  Botts  !  venerable  and 
remarkable  old  man,  has  it  come  to  this,  that  one  of  the  humblest  of  the  fol- 


267 

lowers  of  your  old  foe  should  be  placed  over  your  head  ?  How  have  the 
mighty  fallen  !  Who  expected  to  live  long  enough  to  see  Botts  doing  hom- 
age to  "a  Tylerite,"  and  Adoniram  Crane  in  a  state  of  insurrection  and 
rebellion  ?  Where  can  Botts  fly  ? — what  is  to  become  of  him  ?  Know- 
Nothingism  throws  a  Tylerite  at  his  head — Adoniram  swears  that  the  Whig 
party  has  died  of  corruption,  and  the  old  guard  fly  before  'the  undisciplined 
militia  of  the  counties.  Oh  Richard,  oh  my  prince,  they  are  all  deserting 
thee  !  Believe  not  their  false  promises  of  election  to  the  Senate  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  for  the  same  promises,  flattering,  but  false,  have  been  made  to 
every  grumbling  old  Whig  in  the  state. 

At  the  command  of  Gen.  Tyler  Scott,  late  of  Powhatan,  you  must  fall  into 
the  ranks,  or  have  your  sturdy  head  chopped  off.  You  are  now  the  lieutenant 
of  a  Tylerite — a  sepoy  of  the  household  of  the  usurper,  who  sits  upon  your 
old  throne  and  cracks  the  whip  over  your  venerable  head,  and  will  touch  you 
on  the  raw  if  you  do  not  pull  steady  in  the  traces.  If,  venerable,  neglected, 
and  badly  treated  friend,  you  need  just  at  this  time  a  safety  valve  for  the 
escape  of  any  superfluous  wrath  which  may  have  collected  since  last  Satur- 
day night,  we  conjure  you  to  wallop  .fldoniram.  Spring  upon  him  with  the 
yell  and  erect,  vibrating  tail  of  a  wounded  and  enraged  lion,  insert  your 
teeth  in  the  nape  of  his  neck,  and  shake  him  either  into  subjection  or  to  a 
jelly.  The  experiment  would  be  a  safe  one,  for  Adoniram,  like  yourself,  oh 
Botts!  saems  to  have  no  friends.  At  him,  old  Bengal!  Give  it  to  him, 
antique  Lybian ! 


The  attempt  of  the  Know-Nothing  party  to  array  the  prejudices  of  the 
Protestant  clergyman  of  this  state  against  the  Democratic  party,  were  inces- 
sant, but  in  most  instances  unavailing.  The  press  of  the  new  organization 
in  vain  attempted  to  arouse  the  prejudices  of  the  various  Protestant  churches 
against  the  doctrines  of  religious  toleration  and  religious  liberty. 

Some  of  the  strongest  arguments  against  the  peculiar  opinions  of  the 
Know-Nothings,  were  embodied  in  the  communications  which  appeared  in 
the  Examiner  and  the  Enquirer,  from  the  pen  of  eminent  clergymen.  We 
select  the  following  from  a  number  which  were  published  during  the 
canvass: 

PATRIOTIC  SENTIMENTS  OF  AN  EMINENT  CLERGYMAN  IN  VIRGINIA. — As  a 
clergyman  of  an  inveterately  Protestant  denomination  oP  Christians,  I  have 
been  politely  requested  by  a  distant  friend,  who  belongs  to"  the  same  church, 
to  give  him,  through  the  columns  of  your  paper,  my  views  of  the  new  half 
religious  and  half  political  chain  of  secret  clubs,  called  Know- Nothings.  I 
should  have  very  little  objection  to  complying  with  this  request,  reasonably 
made,  at  any  time  ;  but  feel  the  less  disposed  to  decline,  when 'requested  by 
one  of  those  whose  official  teacher  I  am  by  the  constitution  of  a  church 
which  we  have  both  voluntarily  joined. 

The  church  with  which  we  are  both  connected  is  as  thoroughly  Protestant 
as  any  on  earth.  It  has  as  little  of  persecution  upon  its  historical  escutcheon 
as  any  other  church  which  is  so  old.  I  fear,  however,  that  it  has  some 
spots  of  this  kind.  I  blush  more  when  those  spots  of  persecution 
come  before  my  mind  than  for  anything  els%of  the  past.  If  one 
fervent  prayer  ascends  from  my  heart  to  the  Father  of  Mercies,  con- 
cerning the  social  shape  of  religion  in  our  country,  it  is  that  it  may 
never  dip  its  hand  in  blood,  that  it  may  never  become  a  suppliant  to  the 


268 

populace  in  the  political  club,  and  that  it  may  never  permit  itself  to  be  up- 
held by  those  arguments  of  tyrants  or  imbeciles :  civil  disabilities  for 
opinion's  sake.  Such  a  resort  is  indeed  capable  of  no  other  construction 
than  as  a  confession  of  weakness.  When  recently  the  Spanish  Cortes  had 
up  the  subject  of  religious  liberty  in  Spain,  and  after  the  discussion,  delibe- 
rately resolved  not  to  grant  it,  what  Protestant  puts  any  other  construction 
upon  it  than  that  they  declined  to  grant  religious  liberty,  for  fear  the  people 
would  become  Protestant?  If  they  thought  truth  would  uphold  Roman  Ca- 
tholicism, they  would  not  wish  to  uphold  it  by  civil  pains  and  penalties.  So 
it  is  with  the  Know-Nothing  movement  in  the  United  States.  It  has  un- 
questionably grown  out  of  a  want  of  confidence  in  the  moral  power  of  truth 
to  uphold  Protestantism.  It  has  sprung  up  in  the  northern  cities,  where  the 
principles  of  revealed  religion  have  notoriously  not  much  more  positive 
power  than  they  have  in  Papal  countries.  It  has  grown  up  among  those 
who  say  they  will  trample  the  Bible  under  their  feet,  if  it  does  not  support 
the  Maine  Liquor  law — or  if  it  does  not  support  Abolition — or  whatever  else 
may  be  the  peculiar  phase  of  their  personal  fanaticism.  When  truth  re- 
treated to  a  distance  from  their  mental  visions,  and  they  lost  confidence  in 
its  power  to  withstand  Popery,  then  they  invented  the  scheme  of  with- 
standing the  Catholics  by  a  civil  disability,  a  secret  club,  and  a  midnight 
oath.  The  writer  is  too  much  of  a  Protestant  to  be  a  Know-Nothing.  He 
has  a  confidence  too  entire  and  unshaken  in  the  power  of  the  truth  alone.  He 
does  not  believe  that  this  night  club,  this  awful  oath,  or  this  infliction  of 
civil  disabilities  on  Catholics,  is  necessary  to  retain  the  power  of  Protestant- 
ism in  this  country.  He  protests  against  the  inference  that  Protestantism 
needs  any  such  assistance.  He  protests  against  the  imputation  of  the  perse- 
cuting spirit  of  Know- Nothings  to  religion.  It  has  grown  out  of  the  wane 
of  religion.  It  springs  from  nominal  Protestants,  who  care,  and  think,  and 
know  nothing  about  the  moral,  and  spiritual,  and  rational  power  of  religion, 
except  that  it  is  a  strong  principle.  Their  object  is  probably  not  the  ad- 
vancement of  true  religion ;  for  if  it  was  they  would  very  easily  see  that 
persecution  will  do  more  than  any  thing  else  to  build  up  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic church. 

And,  if  such  was  their  object,  they  would  see  that  the  prevalence  of  Pro- 
testantism in  this  country,  through  the  means  of  civil  disabilities,  would  be 
just  as  hollow,  and  just  as  worthless,  and  just  as  empty  a  thing,  as  is  the 
prevalence  of  Catholicism  in  Spain  by  civil  disabilities.  You  must  forever 
keep  up  the  prop  of  civil  disability  when  it  is  once  set  under,  or  else  the 
whole  frame  will  fall.  The  history  of  the  world  shows,  beyond  a  doubt, 
that  there  is  always  a  reaction  in  the  reasons  of  men,  against  that,  religion 
which  the  strong  arm  of  power  proposes  to  them.  Cicero  says  the  state  re- 
ligion of  old  Rome  was  totally  hollow,  and  the  augurs  knew  it.  There  is  a  ma- 
jority o£  dissenters  from  the  state  religion  to-day,  in  England,  and  in  Scot- 
land, and  an  overwhelming  majority  in  Ireland:  there  is  said  to  be  the  same 
in  Spain  and  Italy,  if  the  hearts  of  men  could  speak  out ;  and  there  would 
have  been  in  France,  but  for  the  existence  there  of  something  like  religious 
freedom. 

The  writer  sends  up  fervent  prayers  to  the  Disposer  of  events,  that  this 
country  may  not  be  left  to  the  judicial  blindness  of  Know-Nothingism,  to 
persecute  the  Catholics  into  prosperity ;  to  confess  the  weakness  of  naked 
truth;  to  depart  from  the  great  American  principle  of  perfect  religious  free- 
dom ;  to  come  down  from  our  high  and  pure  and  noble  position,  and  dabble 
in  secret  conclaves,  in%illy  fears,  in  weak  and  nervous  alarms.  Know- 
Nothingism  has  not,  then,  grown  out  of  religion.  It  did  not  start  in  the 
Protestant  church.  All  it  had  to  do  with  religion,  was  to  observe  that  the 
religious  prejudice  of  the  country  was  a  strong  lever  with  which  to  work 


269 

another  purpose.  It  made  use  of  that  lever  as  a  tool,  just  as  the  political 
parties  had  made  use  of  military  renown  as  their  lever  before* 

Their  purpose,  probably,  is  to  play  with  the  raw  head  and  bloody  bone 
fears  of  the  Pope,  which  infests  the  dreams  of  nervous  people,  in  order  to 
cajole  the  country,  and  get  on  their  side  the  religious  prejudice,  and,  in  the 
mean  time,  to  do  their  .real  work  in  secret. 

The  liberties  of  this  country  may  be  in  danger  from  Popery.  No  man  can 
well  think  too  hardly  of  that  inveterate  system.  But  does  it  make  a  great 
deal  of  difFerence  to  us,  whether  our  liberties  are  taken  away  by  secret 
Jesuit  clubs,  or  by  secret  Know-Nothing  clubs  ?  But  this  quarrel  with 
foreigners  is  a  northern  affair  altogether.  We  never  had  much  temptation  to 
it,  here  in  the  South,  where  the  social  spirit  is  as  much  more  benign  as  the 
climate  is.  After  all,  it  is  not  the  religion  of  the  foreigners  which  is  object- 
ed to.  And  if  it  was,  I  believe  that  John  Mitchel's  religion  is  just  as  good, 
to  all  practical  intents  and  purposes,  as  Ward  Beecher's  religion  ;  and  his 
politics  ten  thousand  times  more  patriotic  than  Ward  Beecher's.  John  Paul 
Jones  was  a  better  American,  to  my  heart,  though  born  in  Scotland,  than 
"  Hull,  the  traitor,"  though  born  in  Massachusetts.  I  think  that  the  Mar- 
quis La  Fayette  was  a  far  better  American,  though  born  in  France,  than 
Benedict  Arnold,  though  born  in  Connecticut.  I  give  the  preference  to 
Count  Pulaski,  Baron  Steuben,  and  "  lighthorse  "  Lee,  though  they  were 
foreigners,  over  Aaron  Burr,  Gen.  Winder,  and  Gen.  YVilkerson,  though  na- 
tive Americans. 

The  people  here  used  to  know  that  religion  and  patriotism  were  not  to  be 
ascertained  by  these  external  circumstances.  The  traitors  whom  this  coun- 
rry  has  to  fear,  are  not  foreigners.  They  are  men  who  were  born  and  live 
where  Hull  and  Arnold  were  born  and  resided.  Their  treason  is  deep,  de- 
liberate and  meditated  for  a  long  time. 

•The  clamor  against  foreign  traitors,  from  whom  no  man  can  show  us  a  single 
*case  where  we  have  suffered  anything  recently,  or  much  ever,  or  been  ever 
in  any  great  danger,  is  all  a  make-weight.  That  clamor  is  but  a  mere  avail- 
ability. It  is  but  a  new  form  of  appeal  to  military  glory.  It  is  the  dust 
with  which  the  eyes  of  the  southern  people  are  to  be  blinded,  while  in  se- 
cret club  we  shall  be  abolitionized,  as  they  boast  that  we  shall  be.  It  is  a 
peice  of  cold,  cautious,  yankee  cunning,  by  which  the  northern  people,  at 
one  stroke,  get  us  to  help  them  against  their  rivals  in  labor,  the  immigrant 
foreigners,  and  by  which  they  will  soon  ask  us  for  another  tariff  of  protec- 
tion to  American  industry ;  by  which  they  yoke  us  to  their  car  to  make  us 
fight  their  social  battles ;  by  which  they  gull  and  blind  us  to  their  real  de- 
signs against  our  domestic  peace  and  prosperity ;  and  by  which  they  sport 
with  us  as  their  tools,  and  avail  themselves  of  our  deep  and  positive  religious 
convictions,  in  which  they  have  no  sympathy,  and  which  they  admire  only 
for  their  strength  as  political  engines.  May  a  Higher  Power  deliver  us  from 
that  deep  blush  with  which  we  shall  be  suffused,  if  our  church — boldly, 
deeply,  thoroughly  Protestant  as  she  is — falls  into  the  trap  in  the  slightest 
degree,  and  becomes  the  catspaw  of  northern  treasonable  designs.  And  may 
that  kind  Power  open  speedily  the  eyes  of  the  people,  to  see  in  the  light  of 
every  public  development  yet  made  by  Know-Nothingism,  what  the  real  object 
of  the  movement  is !  And  may  the  sacred  subject  of  the  man's  religious 
faith  be  once  more  withdrawn  from  the  secret  club-room,  from  the  political  cau- 
cus, and  from  the  popular  hustings,  into  that  retirement  to  which  it  has  a  right, 
under  the  really,  though  not  under  the  so-called,  American  principle  !  I  do 
not  know  whether  I  have  fully  responded  to  my  friend.  If  not,  I  hope  to 
hear  from  him  again.  ROCKINGHAM. 


270 


AN    APPEAL    TO    THE    CLERGY. 

Gentlemen  :  It  is  rumored  that  many  of  your  body  have  become  associated 
with  that  political  organization  commonly  called  the  Know-Nothings.  If 
this  is  true,  or  if  you  sympathise  with  them,  the  writer  of  this  deeply  regrets 
your  position.  No  one  entertains  a  higher  opinion  of  your  integrity  than  he. 
No  one  felt  more  indignant  than  he,  when  a  Senator  of  Virginia  assailed  you 
in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  styling  you  "  a  proud  and  self-opinioned  body." 
This  assault  was  unstatesmanlike,  as  it  was  undiscriminating  and  unjust. 
What  if  some  of  the  Northern  clergy  signed  an  anti-Nebraska  memorial, 
shall  the  whole  class  be  proscribed  for  the  sins  of  these  fanatics  ?  It  is  not  true 
that  the  clergy,  as  a  body,  are  too  proud  and  self-opinioned  to  listen  to  the 
truth.  They  yield  a  ready  assent  to  the  voice  of  reason,  but  they  will  not 
abide  dictation.  They  may  be  drawn  by  a  straw;  they  cannot  be  driven 
with  a  weaver's  beam.  And  especially  they  will  not  listen  with  very  great 
meekness  to  a  rebuke  from  those  who,  as  the  representatives  of  the  nation, 
unblushingly  trample  the  laws  of  God  and  man  under  their  feet  by  legislating 
on  the  Sabbath.  They  know  their  rights,  and  knowing  will  defend  them. 

But  while  this  is  true  of  you,  gentlemen,  may  there  not  be  occasions  when 
you  might  adopt  an  opinion  too  hastily  with  reference  to  the  great  political 
movements  of  the  day.  Such  was,  doubtless,  the  case  with  some  who 
signed  that  odious  anti-Nebraska  memorial.  They  signed  it  without  consid- 
ering its  import,  and  afterwards  regretted  their  course.  So  may  it  be  with 
you.  You  may  have  adopted  an  opinion  with  reference  to  the  principles  of 
the  self-styled  American  party,  which  is  erroneous.  The  writer  of  this  ad- 
dress, therefore,  respectfully  asks  you  to  listen  to  what  he  has  to  say  in  op- 
position to  the  principles  of  this  new  party.  The  leading  points  of  difference 
between  this  organization  and  those  parties  which  have  hitherto'controlled 
the  interests  of  the  country,  are — First,  opposition  to  Roman  Catholics,  so 
far  as  to  prevent  any  professing  that  faith  from  holding  any  political  office  in 
the  gift  of  the  people.  Secondly,  excluding  every  man  from  participating  in 
the  administration  of  the  government  of  the  country,  who  was  not  born  on 
American  soil. 

With  reference  to  the  first,  that  of  excluding  Romanists  from  participating 
in  the  administration  of  our  government,  the  writer  would  here  avow,  that 
there  breathes  not  that  man  on  earth  more  invincible  than  he,  in  his  hostility 
both  to  Romish  doctrines  and  Romish  practices.  He  believes  that  Romanists 
are  plunged  into  the  deepest  and  most  ruinous  errors ;  but  he  does  not  be- 
lieve that  men  are  to  be  won  from  error  by  political  proscription.  Satan 
argued  on  more  philosophical  principles,  when  he  told  God  that  if  he  would 
put  forth  his  hand  and  afflict  his  servant,  that  Job  would  curse  him  to  his 
face.  The  mistake  of  Satan  lay  in  the  application  of  the  principle  to  the 
peculiar  case  of  the  man  of  Uz,  and  not  the  statement  of  the  principle  itself. 
The  man  of  Uz  saw  the  loving  hand  of  a  father  in  his  sorrows,  but  unfortu- 
nately the  rod  which  is  laid  on  the  Romanist,  is  not  wielded  by  paternal 
hands. 

This  subject  has  its  political  as  well  as  its  religious  aspect.  So  far  as 
its  political  aspect  is  concerned,  this  may  be  said :  that  the  Constitution  of 
our  country  guarantees  to  every  man  in  the  land  the  right  to  profess  and 
propagate  his  creed,  provided  only  that  he  is  a  law-abiding  citizen.  This  is 
as  it  should  be.  That  the  great  charter  of  our  liberty  never  contemplated 
any  religious  test  to  constitute  a  man  a  suitable  person  to  hold  an  office  under 
its  purview.  It  is  vain  to  say  that  you  only  exercise  your  rights  as  freemen 
to  cast  your  votes  for  whom  you  please.  In  pledging  yourselves  to  exclude 


271 

all  persons  from  political  offices  who  hold  the  Romish  faith,  you  do  virtually 
require  a  religious  test.  You  require  at  least  that  your  candidate  shall  be  a 
Protestant.  The  question  is  not,  if  two  persons  are  equally  qualified  to  fill  an 
office,  the  one  a  Romanist,  the  other  a  Protestant,  which  of  the  two  you  shall 
choose ;  but  your  principles  force  you  to  choose  a  man  wholly  unfit  to  fill  the 
place  in  opposition  to  a  man  qualified  in  every  respect  to  fill  it,  save  that  he 
is  a  Romanist.  You  would  proscribe  a  Taney,  or  a  Gaston,  for  his  faith,  and 
in  his  place  elect  a  man  in  no  respect  qualified  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the 
office.  Now  if  this  is  not  proscribing  a  man  for  his  religious  opinions,  the 
writer  is  at  a  loss  to  know  what  it  is.  Leave  this  whole  matter  where  the 
Constitution  of  the  country  leaves  it.  Judge  each  man  by  himself,  and  de- 
cide upon  his  own  individual  merits,  but  do  not  proscribe  him  for  his  faith. 
You  cannot  coerce  a  man  to  your  opinion.  He  may  adopt  your  shibboleth 
for  the  sake  of  gain,  but  you  have  only  made  a  hypocrite,  instead  of  a  prose- 
lyte. If  a  man's  religious  opinions  warp  his  judgment  or  blind  his  reason,  eo 
that  in  the  face  of  truth,  and  at  the  expense  of  justice,  he  •would  favor  his 
co-religionist,  then  hurl  him  with  indignation  from  his  seat  as  a  perjured 
wretch,  who  has  desecrated  the  ermine.  .But  if  he  be  faithful  to  his  trust, 
and  decide  by  law  and  equity,  between  man  arid  man,  then  do  not  put  him 
under  the  political  ban  because  he  differs  with  you  in  his  religious  views. 
Truth  will  be  promoted  by  this  course. 

Again,  look  at  this  subject  in  its  religious  aspect.  What  is  the  language 
of  your  great  commission  ? — "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the 
gospel  to  every  creature."  You  believe  the  Romanist  in  error,  and  so  he  is. 
But  how  will  you  reclaim  him?  How  can  you  get  his  ear  to  pour  into  it 
the  life-giving  truths  of  the  gospel,  while  you  proscribe  him  politically  ?  Do 
you  not  understand  human  nature  well  enough  to  know  that  a  man  shuts  up, 
and  locks,  and  bars,  and  bolts  his  heart  against  the  truth,  the  moment  you 
assume  towards  him  a  hostile  attitude  ?  Treat  him  with  kindness,  and  you 
will  have  won  his  ear  by  first  winning  his  heart.  No  compromise  of  truth 
is  demanded.  But  bear  in  mind  that  the  gospel  is  a  message  of  love,  and 
its  ministers  should  be  "  wise  as  serpents  and  harmless  as  doves."  Besides, 
what  more  do  you  want  1  Are  you  not  free  as  the  air  you  breathe  ?  Have 
you  not  the  best  arena  in  the  world  on  which  to  meet  and  grapple  with  er- 
ror ?  How  is  error  to  be  put  down  ?  Is  it  not  by  presenting  truth,  its  great 
and  omnipotent  antagonist,  in  such  a  way  as  to  commend  itself  to  the  con- 
science of  man?  Are  you  afraid  that  truth  will  not  reach  the  Romanist? 
Then  surely  you  adopt  a  singular  method  by  which  to  reach  him.  Did 
Paul  act  so  at  Athens  ?  Did  the  Son  of  God  act  so  in  Judea?  "Away 
with  coward  wiles  !"  The  truth  is  great,  and  will  prevail.  Enlighten  the 
people.  Meet  error  in  the  public  assembly,  meet  it  in  the  pulpit,  meet  it  in 
the  public  conveyance,  meet  it  by  the  fireside,  and  leave  the  results  to  God. 
If  any  people  on  earth  have  high  vantage  ground  on  which  to  stand  and  bat- 
tle for  the  truth,  we  are  that  people.  We  have  an  unshackled  press  ;  we 
have  a  people  who  throng  the  hustings ;  we  have  a  people  ready  to  listen 
to  any  who  can  instruct  them.  It  does  not  agree  with  the  genius  of  our 
government  to  meet  open  error  by  secret  political  conclaves.  What  is  the 
chief  glory  of  our  nation  ?  It  is  that  every  subject  is  openly  and  freely 
canvassed.  When  error  mounts  the  car  to  traverse  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land,  you  can  send  truth  with  lightning  speed  along  the  telegraphic 
wires  to  anticipate  it,  or  prove  its  effectual  antidote. 

Besides,  your  course  has  not  only  an  unhappy  effect  on  the  Romanist 
himself  by  steeling  his  heart  against  you,  but  you  are  awaking  a  sympathy 
in  his  behalf  in  the  bosom  of  myriads  who  are  outside  of  the  Romanish 
communion.  The  writer  of  this  has  had  occasion  to  notice  the  effect  of  your 
principles  on  others.  You  not  only,  as  the  great  and  magnanimous  Chal- 


272 

mers  says,  "  transform  a  nation  of  heretics  into  a  nation  of  heroes,"  but 
you  engender  sympathy  for  them  among  neutrals — you  make  men  read 
with  avidity  such  speeches  as  Chandler's  and  swallow  as  truth  everything 
which  is  said  in  defence  of  Romanism.  Such  is  human  nature.  You  are 
thus  playing  directly  into  the  hands  of  your  foes.  The  Romanists  want  to 
be  persecuted.  They  will  fatten  on  it.  They  will  appeal  to  it  as  a  proof 
of  apostolicity.  They  will  draw  round  them  thousands  by  the  bonds  of 
sympathy  whom  they  will  yoke  to  their  car,  and  by  whose  aid  they  will 
spread  their  sentiments  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land. 

Still  more,  the  moment  you  league  the  cause  of  religion  with  any  politi- 
cal party,  you  diminish  the  power  of  the  truth.  When  religion  became 
connected  with  the  state,  in  the  days  of  Constantine,  it  became  corrupt.  It 
was  not  the  church  which  made  advances  to  the  state,  it  was  the  state  to 
the  church.  The  monarch  of  Christendom  thought  that  he  could  have  a 
powerful  engine  to  carry  out  his  designs  in  the  religious  prejudices  of  his 
subjects.  He  accordingly  courted  the  alliance.  The  consequence  was,  that 
an  ecclesiastico-political  government  was  formed,  and  true  religion  was 
obliged  to  flee  for  safety  to  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth.  It  has  been  so  in 
all  ages.  Whenever  the  church  of  God  has  abandoned  her  own  divinely 
appointed  agencies  and  formed  unholy  alliances  with  Belial,  she  has  lost  the 
prestige  of  her  glorious  name,  and  the  shekinah  of  the  divine  presence  de- 
parted from  her.  Gentlemen,  beware  how  you  allow  a  conglomerate  of  all 
creeds  and  isms,  socialists,  infidels,  and  political  demagogues  to  lure  you 
into  their  toils.  Pure  are  you  in  your  motives,  but  wofully  are  you  in  error 
if  you  think  this  the  best  means  to  serve  your  country,  or  spread  the  reli- 
gion of  Jesus  Christ.  Adhere  closely  to  the  instructions  of  the  Divine  Au- 
thor of  your  faith.  Preach  the  gospel.  "The  weapons  of  your  warfare 
are  not  carnal,"  nor  political.  "  What  concord  hath  Christ  with  Belial,  or 
what  part  hath  he  that  believeth  with  an  infidel?" 

Finally,  consider  the  vast  assimilative  powers  of  your  country.  It  is  em- 
phatically Protestant  in  its -complexion,  though  tolerating  every  creed  under 
its  banner.  Thousands  of  foreigners  seek  our  shores.  In  a  few  years  these 
become  completely  assimilated  to  our  government  and  prevailing  religious 
views.  In  a  few  years,  multitudes  who  were  reared  under  Romish  influen- 
ces abroad,  become  Protestants.  Five  hundred  Roman  Catholic  children 
in  one  of  our  western  cities,  lately  marched  in  the  Free  School  procession, 
each  with  a  Bible  under  his  arm ;  thus  under  the  silent  operation  of  educa- 
tional, social,  and  religious  influences,  ten  Romanists  annually  become  Pro- 
testants to  one  Protestant  who  becomes  a  Romanist.  Let  these  influences 
alone.  Why  interpose,  by  drawing  unnecessary  and  invidious  distinctions, 
which,  instead  of  attaching  the  Romanists  to  you,  will  only  irritate  him,  and 
repel  him  from  you.  You  know  that  his  superstition  is  "  to  be  destroyed 
by  the  spirit  of  Christ's  mouth,  and  consumed  by  the  brightness  of  his  com- 
ing." Labor  to  hasten  this  great  event  by  the  spread  of  the  gospel,  but  do 
not  compromise  the  dignity  of  the  truth  by  entangling  alliances  with  men, 
who  with  anew-born  zeal  for  Protestantism,  are  yet  adopting  principles  and 
practices  essentially  Jesuitical. 

But  the  writer  must  reserve  for  another  number  his  views  on  the  Know- 
Nothing  policy  touching  foreigners.  In  the  meanwhile,  gentlemen,  he  hopes 
you  will  review  your  position  on  this  whole  subject,  and  no  longer  allow 
men  to  mix  religious  issues  with  political  questions.  Be  assured  they  do 
not  have  at  heart  the  welfare  of  religion.  They  are  only  using  it  as  an  ele- 
ment to  promote  their  own  ends,  and  when  it  ceases  to  advance  these,  they 
will  leave  it  to  its  fate.  Respectfully, 

VERITAS. 


273 


DR.    R.  J.    BRECKENRIDGE — POLITICIAN. 

Mr.  Editor: — A  letter  purporting  to  be  written  by  the  great  and  justly 
distinguished  Dr.  Ho.  J.  Breckenridge,  has  been  copied  from  the  Kentucky 
press  into  the  papers  of  Virginia,  just  on  the  eve  of  the  election,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  affecting  it.  This  policy  is  certainly  a  shrewd  one.  No  name  in 
America  carries  such  weight  with  it  in  large  sections  of  the  southern  com- 
munity as  the  name  of  this  unquestionably  great  and  brilliant  man.  For 
years  the  ablest  and  fiercest  champion  of  Protestant  Christianity  in  this  coun- 
try, distinguished  for  controversial  talent,  high  in  social  position,  reputation, 
and  purity  of  character,  and  speaking  from  the  leading  chair  in  a  large  Pro- 
testant school  of  theology,  his  endorsation  of  the  political  movement  desig- 
nated by  the  name  Know-Nothingism,  is  calculated  to  do  infinite  mischief  to 
the  cause  of  truth,  by  throwing  an  air  of  respectability  even  upon  those  pe- 
culiarities which  some  of  its  own  advocates  deprecate  as  foreign  to  the  spirit 
of  our  government,  aud  especially  by  creating  the  impression  that  this  move- 
ment against  the  Catholic  church  is  endorsed  by  the  Protestant  ministry  at 
large.  It  is  to  do  what  in  us  lie?,  to  counteract  these  impressions,  and  as  a 
Protestant  minister,  who  by  no  means  stands  alone  in  opposition  to  a  political 
movement  for  the  suppression  or  restraint  of  Popery,  to  protest,  in  the  name 
of  the  great  doctrines  of  religious  liberty,  against  all  such  constructions  of 
the  views  of  the  Protestant  clergy.  No  doubt  there  are  thousands  of  those 
who  do  sympathize  with  this  movement ;  but  it  is  equally  true  that  there  are 
fully  as  many,  perhaps  more,  who  dread  to  lose  an  end  proper  in  itself  pur- 
sued by  improper  means,  and  who  dare  not  desire  the  ostracism  of  the  Papacy 
itself  at  the  expense  of  those  great  principles  of  religious  liberty  which 
lie  at  the  foundation  of  all  the  prosperity  enjoyed  by  every  ecclesiastical 
organization  in  the  land.  We  do  not  mean  to  follow  Dr.  Breckenridge  through 
his  remarks  in  the  way  of  reply.  Indeed  his  letter  is  nothing  but  a  series  of 
terse  and  animated  statements,  giving  the  views  which  he  has  taken  of  the 
present  crisis  in  political  affairs,  and  not  the  reasons  upon  which  they  are 
founded.  But  we  except  to  the  whole  spirit  of  this  article,  as  well  as  to  the 
movement  it  endorses  ;  but  particularly  to  the  apology  which  he  makes  for 
that  feature  in  the  organization  for  which  no  apology  can  ever  be  made,  for 
which  no  atonement  can  ever  be  rendered  but  a  peremptory  and  final  aban- 
donment of  the  whole  of  it. 

We  cannot  endorse  Dr.  Breckenridge's  sanction  of  a  political  movement  to 
stay  the  progress  and  power  of  the  Catholic  church.  It  contains  a  confes- 
sion of  weakness  in  the  moral  machinery  of  the  Protestant  churches,  an  in- 
ability to  meet  all  the  influences  of  the  great  apostacy  or  the  institutions  of 
this  nation,  which  we  feel  intensely  to  be  a  misrepresentation  of  the  facts. 
There  is  a  power  in  the  Protestant  church  alone,  unaided  by  a  political  move, 
which  needs  only  to  be  fully  and  wisely  expended,  to  demonstrate  the  entire 
want  of  any  necessity  to  supplement  her  weakness  by  a  political  crusade. 
The  simple  and  sufficient  condition  of  the  preservation  of  the  republic  from 
the  arts  of  Romanism,  is  the  extension  of  the  Protestant  church,  the  full  sup- 
port of  the  great  Domestic  Mission  enterprises  of  the  various  Protestant 
denominations.  If  Protestantism  cannot  maintain  itself  in  a  fair  field  against 
Popery,  it  ought  to  perish.  But  there  is  no  need  for  any  such  catastrophe : 
it  docs  possess  that  capacity ;  and  it  is  a  practical  acknowledgment  of  Pro- 
testant weakness,  which  is  as  unjust  to  the  Protestant  church  as  it  is  pre- 
scriptive to  the  Catholic,  to  represent  the  destruction  of  the  political  franchises 
of  the  Catholic  citizen  as  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion, or  to  the  conservation  of  any  of  the  great  social  or  political  interest* 
18 


274 

which  are  dependent  upon  it.  Such  a  dependence  we  do  believe  to  exist  be- 
tween the  Protestant  religion  and  the  institutions  of  this  country  :  they  were 
established  together  on  this  continent,  and  they  will  stand  or  fall  together. 
But  so  lono1  as  the  Protestant  religion  is  a  living  and  vital  element  in  forming 
the  character  and  controling  the  action  of  the  masses  of  American  citizens 
as  it  is  at  present,  so  long  will  the  institutions  of  this  nation,  the  nationality, 
the  Federal  Union  and  the  Protestant  civilization,  of  which  Dr.  Breckenridge 
speaks,  be  safe  under  the  moral  and  spiritual  power  of  the  Protestant 
churches,  unaided  by  any  political  disabilities  inflicted  upon  the  individual 
Catholic  citizen. 

We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  no  political  action  is  never  to  be  taken  against 
the  Catholic  church  or  against  any  Protestant  church.  But  we  do  mean  to 
say  that  such  political  action  against  any  ecclesiastical  organization  ought  to 
be  local  and  temporary,  and  above  all  things  discriminated  by  the  practical 
action  of  the  organization,  and  not  by  its  principles  when  field  in  theory. 
We  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  if  the  Catholic  church  is  coming  into  the  political 
field  as  such,  its  members  voting  on  a  principle  discriminated  by  their  eccle- 
siastical relations,  then  it  ought  to  be  met  on  political  grounds  and  resisted 
with  political  weapons.  We  would  say  this  for  the  same  reasons  and  with 
equal  emphasis  of  any  Protestant  church.  We  would  say  it  of  a  Masonic 
order  which  should  engraft  a  political  character  on  its  Masonic  capacity. 
Nay,  more,  it  is  unquestionably  true  that  the  Catholic  church  does  lay  claim 
to  temporal  power,  holds  the  state  as  auxiliary  to  the  church,  and  under  pre- 
tence of  deciding  his  duty,  announces  the  right  to  control  the  whole  action  of 
man,  which  is  susceptible  of  a  moral  character.  There  is  fhis  much  of  the 
truth  in  the  theory  of  Know-Nothingism,  but  it  does  not  answer. the  purpose 
of  that  party.  With  the  fatality  which  seems  to,,  attend  all  its  reasonings 
from  its  premises,  the  modern  reform  fails  to  see  the  true  logical  result  of  its 
premise.  The  principle,  which  we  have  enunciated  as  controling  political 
opposition  to  all  ecclesiastical  bodies,  Catholic  or  Protestant,  makes  all  such 
opposition  local,  temporary,  defined  by  the  previous  action  of  the  church 
itself,  not  by  its  theoretical  principles,  controlled  absolutely  by  that  action, 
stopping  when  it  stops,  progressing  when  it  progresses,  and  ceasing  forever 
when  it  ceases.  To  ostracise  a  Catholic  for  theory  not  embodied  in  practice, 
no  matter  how  objectionable  that  theory  may  be  both  on  political  and  religi- 
ous grounds,  is  to  punish  crime  in  embryo ;  it  is  to  assume  the  office  of  deity 
and  judge  criminalities  of  the  soul  before  they  are  embodied  in  action  or 
subject  to  the  cognizance  of  human  tribunals.  All  interference  with  princi- 
ples of  such  magnitude  as  the  liberty  of  conscience  and  religious  worship, 
ought  to  be  rigidly  adjusted  to  the  strictest  limits  of  the  practical  exigency 
that  demands  it.  If  the  Catholic  church  has  been  tampering  with  politics  in 
any  other  state,  let  it  be  met  there ;  but  it  would  be  wrong  to  suffer  the 
demand  for  such  opposition  to  extend  beyond  the  exigency  which  demands 
it,  and  to  call  for  the  ostracism  of  the  church  in  Virginia,  unless  it  can  also 
be  shown  to  have  been  tampering  with  politics  here.  Until  this  is  proved,  a 
political  disfranchisement  of  her  members  to  any  extent  is  a  violation  of  the 
law  of  religious  liberty,  and  a  high  misdemeanor.  There  is  no  demand 
whatever  for  a  great  national  movement  against  the  Catholic  church.  There 
may  have  been  cause  for  local  and  temporary  displays  of  political  opposition 
to  it,  but  certainly  none  for  an  opposition  co-extensive  with  the  republic.  It 
is  in  the  main  a  corrupt  movement  of  unprincipled  politicians  to  excite  the 
Protestant  feeling  of  the  country  and  ride  into  power  upon  the  tide. 

The  remark  thus  made,  that  the  inference  of  Know-Nothingism  in  relation 
to  the  political  opposition  to  the  Catholic  church,  was  a  logical  blunder  from 
its  own  premises,  which  only  warranted  a  local  and  limited  opposition,  not  a 
permanent  and  universal  ostracism  of  individual  Catholics,  is  equally  true  in 


275 

relation  to  the  other  great  issue  it  has  raised  as  to  the  foreign  population. 
On  all  its  positions  it  is  logically  required  to  go  a  great  deal  farther  than  it 
dares  attempt.  In  one  case  the  premise  is,  the  Catholic  church  is  incompati- 
ble with  the  existence  of  the  republic ;  the  inference  is  that  no  Catholic  shall 
be  eligible  to  office.  The  true  and  legitimate  inference  is,  the  Catholic 
church  ought  not  to  be  tolerated  at  all ! 

The  premise  assumed  in  this  case  is,  that  the  foreign  element  in  our  popu- 
lation is  dangerous  to  the  government :  the  inference  drawn  is  the  reduction 
of  a  part  of  the  rights  of  citizenship  in  foreigners  already  here,  and  an  ex- 
tension of  the  term  of  naturalization.  The  true  inference  is  the  prohibition 
of  all  emigration  for  the  future,  and  the  avoidance  of  everything  that  would 
exasperate  the  foreign  elementalreaBy  in  the  midst  of  us,  the  careful  observ- 
ance of  everything  which  would  tend  to  strengthen  their  attachment  to  the 
institutions  of  the  country.  How  well  the  modern  reform  in  the  political 
world  is  accomplishing  these  ends,  it  is  easy  to  determine.  Leaving  in  the 
hands  of  the  Catholic  and  foreign  citizens  all  the  rights  of  citizenship  except 
one,  giving  them  the  power  to  vote,  allowing  them,  in  other  words,  all  their 
power  to  do  mischief,  and  exasperating  them  to  use  it  by  the  ostracism  of 
their  religion  and  birth,  condensing  the  Catholic  and  foreign  element  into  a 
political  body,  distinct  from  the  mass  of  the  nation,  and  animated  with  all  the 
hostility  which  is  natural  to  men  under  an  attempt  to  diminish  the  equality 
of  their  rights  with  other  citizens  ;  producing  all  these  ruinous  results,  Know- 
Nothingism  is  par  excellence  the  perfection  of  political  wisdom,  the  certain 
salvation  of  the  country  !  If  the  abandonment  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  the 
great  principles  of  our  political  system,  if  political  proscription  for  religious 
opinion  is  to  be  substituted  for  the  great  doctrine  of  unequivocal  liberty  of 
religious  belief,  irrespective  of  all  political  or  civil  responsibility,  then  the 
existence  of  this  government  is  brought  into  infinitely  more  peril  than  that 
from  which  the  new  party  would  deliver  it.  Dr.  Breckenridge  intimates  that 
if  the  question  had  arisen  as  to  the  eligibility  of  a  Chinese  or  a  Mahomme- 
cjan,  less  difficulty  would  have  been  found  in  settling  it.  We  reply,  that  the 
general  principles  involved  would  have  been  settled  by  the  settlement  of  a 
previous  question ;  and  that  is,  whether  we  should  admit  a  Chinese  or  a  Ma- 
hommedan,  Pagans  and  Idolators,  to  the  rights  of  citizenship  at  all  in  a 
Christian  supporting  country.  This  determined  in  the  affirmative,  it  is  ab- 
surd to  question  the  propriety  of  allowing  by  vote  what  is  allowed  by  law. 
If  there  is  any  reason  why  they  should  be  excluded  from  any  of  the  com- 
mon rights  of  citizenship,  it  is  a  reason  why  they  should  be  excluded  from, 
all  of  them.  If  it  is  right  to  allow  them  .to  vote,  it  is  right  to  allow  them  to 
be  voted  for :  the  one  right  is  almost  the  correlative  of  the  other.  Any 
argument  which  would  prove  a  man  disqualified  for  office,  would  equally 
prove  him  disqualified  to  vote.  If,  then,  this  opposition  to  Catholics  and  for- 
eigners is  to  be  maintained,  let  it  go  far  enough  to  accomplish  the  ends  which 
are  alleged  to  be  sought.  It  is  unwise  in  the  extreme  to  leave  all  their  pow- 
er for  mischief  in  their  hands,  resulting  in  part  from  their  simple  existence 
in  the  country  as  a  part  of  the  population,  and  in  part  from  the  privileges 
which  are  still  to  be  left  them  ;  it  is  unwise  to  leave  them  their  power  for 
mischief  and  exasperate  them  to  use  it  by  a  crusade  against  their  full  politi- 
cal equality  with  citizens  of  other  religious  opinions. 

But  we  must  not  protract  these  remarks.  We  cannot  close  them,  how- 
ever, without  protesting,  in  opposition  to  the  endorsement  of  Dr.  Brecken- 
ridge, against  the  propriety  of  a  secret  organization  as  a  mode  of  political 
actien,  and  especially  against  the  particular  oath  of  that  modern  party  binding 
its  members  to  concealment  of  the  objects  of  the  order,  the  order  itself,  and 
their  personal  connection  with  it.  What  are  the  objects  of  this  order  which 


276 

••» 

have  not  been  proclaimed?  If  those  which  are  blazoned  on  their  ban- 
ners are  not  all  of  their  objects,  what  are  the  rest?  If  they  are,  why  have 
these  been  proclaimed  in  the  teeth  of  that  oath  ?  Is  it  a  secret  police,  as  we 
have  heard  it  intimated?  Does  not  the  possibility  that  this  order  may  have 
ultimate  ends  in  view  which  they  have  not  yet  discovered,  demonstrate  the 
impropriety  of  that  mode  of  organization  which  would  allow  of  such  con- 
cealment and  require  it  to  be  maintained  by  an  oath  ?  If  ever  any  principle 
was  at  direct  and  practical  war  with  the  very  foundation  of  the  American 
republic,  it  is  this  principle  of  an  oath-bound  secret  organization.  It  will 
place  the  legislation  of  Congress  in  the  hands  of  an  irresponsible  association 
of  its  members — into  a  body  unknown  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  whose  avowed  object  is  to  annihilate  all  distinction  between  a 
minority  and  a  majority,  by  an  oath  requiring  the  unlimited  surrender  of  the 
minority!  The  Congressional  Council  will  be  under  orders  of  the  General 
Council ;  and  the  result  will  be  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  will 
become,  under  the  full  success  of  Know-Nothing  principles,  a  mere  registry 
of  decrees  to  a  body  in  the  heart  of  the  country — unknown  to  the  Constitu- 
tion— existing  no  one  can  tell  where — aiming  at  no  one  can  tell  what.  It 
strikes  a  deadly  blow  at  that  great  fundamental  maxim  of  the  government — 
the  necessity  of  the  intelligence  of  the  people  as  an  essential  of  republican 
liberty.  What  matter  how  much  intelligence  the  people  may  have,  if  politi- 
cal men  will  conceal  from  them  the  facts  upon  which  to  employ  their  intelli- 
gence in  the  formation  of  a  judgment  and  the  adoption  of  a  policy  ?  The 
two  duties  are  essentially  correlative.  If  it  is  the  duty  of  the  people  to 
require  knowledge  of  any  party  claiming  their  suffrages  before  they  endorse 
them,  it  is  the  duty  of  that  party  to  give  it.  No  party  has  the  right  to  retire 
into  the  dark,  bind  itself  to  secrecy  under  oath,  unfold  what  they  please,  and 
conceal  what  they  please  from  the  people ;  nor  have  the  people  one  shadow 
of  a  moral  right  to  give  their  sanction  to  that  of  the  propriety  of  which  the/ 
are  not  fully  informed.  Moreover,  if  their  principle  of  secrecy  is  legitimate 
for  one  party,  it  is  legitimate  for  all ;  every  party  may  adopt  it ;  the  Sag. 
Nicht  clubs  of  the  foreigners  of  the  west  are  wholly  justified  ;  and  the  whole 
political  destinies  of  the  country  may  be  controled  by  secret  oath-bound 
organizations,  a  hybrid  mixture  of  Masonry,  and  a  political  caucus  with  all  of 
good  in  either  spoiled  by  the  conjunction !  Can  any  man  in  this  nation  con- 
template such  a  prospect — the  legitimate  results  of  the  principle  of  organiza- 
tion adopted  by  the  Know-Nothing  party — without  emotions  of  alarm  amount- 
ing to  terror?  Yet  Dr.  Brickenridge  would  place  such  a  principle  on  the 
footing  of  the  vote  by  ballot !  This  is  the  most  remarkable  instance  of  the 
power  of  prejudice  to  extinguish  the  power  of  perception,  in  an  intellect  of 
the  highest  order,  we  have  ever  encountered.  Dr.  Johnson's  belief  in  the 
Cock-Lane  ghost  is  hardly  comparable  to  it. 

In  conclusion,  we  must  say  that  the  issues  pledged  upon  the  fidelity  of  the 
Democratic  party  of  Virginia,  cannot  be  fully  estimated  in  their  intrinsic 
value.  We  trust  they  will  sjiow  at  the  polls  that  Dr.  Breckenridge  has  been 
premature  in  his  claim  of  conquest  for  Know-Nothingism  over  the  Democra- 
cy of  the  Old  Dominion.  Be  the  fate  of  the  party  victory  or  defeat  in  the 
ensuing  election,  the  war  upon  the  heresies  of  the  new  party  will  have  just 
begun.  The  great  principles  of  religious  liberty  and  open  organization  in 
political  parties,  in  a  republican  government,  will  never  be  abandoned  until 
they  are  embodied  in  practice  as  well  as  commended  in  theory — two  things 
which  the  Know-Nothing  party  have  taught  us  to  consider  carefully  apart 
from  all  connection  with  each  other.  Let  the  whole  power  of  the  party  be 
strained  to  the  uttermost ;  let  all  the  objections  to  the  candidate,  which  might 
have  been  enough  to  have  justified  inaction  in  his  support  in  ordinary  times, 


277 

now  give  way  in  a  crisis  which  involves  the  very  existence,  not  merely  of 
Democratic  measurjes,  but  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  all  republican 
institutions.  It  is  a  great  battle.  God  help  the  right. 

A  PROTESTANT  MINISTER. 


The  pretensions  of  the  Know  Nothings  to  peculiar  reverence,  for  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Bible,  were  vindicated  in  the  Examiner  in  the  following  editorial : 

A  SERMON  FROM  LEVITICUS  FOR  "  SAM." 

When  the  sans  culottes  of  the  secret  order  of  Jacobins  were,  with  foul  and 
bloodstained  hands,  dragging  the  noble,  beautiful  and  gifted  Madame  Roland 
to  the  guillotine,  and  in  the  name  of  liberty  moistening  the  streets  of  Paris 
with  the  blood  of  the  Girondists,  that  illustrious  woman,  gazing  at  the  bright 
deadly  steel  that  was  soon  to  sever  her  fair  head,  exclaimed,  "  Ob  !  Liberty, 
how  many  crimes  have  been  committed  in  thy  name  !"  When  we  find  a  secret 
order  in  our  midst,  in  the  name  of  the  Bible  and  of  patriotism,  practising  pro- 
scription, intoleranca,  and  worse  than  savage  inhospitality,  the  fearful  truth  of 
Madame  Roland's  dying  words  must  come  home  to  every  calm  and  dispassionate 
friend  of  religion  and  liberty. 

The  Know  Nothings,  in  the  name  of  the  holy  Christian  religion,  and  in  the 
name  of  patriotism,  propose  disregarding  the  plainest  teaching*  of  the  priest 
and  the  true  meaning  of  the  host.  Particularly  do  they  proclaim  that  their 
midnight  mission  is  the  purification  of  the  Church,  and  the  preservation  of  our 
civil  liberties.  Like  Henry  VIII.,  who,  according  to  Hume,  exhibited  his  im- 
partiality by  hanging  Catholics  and  burning  Protestants,  they  claim  the  title  of 
tl  defenders  of  the  faith." 

Professing  to  regard  the  pure  teachings  of  the  Bible  as  of  paramount  impor- 
tance to  everything  earthly,  seeking  to  purge  the  land  of  Jesuits  and  heretics, 
their  principles  are  utterly  at  variance  with  the  teachings  of  that  human  law 
maker,  who,  upon  Mount  Sinai,  received  from  a  Supreme  Being  the  living  word. 
This  "  Lion  of  the  North  and  Bulwark  of  the  Christian  faith  "  plants  its 
standard,  or  rather  organizes  its  conspiracy,  upon  the  disregarded  teachings  of 
God  through  his  chosen  instrument.  The  Know  Nothing  who,  amid  the  im- 
posing mysteries  and  solemn  ceremonies  of  midnight  initiation,  swears  with  up- 
lifted hand  to  defend  the  true  teachings  of  the  Bible,  in  the  same  formula  swears 
to  violate  one  of  the  most  simple,  plain  and  intelligible  lessons  of  that  sacred 
volume.  Whoever,  therefore,  takes  the  oaths  required  by  this  order,  pledges 
himself  to  violate  the  Constitution,  and  to  maintain  doctrines  irreconcilable  with 
every  species  of  Christian  faith,  whether  Protestant  or  Catholic — for  neither 
Catholics  nor  Protestants  openly  deny  the  very  strongest  and  plainest  doctrines 
of  the  Holy  Bible.  "  Sam,"  however,  as  he  is  familiarly  termed,  has  taken  the 
field  not  only  against  the  Catholic  religion,  the  Constitution  and  Democracy, 
but  also  against  Moses  and  the  Prophets. 

One  of  the  pretexts  of  "  Sam  "  for  his  hostility  to  the  Catholics,  is  that  they 
exclude  the  Bible  from  their  schools — a  grave  and  heavy  fault — one  to  be 
looken  into  and  punished.  But  if  the  Catholics  are  to  be  proscribed  for  this 
crime,  what  punishment  should  not  Sam  receive  for  rearing  the  structure  of  his 
order,  digging  its  very  foundations  out  of  the  disregarded,  despised  teachings 
of  the  great  and  inspired  law-maker  ? 

The  civil  polity  of  Moses,  that  which  followed  as  a  natural  sequence  to  the 
Ten  Commandments,  the  code  framed  in  accordance  with  the  organic  law  of 
Mount  Sinai,  certainly  deserves  the  respect  of  Protestants.  We,  therefore, 


278 

respectfully  ask  the  disciples  of  Sam  to  reconcile  their  teachings  with  the  fol- 
lowing precept  of  Moses.  Let  them  take  their  revered,  ]?ut  too  often  dese- 
crated Bible,  upon  which  they  swear  their  deluded  victims,  and  turn  to  the 
Book  of  Leviticus,  19th  chapter,  33d  and  34th  verses,  and  explain  to  us  what 
Moses  meant  in  the  verses  aforesaid : 

« IF  A  STRANGER  SOJOURN  WITH  THEE  IN  YOUR  LAND,  YE 
SHALL  NOT  VEX  HIM  ;  BUT  THE  STRANGER  THAT  DWELLBTH 
WITH  YOU  SHALL  BE  UNTO  YOU  AS  ONE  BORN  AMONG  YOU, 
AND  THOU  SHALT  LOVE  HIM  AS  THYSELF,  FOR  YE  WERE 
STRANGERS  IN  THE  LAND  OF  EGYPT.  I  AM  THE  LORD  THY 
GOD." 

This  language,  we  humbly  suggest,  is  peculiarly  simple,  and  it  scatters  the 
teachings  of  Sam  like  a  bombshell.  Sam  is  a  true  Protestant;  he  boasts ^that 
his  grandfather  was  a  Protestant,  his  grandmother  was  a  Protestant,  and  *that 
his  mother,  father,  uncles,  aunts,  cousins,  nephews,  wife,  children  and  grand- 
children, are  of  the  same  persuasion.  Sam  and  his  brethren  are  the  old  guard 
of  the  Bible,  defending  the  pure,  unadulterated  faith,  flashing  the  bright  sword 
of  a  pure  and  undefiled  religion  in  the  eyes  of  all  who  question  anything  which 
the  sacred  volume  contains  from  Genesis  to  Revelations.  It  is  therefore  to  be 
presumed,  that  having  wandered  often  over  this  holy  dominion,  having  conse- 
crated himself  to  the  sacred  work  of  defending  the  Bible,  Sam  is  prepared  to 
reconcile  this  text  from  Leviticus  with  his  elegant  sermons  against  foreigners 
and  "  strangers^that  are  sojourning  in  the  land/'  All  of  this  he,  doubtless,  is 
prepared  to  do ;  although,  for  reasons  to  us  inexplicable,  Sam  has  vouchsafed 
no  revelations  respecting  this  passage  from  Leviticus.  Recollect,  Sam,  thou 
"  guard  of  the  Bible  and  defender  of  the  faith" — Leviticus,  19th  chapter,  33d 
and  34th  verses.  We  know  that  it  is  hard,  Samuel,  either  in  courts  of  law  or 
in  social  converse,  to  get  intelligible  answers  from  you.  But  the  Bible,  Sam — 
the  Protestant  Bible — you  certainly  will  not  say  that  you  "  Know  Nothing  " 
about  that.  In  the  name  of  Moses,  we,  therefore,  pious,  religious,  consistent 
Sam,  venture  to  ask  you  a  few  simple  questions  concerning  the  33d  and  34th 
verses  of  the  19th  chapter  of  Leviticus,  which,  Sam,  it  may  be  well  to  state, 
incidentally,  may  be  in  what  is  called  among  good  Protestants  and  sincere 
haters  of  the  Pope,  the  Old  Testament. 

Do  you  or  do  you  not  "  vex  strangers  who  sojourn  with  thee  in  your  land  ?" 
You  swear  to  turn  them  out  of  office.  You  swear  to  proscribe  them,  do  you 
not  ?  Do  you  regard  such  treatment  as  a  vexation  or  a  pleasantry  where  the 
ejected  "  stranger"  happens  to  starve  in  consequence  of  your  "  little  pleasantry" 
in  turning  him  out  of  office. 

Moses,  you  will  observe,  (perhaps  you  "  Know  Nothing,"  biblical  Sam,  of 
Moses,)  says,  under  special  instructions  from  God,  that  "  the  stranger  that  dwel' 
leth  with  you  SHALL  BE  UNTO  YOU  AS  ONE  BORN  AMONG  YOU."  Do  you  not 
not  proclaim  "that  strangers  who  dwelleth  among  you  SHALL  NOT  BE  UNTO 
YOU  as  those  who  were  born  among  you  ?"  Do  you  not  in  every  thing  which 
relates  to  your  creed,  fly  in  the  face  of  divine  law,  denying  the  wisdom  of  God 
and  man  ? 

Have  you  not  organized  your  midnight  Order  for  the  express  purpose  of  cast- 
ing the  stranger  out — of  showing  him  by  hateful  and  unconstitutional  acts  that 
you  do  not  intend  to  treat  him  as  if  he  was  born  among  you  ?  Is  it  not  most 
remarkable  that,  as  a  self-elected  defender  of  the  faith,  you  propose  to  set  aside 
the  law  of  Moses  to  amend  the  word  of  God,  and  declare  with  the  superior  sa- 
gacity of  a  Know  Nothing  that  you  are  more  knowing  in  your  generation  than 
Moses  was  in  his?  (What  is  your  opinion  as  to  Moses  being  a  fogy  ?)  Do 
you  entertain  as  low  an  opinion  of  the  book  of  Leviticus  as  you  do  of  the  Con- 


279 

stitution  ?  Do  you  regard  Judson,  Bennett,  Clayton,  Wilson  and  Vespasian 
Ellis  as  much  better  law  makers  than  Moses  ?  Is  the  blue  book  of  your  Order 
higher  and  better  authority  than  the  Old  Testament  ?  But  most  scriptural 
Sammy — thou  modern  evangelist  of  the  dark  lanterns  and  frightful  oaths — Mo- 
ses also  says,  in  his  old-fashioned  way,  thou  shalt  "  love  the  stranger  sojourning 
in  thy  land  as  thyself"  Dost  thou  obey  the  Bible  in  this  regard  ?  Do  you 
love  Irish,  Dutch,  Spanish,  Italian,  French,  Swiss,  Danish,  Norwegian,  Scotch, 
Patagonian,  Chinese,  Mexican  "strangers"  as  you  do  yourself  1  Have  you  a 
great  love  for  the  ALIEN,  an  overflowing  affection  for  the  foreign  born,  or  have 
you  not  stcorn,  yes,  sworn,  in  your  midnight  deliberations,  to  persecute  the 
strangers  "  within  your  gates  ?"  Of  these  matters,  however,  of  course,  you 
((  Know  Nothing."  If  you  love  the  strangers,  how  have  you  shown  your  af- 
fection ?  By  burning  their  churches,  denying  them  bread,  driving  them  from 
the  ballot  box,  denying  them  the  rights  of  citizenship,  and  mobbing  them  in 
the  streets  of  your  great  cities.  In  thus  treating  them,  how  have  you  interpre- 
ted the  Bible  '/ — certainly  not  as  Protestants — but  rather,  (we  regret  to  say  it, 
Sam,)  as  hard-hearted,  cruel  disregarders  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity. 

The  33d  and  34th  verses  of  the  19th  chapter  of  Leviticus  apply  so  forcibly 
and  appropriately  to  Sam's  position  in  this  country,  that  we  almost  feel  inclined 
to  believe  that  Moses,  rending  the  veil  which  hides  the  future  from  ordinary 
mortal  eyes,  must  have  foreseen  the  rise  and  progress  of  Sam,  and  thousands 
of  years  ago  provided  for  his  annihilation.  For  after  thus  advising  the  Israel- 
ites, he  concludes  the  34th  verse  thus  :  (l  For  ye  were  strangers  in  the  land  of 
Egypt "  %  How  significant  the  warning,  how  impressive  the  reminiscence.  The 
chosen  people  of  God  were  once  aliens  and  foreign  born  in  the  land  of  Egypt. 
Pharaoh  and  his  people  were  native  Egyptians,  proud  of  their  nationality,  in- 
sole,nt  and  tyrannical,  lauding  it  with  a  high  hand  over  the  poor  Israelites,  de- 
nying them  social  and  political  rights,  making  them  hewers  of  wood  and  draw- 
ers of  water,  grinding  the  strangers  into  the  dust,  practising  modern  Know 
Nothingism  without  its  secrecy,  in  a  bold,  opqp,  cruel  oppression  of  the  "  stran- 
gers sojourning  among  them."  The  wrath  of  God  fell  upon  the  Know  Nothings 
of  the  order  of  Pharaoh  ;  plague  followed  plague,  and  pestilence,  famine  and 
war  desolated  the  land  of  the  oppressors.  Death  visited  the  household  of  every 
native  Egyptian  ;  a  leader  chosen  by  God  led  the  oppressed  through  a  sea 
whose  waves,  at  His  command,  opened  a  way  for  their  retreat,  and  closed  over 
the  hosts  of  the  pursuing  enemy.  This  may  seem  fanciful  and  far  fetched,  but 
it  should  teach  the  oppressor  and  the  Know  Nothing  that  "we  were  strangers 
in  the  land  of  Egypt."  This  fair  land  was  not  God's  heritage  to  us.  The  na- 
tive Americans  have  passed  away,  and  we  European  interlopers  have  built  up 
our  palaces  upon  the  sites  of  their  wigwams, — cities  stand  where  the  villages  of 
the  natives  once  stood,  and  the  ploughshare  is  driven  over  the  burying  grounds 
of  those  to  whom  God  gave  the  land. 

We  are  strangers  of  yesterday  in  this  land; — war,  pestilence  and  famine,  in- 
troduced by  ourselves,  have  swept  those  from  the  land  to  which  God  gave  them 
title  deeds.  The  relics,  the  monuments,  the  antiquities  of  America  are  not 
ours.  "  SAM,"  a  miserable  European  exile  of  yesterday,  flying  from  worse  than 
Egyptian  bondage  at  home,  to  this  land  of  the  oppressed  of  every  clime,  denies 
the  same  precious  privileges  to  the.  exile  of  to-day.  In  doing  this,  he  forgets 
his  origin,  the  character  of  our  institutions,  and  the  history  of  the  land  which 
he  inhabits.  He  disregards  the  Constitution,  and  he  forgets  the  divine  teach- 
ings of  God  and  of  Moses.  Hence  this  sermon. 


280 


To  the  charge  every  where  preferred  by  the  Know  Nothings,  that  the  Exa- 
miner and  the  Enquirer  were  Catholic  organs,  the  Examiner  published  the  fol- 
lowing reply : 

ClVIL  INCAPACITATIONS   TEND   ONLY  TO    BEGET    HABITS   OF   HYPOCRISY  AND 
MEANNESS.      OPINIONS  OF  RELIGION    SHALL   IN    NO    MANNER   DIMINISH   OR 

AFFECT  THE  CIVIL  CAPACITIES  OF  THE  CITIZEN. —  Virginia  Act  of  Reli- 
gious Toleration. 

Nothing  dies  so  hard  and  rallies  so  often  as  Intolerance. — Sydney  Smith. 

"  Catholic  organ  !"  is  the  favorite  ejaculation  of  the  advocates  of  intolerance 
against  their  opponents  in  the  present  canvass.  The  epithet  supplies  the  place 
and  substitutes  the  purpose  of  argument  in  the  mouths  of  men  weak  enough  in 
mind  to  fear  that  these  free  and  powerful  States  are  in  danger  of  temporal  sub- 
jection from  the  poorest  and  weakest  of  the  European  Princes.  Historical  lore 
they  indeed  have  at  command  to  foment  this  morbid  apprehension  :  but  it  is 
lore  borrowed  from  the  dark  ages  and  from  persecuting,  intolerant  Europe — it 
is  lore  that  has  lost  its  terrors  even  on  the  intolerant  side  of  the  Atlantic,  when 
Catholic  Emperors  have  repeatedly  taken  the  Pope — that  most  formidable  tem- 
poral prince,  prisoner  in  his  sacred  city,  and  led  him  into  ignominious  captivity  ; 
and  where,  even  within  the  recollection  of  very  small  children,  that  same  Po- 
tentate, whose  authority  is  pretended  to  overshadow  all  the  goverments  of  the 
earth,  was  driven  out  of  Rome  by  a  handful  of  domestic  revolutionists. 

Native  born  Americans  who  terrify  at  the  thought  of  a  Papal  subjugation, 
must  be  excused  for  rummaging  up  the  exploded  and  forgotten  lore  of  benighted 
and  intolerant  ages,  and  for  denouncing  as  "  Catholic  organs,"  those  who  laugh 
at  their  folly  and  deride  their  farrago  of  nonsense  about  Popish  invasion  and 
subjugation.  • 

The  Rev.  Sydney  Smith,  a  staunch  supporter  of  the  English  Church  Estab- 
lishment, has  supplied  us  with  language  suitable  to  the  cases  of  these  cowardly 
terrorists,  in  the  following  happy  description  of  a  modern  Know  Nothing : 

"  Philagatharches  is  an  instance  (not  uncommon,  we  are  sorry  to  say,  even 
among  the  most  rational  of  the  Protestant  dissenters)  of  a  love  of  toleration 
combined  with  a  love  of  persecution.  He  is  a  dissenter,  and  earnestly  demands 
religious  liberty  for  that  body  of  men •  but,  as  for  the  Catholics,  he  would  not 
only  continue  their  present  disabilities,  but  load  them  with  every  new  one  that 
could  be  conceived.  He  expressly  says  that  an  Atheist  or  a  Deist  may  be  allowed 
to  propagate  their  doctrines,  but  not  a  Catholic ;  and  then  proceeds  with  all  the 
customary  trash  against  that  sect  which  nine  school  boys  out  of  ten  now  know 
how  to 'refute.  So  it  is  with  Philagatharches  ; — so  it  is  with  weak  men  in  every 
sect.  It  has  ever  been  our  object,  and  (in  spite  of  misrepresentation  and  abuse) 
ever  shall  be  our  object,  to  put  down  this  spirit — to  protect  the  true  interests 
and  to  diffuse  the  true  spirit  of  toleration/' 

So  here  is  a  "  Catholic  organ,"  after  the  Know  Nothing  sense  of  the  word, 
in  the  person  of  a  slaunch  clergyman  of  the  Episcopal  Church  of  England. 

In  the  same  sense,  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  drew  the  Virginia  act  of  religious 
toleration,  the  pith  and  gist  of  which  stands  at  the  head  of  this  article  cf  ours, 
and  who  is  generally  understood  to  have  been  a  Free  Thinker  on  the  subject  of 
religion  and  church  government,  was  also  a  "  Catholic  organ."  Indeed,  if  this 
Know  Nothing  idea  be  true,  that  all  defenders  of  religious  freedom  are  "  Catho- 
lic organs,"  we  fear  it  will  turn  out,  at  last,  that  the  proscribed  denomination 
are  very  formidable  in  this  matter  of  organship.  George  Washington  and  the 
whole  convention  of  conscript  fathers  who  formed  the  American  Constitution 


281 

containing  provisions  in  favor  of  the  free  exercise  of  religion  and  denouncing 
religious  tests,  against  which  the  Higher  Law  Know  Nothings  of  oar  day  swear 
so  great  an  oath,  were  in  that  sense  "  Catholic  organs."  Madison  and  Jackson, 
as  will  appear  in  another  place  in  this  sheet,  were  likewise  in  the  same  category 
of  "  Catholic  organs/'  • 

Not  only  were  all  good  men  of  our  earlier  history  amenable  to  this  charge, 
but  many  bad  men  also;  for  the  famous  Thomas  Paine  wrote  himself  down  a 
"  Catholic  organ"  repeatedly  and  unmistakably,  in  defending  the  liberty  of  con- 
science ;  as,  for  instance,  thus  : 

"  Toleration  is  not  the  opposite  of  intolerance,  but  is  the  counterfeit  of  it. 
Both  are  despotisms.  The  one  assumes  to  itself  the  right  of  withholding  liberty 
of  conscience,  and  the  other  of  granting  it.  The  one  is  the  Pope  armed  with 
fire  and  faggot,  and  the  other  is  the  Pope  selling  or  granting  indulgences.  The 
former  is  Church  and  State,  and  the  latter  is  Church  and  traffic. 

But  toleration  may  be  viewed  in  a  much  stronger  light.  Man  worships  not 
himself,  but  his  Maker ;  and  the  liberty  of  conscience,  which  he  claims,  is  not 
for  the  service  of  himself,  but  of  his  God.  In  this  case,  therefore,  we  must  ne- 
cessarily have  the  associated  idea  of  two  beings  :  the  mortal  who  renders  the 
worship,  and  the  immortal  being  who  is  worshipped.  Toleration,  therefore, 
places  itself,  not  between  man  and  man,  nor  between  church  and  church,  nor 
between  one  denomination  of  religion  and  another,  but  between  God  and  man  : 
between  the  being  who  worships,  and  the  being  who  is  worshipped :  and  by  the 
same  act  of  assumed  authority,  by  which  it  tolerates  man  to  pay  his  worship, 
presumptuously  and  blasphemously  sets  itself  up  to  tolerate  the  Almighty  to 
.receive  it.  ^ 

Were  a  bill  brought  into  any  parliament,  entitled,  '  An  act  to  tolerate  or 
grant  liberty  to  the  Almighty  to  receive  the  worship  of  a  Jew  or  Turk ;'  or, 
'  to  prohibit  the  Almighty  from  receiving  it;'  all  men  would  startle  and  call  it 
blasphemy.  The  world  would  be  in  uproar.  Tue  presumption  of  toleration  in 
religious  matters  would  then  present  itself  unmasked  :  but  the  presumption  is 
not  the  less  because  the  name  of  '  man'  only  appears  to  these  laws,  for  the  as- 
sociated idea  of  the  worshipper  and  worshipped  cannot  be  separated.  Who, 
then,  art  thou,  vain  dust  and  ashes  !  by  whatever  name  thou  art  called,  whether 
a  king,  a  bishop,  a  church  or  a  state,  a  parliament  or  any  thing  else,  that  obtru- 
dest  thine  insignificance  between  the  soul  of  man  and  its  Maker  ?  Mine  own 
concerns.  If  he  believes  not  as  thou  believest,  it  is  a  proof  that  thou  believest 
not  as  he  believeth,  and  there  is  no  earthly  power  can  determine  between  you. 

With  respect  to  what  are  called  denominations  of  religion,  if  every  one  is 
left  to  judge  of  its  own  opinion,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  religion  that  is  wrong  : 
but  if  they  are  to  judge  of  each  other's  religion,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  re- 
ligion that  is  right;  and,  therefore,  all  the  world  is  right,  or  all  the  world  is 
wrong.  But  with  respect  to  religion  itself,  without  regard  to  names,  and  as  di- 
recting itself  from  the  universal  family  of  mankind  to  the  divine  object  of  all 
adoration,  it  is  man  bringing  to  his  Maker  the  fruits  of  his  heart;  and  though 
those  fruits  may  differ  from  each  other  like  fruits  of  the  earth,  the  grateful  tri- 
bute of  every  one  is  accepted. 

A  bishop  of  Durham  or  a  bishop  of  Winchester,  or  the  archbishop  who  leads 
the  dukes,  will  not  refuse  a  tythe — sheaf  of  wheat,  because  it  is  not  a  cock  of 
hay,  nor  a  cock  of  hay,  because  it  is  not  a  sheaf  of  wheat,  nor  a  pig,  because  it 
is  neither  one  nor  the  other;  but  these  same  persons,  under  the  figure  of  an 
established  church,  will  not  permit  their  Maker  to  receive  the  varied  tythes  of 
man's  devotion. 

One  of  the  continual  choruses  of  Mr.  Burke's  book  is  "  Church  and  State  :" 
he  does  not  mean  some  one  particular  Church,  or  some  one  particular  State,  but 
anti-Church  and  State  :  and  he  uses  the  term  as  a  general  figure,  to  hold  forth 


282 

tlie  political  doctrine  of  always  uniting  the  Church  with  the  State  in  every 
country,  and  he  censures  the  Rational  Assembly  for  not  having  done  this  in 
France.  Let  us  bestow  a  few  thoughts  on  this  subject. 

All  religions  are,  in  their  nature,  kind  and  benign,  and  united  with  principles 
of  morality.  They  could  not  have  made  proselytes  at  first  by  professing  any- 
thing that  was  vicious,  cruel,  persecuting  or  immoral.  Like  everything  else 
they  had  their  beginning  :  and  thus  proceeded  by  persuasion,  exhortation  and 
example.  How  is  it  then  that  they  loose  their  native  mildness,  and  become  mo- 
rose and  intolerant  ? 

It  proceeds  from  the  connection  which  Mr.  Burke  recommends.  By  engen- 
dering the  Church  with  the  State,  a  sort  of  mule  animal,  capable  only  of  des- 
troying, arid  not  of  breeding  up,  called  the  church  established  by  law.  It  is  a 
stranger,  even  from  its  birth,  to  any  parent  mother  on  which  it  is  begotten,  and 
whom  in  time  it  kicks  out  and  destroys. 

The  Inquisition  of  Spain  does  not  proceed  from  the  religion  originally  profes- 
sed, but  from  the  mule  animal  engendered  between  the  Church  and  State.  The 
burnings  in  Smithfield  proceeded  from  the  same  heterogeneous  production  : 
and  it  was  the  regeneration  of  this  animal  in  England  afterwards,  that 'renewed 
the  rancour  and  irreligion  atmong  the  inhabitants,  and  that  drove  the  people 
called  Quakers  and  Dissenters  to  America.  Persecution  is  not  an  original  fea- 
ture in  any  religion,  but  it  is  always  the  strongly  marked  feature  in  all  law  re- 
ligions, or  religions  established  by  law.  Take  away  the  law  establishment,  and 
every  religion  re-assumed  its  original  benignity. 

In  America,  a  Catholic  priest  is  a  good  citizen,  a  good  character,  and  a  good 
neighbor  •  an  Episcopalian  minister  is  of  the  same  description ;  and  this  pro- 
ceeds independently  of  the  men,  from  there  bei^g  no  law  establishment  in 
America. 

If  we  also  view  this  matter  in  a  temporal  sense,  we  shall  see  the  ill  effects  it 
has  had  on  the  prosperity  of  nations.  The  union  of  Church  and  State  has  im- 
poverished Spain.  The  revoking  the  edict  of  Nants  drove  the  silk  manufacture 
from  France  into  England  :  and  Church  and  State  are  now  driving  the  cotton 
manufacture  from  England  to  America  and  France.  It  is  by  observing  the  ill 
effects  of  it,  in  England,  that  America  has  been  warned  against  it,  and  it  is  by 
experiencing  them  in  France,  that  the  National  Assembly  have  abolished  it : 
and,  like  America,  have  established  universal  right  of  conscience,  and  universal 
right  of  citizenship." — Paine  s  Rights  of  Man,  part  1st. 

But  better  men  and  better  moralists  than  Paine  proved  themselves  "Catholic 
organs  "  in  full  as  decided  and  able  and  instructive  a  manner.  One  of  the 
most  lucid  and  popular  authors  upon  subjects  of  casuistry  and  religion,  Dy- 
mond,  writes  thus  : 

"  A  few,  and  only  a  few,  sentences,  will  be  allowed  to  the  writer  upon  the 
great,  the  very  great  question  of  extending  religious  liberty  to  the  Catholics  of 
these  kingdoms.  I  call  it  a  very  great  question,  not  because  of  the  difficulty  of 
deciding  it,  if  sound  principles  are  applied,  but  because  of  the  interests  that 
are  involved,  and  of  the  consequences  which  may  follow  if  those  principles 
are  not  applied. 

It  is  the  writer's  conviction,  that  full  Religious  Liberty  ought  to  be  extend- 
ed to  the  Catholics,  because  it  ought  to  be  extended  to  all  men. 

If  a  Catholic  acts  in  opposition  to  the  public  welfare,  diminish  or  take  away 
his  freedom  ;  if  he  thinks  amiss,  let  him  enjoy  his  freedom  undiminished. 

To  this  I  know  of  but  one  objection  that  is  worth  noting  here — that  they  are 
harmless,  only  because  they  have  not  the  power  of  doing  mischief,  and  that 
they  wait  only  for  the  power  to  do  it.  But  they  say  this  is  not  the  case ;  we 
have  no  s^ch  intentions  !  Now,  in  all  reason,  you  must  believe  them,  or  show- 
that  they  are  unworthy  of  belief.  If  you  believe  them,  Religious  Liberty  fol- 


283 

lows  of  course.  Can  you  then  show  that  they  are  unworthy  of  belief.  Where 
is  your  evidence  ? 

You  say  their  allegiance  is  divided  between  the  king  and  a  foreign  power. 
They  reply  '  It  is  not.'  We  hold  ourselves  bound,  in  conscience,  to  obey  the 
civil  government  in  all  things  of  a  temporal  and  civil  nature,  notwithstanding 
any  dispensation  to  the  contrary,  from  the  Pope  or  Church  of  Rome. 

You  say  their  declarations  and  oaths  do  not  bind  them,  because  they  hold 
that  they  can  be  dispensed  from  the  obligation  of  an  oath  by  the  Pope.  They 
reply  '  We  do  net.'  We  hold  that  the  obligation  of  an  oath  is  most  sacred  ; 
that  no  power  whatever  can  dispense  with  any  oath  by  which  a  Catholic  has 
confirmed  his  duty  of  allegiance  to  his  sovereign,  or  any  obligation  of  duty  to  a 
third  person. 

You  say  they  hold  that  faith  is  not  to  be  kept  with  heretics.  They  reply, 
1  We  do  not.'  British  Catholics  say  they  have  solemnly  sworn  that  they  re- 
ject and  detest  that  unchristian  and  impious  principle,  that  faith  is  not  to  be 
kept  with  heretics  or  infidels.  These  declarations  are  taken  from*  a  '  Declara- 
tion of  the  Catholic  Bishops,  the  Vicars,  Apostles,  their  co-adjutors,  in  Great 
Britain,  1825/  They  are  signed  by  the  Catholic  Bishops  of  Great  Britain, 
and  are  approved  in  an  '  address  '  signed  by  eight  Catholic  Peers,  and  a  large 
number  of  other  persons  of  rank  and  character. 

Now,  I  ask  of  those  who  contend  for  the  Catholic  disabilities,  what  proof  do 
you  bring  that  these  men  are  trying  to  deceive  you  ?  I  can  anticipate  no 
answer,  because  I  have  heard  none.  Will  you,  then,  content  yourselves  by  say- 
ing, we  will  not  believe  them  ?  This  would  be  at  least  the  candid  course,  and 
the  world  might  then  perceive  that  our  conduct  was  regulated  not  by  reason, 
but  by  prejudice  or  the  consciousness  of  power.  It  is  unwarrantable  to  infer, 
a  priori,  and  contrary  to  the  professions  and  declarations  of  the  persons  hold- 
ing such  opinions,  that  their  opinions  could  induce  acts  injurious  to  the  com- 
mon weal.  But,  if  nothing  can  be  said  to  show  that  the  Catholic  declarations 
do  not  bind  them,  something  can  be  said  to  show  that  they  do.  If  declarations 
be  indeed  so  little  binding  upon  their  consciences,  how  comes  it  to  pass  that 
they  do  not  make  those  declarations  which  would  remove  their  disabilities,  get 
a  dispensation  from  the  Pope,  and  so  enjoy  both  the  privileges  and  an  easy  con- 
science. Why,  if  their  oaths  and  declarations  did  not  bind  them,  they 
would  get  rid  of  their  disabilities  to-morrow  !  Nothing  is  wanting  but  a  few 
hypocritical  declarations,  and  Catholic  Emancipation  is  effected.  Why  do  they 
not  make  the  declarations  ?  Because  their  icords  bind  them.  And  yet,  (so 
groes  is  the  absurdity,)  although  it  is  their  conscientiousness  which  keeps  them 
out  of  office,  we  say  they  are  to  be  kept  out  because  they  are  not  conscientious  ! 
I  forbear  further  inquiry,  but  I  could  not  with  satisfaction,  avoid  applying  what 
I  conceive  to  be  the  sound  principles  of  political  rectitude  to  this  great  ques- 
tion j  arid  let  no  man  allow  his  prejudices  or  his  fears  to  prevent  him  from  ap- 
plying them  to  this,  as  to  every  other  political  subject.  Justice  and  Truth  are 
not  to  be  sacrificed  to  our  weakness  and  apprehensions  j  and  I  believe  that,  if 
the  people  and  legislature  of  this  country  (Great  Britain)  will  adhere  to  justice 
and  truth  with  regard  to  our  Catholic  brethren,  they  will  find,  ere  long,  that 
they  have  on)y  been  delaying  the  welfare  of  the  Empire" — Demand's  Essays 
on  Morality. 


RELIGIOUS  TOLERATION  BEFORE  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION. — More 
than  a  hundred  years  before  the  declaration  of  independence,  the  American 
colonies  asserted,  and  the  British  monarchs  granted,  the  great  doctrines 
of  religious  tolerance.  In  1662,  the  sovereign  of  England  declared  "the 
principles  and  foundation  of  the  charter  of  Massachusetts  to  be  the  freedom 


284 

of  liberty  of  conscience  !"  But  from  the  moment  that  the  idea  of  making 
an  English  settlement  in  Maryland  occurred  to  the  just  and  high-souled 
Calverf,  Lord  Baltimore,  which  was  early  in  1600,  the  idea  of  religious  tol- 
eration became  as  precious  to  American  adventurers  and  settlers  as  the  air 
which  they  breathed  or  the  lives  they  had  dedicated  to  the  New  World.  In 
1636,  every  other  country  in  the  world  had  persecuting  laws  but  Maryland  ; 
and  at  that  early  day  the  oath  of  a  governor  of  Maryland  was  :  "  I  will  not, 
by  myself,  or  any  other,  directly  or  indirectly,  molest  any  one  professing  to 
believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  for  or  in  respect  of  religion.  At  a  moment  when 
the  overthrow  of  the -monarchy  in  the  mother  country  was  about  to  place  in 
the  hands  of  Cromwell,  the  embittered  enemy  of  the  Romism  church,  un- 
limited power,  the  Catholics  of  Maryland  (April  21,  1649)  placed  the  fol- 
lowing law  upon  their  statute-book :  "  And  whereas  the  enforcing  of  the 
conscience  in  matters  of  religion  hath  frequently  fallen  out  to  be  of  danger- 
ous consequence  in  those  Commonwealths  where  it  has  been  practised,  and 
for  the  more  quite  and  peacable  government  of  this  province,  and  the  bet- 
ter to  preserve  mutual  love  and  amity  among  the  inhabitants,  no  person 
within  this  province,  professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  shall  be  any  ways 
troubled,  molested  or  discountenanced,  for  his  or  her  religion,  or  in  the  free 
exercise  thereof."  The  "  friends  of  prelacy"  who  were  disfranchised  in 
Massachusetts,  and  the  Puritans  who  were  "vexed"  in  Virginia,  were  wel- 
comed to  equal  political  and  civil  liberty  in  Catholic  Maryland.  The  man- 
ner in  which  Lord  Baltimore  was  persecuted  and  denounced — thrown  out 
his  rights  by  usurpers — and  in  turn  proscribed  by  the  very  persuasion  he 
had  tolerated  and  protected — and  yet  his  noble  and  constant  adherence  to 
the  doctrine  of  religious  freedom  and  political  equality,  whether  in  public  or 
in  private  life — are  embalmed  in  the  history  and  in  the  remembrance  of 
the  world. 

High  upon  the  roll  of  fame  will  shine  the  name  of  Lord  Baltimore,  made 
glorious  in  the  person  of  Sir  George  Calvert,  and  sustained  in  that  of  his 
son,  Cecil  Calvert.  At  a  time  when  the  nation  was  overrun  with  the  foes 
of  the  holy  right  of  the  freedom  of  conscience,  Lord  Baltimore  set  an  ex- 
ample that  to  this  day  bears  perennial  blessings  upon  all.  Ever  green  be 
his  immortal  memory!  The  ingrates  who  assail  the  reputation  of  the  illus- 
trious dead — their  rude  ribaldry  over  his  honored  grave — their  ignorant  de- 
nial of  services  that  are  printed  in  the  pages  of  impartial  history — will  not 
deprive  him  of  his  claims  upon  the  gratitude  of  all  generations  of  civilized 
and  Christian  people. 

The  progress  of  religious  toleration  in  New  England  was  marked  by  gi- 
gantic and  almost  incredible  perils.  The  heart  sickens  over  the  recital. 
And  in  proportion  as  we  feel  proud  and  glad  at  the  exhibition  of  the  Catho- 
lic Calvert's  liberal  and  generous  policy  in  Maryland,  we  are  oppressed  and 
grieved  by  the  details  of  Catholic  persecutions  in  England  during  the  reign 
of  Mary.  But  the  religious  toleration  which  flourished  under  a  Catholic 
proprietor  in  the  New  World  grew  up  defiantly  in  the  face  of  Catholic  illib- 
erality  in  the  Old  World.  It  was  precious  in  both  cases  ;  but  more  perilous 
to  maintain  and  to  defend  in  the  latter  than  in  the  former.  Nor  were  the 
Puritans  mnch  safer  under  the  Protestant  rule  of  Elizabeth.  Prescriptive 
decrees  were  passed  against  them  commanding  conformity,  and  some  of  their 
most  beloved  leaders  were  executed.  But  still  their  increase  in  numbers 
could  not  be  arrested.  Under  James  they  suffered  fearfully  ;  and,  finally, 
in  order  to  worship  God  without  the  fear  of  man,  and  to  be  able  to  assert  the 
divine  right  of  conscience,  in  1607  a  number  of  reformers  fled  to  Holland, 
where  they  arrived  after  terrible  privations.  They  remained  in  Holland 
about  eleven  years.  In  1620  they  left  for  the  New  World,  and  soon  after 
their  arrival  established  themselves  at  Plymouth.  Their  sufferings  for  long 


285 

years,  from  the  climate,  from  starvation,  from  the  ravages  of  the  Indians, 
and  from  their  distant  foes,  as  we  read  in  their  sad  but  eloquent  story,  make 
the  heart  bleed.  Throughout  all,  they  asserted  and  maintained  that  principle 
of  religious  toleration  to  preserve  which  they  fled  from  their  fatherland. 
Population  advanced  slowly  for  long  years  ;  few  followed  their  despairing 
fortunes:  but  through  all  "they  worshiped  God  under  their  own  vine  and 
under  their  own  fig  tree,  with  none  to  molest  or  to  make  them  afraid."  It 
would  compensate  for  the  trouble  if  some  eloquent  writer  would  go  back  to 
those  days  of  the  past,  and  contrast  the  perils  and  the  persecutions  endured 
by  these  early  Christians — the  loss  of  fortune  and  of  life — to  sustain  a  prin- 
ciple now  madly  assailed  by  those  who  boast  at  the  same  time  of  being  the 
offspring  of  such  ancestors,  and  trample  their  holiest  prerogative  under  foot 
as  if  toleration  were  the  teaching  of  sin  itself ! 

In  1631,  however,  there  reached  the  shores  of  Nastaket  one  of  those 
men  whose  character  impresses  itself  upon  coming  generations,  and  whose 
virtues  outweigh  all  the  honors  of  merely  military  chieftains.  He  was  the 
champion  of  religious  toleration,  and  almost  its  martyr.  He  contended  for 
it  against  all  local  fanaticisms,  offended  his  own  friends  by  his  heroic  forti- 
tude, and  was  finally  expelled  from  the  Massachusetts  colony  for  his  adhe- 
rence to  this  immortal  doctrine.  We  allude  to  Roger  Williams.  Let  those 
who  now  scoff  at  the  right  of  conscience,  and  who  dare  to  lay  their  hands 
upon  that  sacred  element  of  freedom — let  them  contemplate  the  character 
and  the  example  of  this  heroic  spirit;  and  if  they  do  not  feel  overwhelmed 
with  the  consciousness  of  their  own  insignificance  and  ingratitude,  we  shall 
be  deceived.  Behold  the  picture  of  this  brave  and  noble  leader  as  drawn 
by  the  glowing  pencil  of  Bancroft:  "  In  1631  he  was  but  little  more  than 
thirty  years  of  age ;  but  his  mind  had  already  matured  a  doctrine  which  se- 
cures him  an  immortality  of  fame,  as  its  application  has  given  religious 
peace  to  the  American  world.  He  was  a  Puritan,  and  a  fugitive  from  Eng- 
lish persecution  ;  but  his  wrongs  had  not  clouded  his  accurate  understand- 
ing: in  the  capacious  recesses  of  his  mind  he  had  revolved  the  nature  of 
intolerance,  and  he,  and  he  alone,  had  arrived  at  the  great  principle  which 
is  its  sole  effectnal  remedy.  He  announced  his  discovery  under  the  simple 
proposition  of  the  sanctity  of  conscience.  The  civil  magistrate  should  re- 
strain crime,  but  never  control  opinion  ;  should  punish  guilt,  but  should  never 
violate  the  freedom  of  the  soul.  The  doctrine  contained  within  itself 
an  entire  reformation  of  theological  jurisprudence;  it  would  blot  from  the 
statute-book  the  felony  of  non-con  for  rryty ;  would  quench  the  fires  that  per- 
secution had  kept  so  long  burning;  would  repeal  every  law  compelling  at- 
tendance on  public  worship ;  would  abolish  tithes  and  all  forced  contributions 
to  the  maintenance  of  religion  ;  would  give  an  equal  protection  to  every 
form  of  religious  faith  ;  and  never  suffer  the  authority  of  the  civil  govern- 
ment to  be  enlisted  against  the  mosque  of  the  Mussulman  or  the  altar  of  the 
fire  worshiper,  against  the  Jewish  synagogue  or  Roman  cathedral.  '  * 

"  But  the  principles  of  Roger  Williams  led  him  into  perpetual  collision 
with  the  clergy  and  government  of  Massachusetts.  It  had  ever  been  their 
custom  to  respect  the  church  of  England,  and  in  the  mother  country  they 
frequented  its  service  without  scruple ;  yet  its  principles  and  its  adminis- 
tration were  harshly  exclusive.  Williams  would  hold  no  communion  with 
intolerance ;  for,  said  he,  'the  doctrine  of  persecution  for  cause  of  con- 
science is  most  evidently  and  lamentably  contrary  to  the  doctrine  of  Christ 
Jesus.'  *  * 

"  But  the  controversy  finally  turned  on  the  question  of  the  rights  and  duty 
of  magistrates  to  guard  the  minds  of  the  people  against  corruption,  and  to 
punish  what  would  seem  to  them  error  and  heresy.  Magistrates,  Williams 
protested,  are  but  the  agents  of  the  people,  or  its  trustees,  on  whom  no  spir- 


286 

itnal  power  in  matters  of  worship  can  ever  be  conferred ;  since  conscience 
belongs  to  the  individual,  and  is  not  the  property  of  the  body  politic  ;  and 
with  admirable  dialectics  clothing  the  great  truth  in  its  boldest  and  most  gen- 
eral forms,  he  asserted  that  the  civil  magistrate  may  not  intermeddle  e-ven 
to  stop  a  church  from  apostacy  and  heresy  ;  'that  this  power  extends  only 
to  the  bodies  and  goods  and  outward  estates  of  men.'  With  corresponding 
distinctness,  he  foresaw  the  influence  of  his  principles  on  society.  'The 
removal  of  the  yoke  of  soul-oppression/  to  use  the  words  in  which,  at  a 
later  day,  he  confirmed  his  early  view,  'as  it  will  prove  an  act  of  mercy  and 
righteousness  to  the  enslaved  nations,  so  it  is  of  binding  force  to  engage  the 
whole  and  every  interest  and  conscience  to  preserve  the  common  liberty 
and  peace.'  *  *  * 

"When  summoned  to  appear  before  the  general  court,  he  avowed  his 
convictions  in  the  presence  of  the  representatives  of  the  state,  'maintained 
the  rocky  strength  of  his  grounds,'  and  declared  himself  'ready  to  be  bound 
and  banished,  and  even  to  die  in  New  England,'  rather  than  renounce  the 
opinions  which  had  dawned  upon  his  mind  in  the  clearness  of  light.  At  a 
time  when  Germany  was  the  battle-field  for  all  Europe  in  the  implacable 
wars  of  religion ;  when  even  Holland  was  bleeding  with  the  anger  of 
vengeful  factions;  when  France  was  still  to  go  through  the  fearful  struggle 
with  bigotry ;  when  England  was  gasping  under  the  despotism  of  intoler- 
ance, almost  half  a  century  before  William  Penn  became  an  American  pro- 
prietary, and  two  years  before  Descartes  founded  modern  philosophy  on 
the  method  of  free  reflection,  Roger  Williams  asserted  the  doctrine  of  in- 
tellectual liberty.  It  became  his  glory  to  found  a  state  on  that  principle, 
and  to  stamp  himself  upon  its  rising  institutions  in  characters  so  deep  that 
the  impress  has  remained  to  the  present  day,  and  can  never  be  erased  with- 
out the  total  destruction  of  the  work.  The  principles  which  he  first  sus- 
tained amidst  the  bickerings  of  a  colonial  parish,  next  asserted  in  the  gen- 
eral court  of  Massachusetts,  and  then  introduced  into  the  wilds  on  Narra- 
gansett  bay,  he  soon  found  occasion  to  publish  to  the  world,  and  to  defend 
as  the  basis  of  the  religious  freedom  of  mankind ;  so  that,  borrowing  the 
rhetoric  employed  by  his  antagonist  in  derision,  we  may  compare  him  to  the 
lark,  the  pleasant  bird  of  the  peaceful  summer,. that,  'affecting  to  soar  aloft, 
springs  upward  from  the  ground,  takes  his  rise  from  pale  to  tree,'  and  at  last, 
surmounting  the  highest  hills,  utters. his  clear  carols  through  the  skies  of 
morning.  He  was  the  first  person  in  modern,  Christendom  to  assert  in  its 
plenitude  the  doctrine  of  the  liberty  of  conscience,  the  equality  of  opinions 
before  law,  and  in  its  defence  he  was  the  harbinger  of  Milton,  the  precursor 
and  the  superior  of  Jeremy  Taylor."  *  *  * 

[After  being  expelled  from  Massachusetts,  Roger  Williams  went  out  to 
seek  a  home  for  himself:] 

"  It  was  in  June  that  the  law-giver  of  Rhode  Island,  with  five  compan-* 
ions,  embarked  on  the  stream  ;  a  frail  Indian  canoe  contained  the  founder  of 
an  independent  state  and  its  earliest  citizens.  Tradition  'has  marked  the 
spring  near  which  they  landed  ;  it  is  the  parent  spot,  the  first  inhabited  nook 
of  Rhode  Island.  To  express  his  unbroken  confidence  in  the  mercies  of 
God,  Williams  called  the  place  PROVIDENCE.  'I  desired,'  said  he,  'it  might 
be  for  a  shelter  for  persons  distressed  for  conscience.'  " 

These  are  taken  from  examples  of  American  history  long  before  the  revo- 
lutionary war,  and  before  the  declaration  of  independence.  We  shall  re- 
serve to  another  occasion  the  reproduction  of  the  model  character  of  William 
Penn — a  portrait  entitled  to  a  high  place  in  the  galaxy  of  which  Calvert  and 
Williams  were  unfading  stars.  But  what  a  retrospect  is  opened  to  the  in- 
quiring mind  by  these  reminiscenses  !  We  see  a  simple  Bible  truth — a  plain 
principle  in  politics — prevailing  over  bigotted  and  cruel  kings.  We  see  the 


287 

wisest  statesmen  of  a  brilliant  reign  yielding  to  this  principle  ;  men  perish- 
ing for  it  at  the  burning  stake  in  order  that  posterity  might  feel  its  value  ; 
others  stealing  off  to  strange  lands  with  their  feeble  wives  and  little  chil- 
dren ;  others  hunted  like  wild  beasts,  and  finally  Christians  flying  for  a 
refuge  from  intolerance  to  a  far-distant  world — a  new  asylum — and  meet- 
ing there  the  rigors  of  a  harsh  climate,  of  prostrating  diseases,  of  sav- 
age foes — all  that  the  seed  of  religious  freedom  and  liberty  of  conscience 
might  not  perish,  but  might  be  the  beginning  of  a  great  nation  in  the  future 
under  the  canopy  of  whose  institutions  all  nations  might  find  a  home,  safe 
from  king  and  Kaiser,  screened  from  fanaticism  and  hatred,  and  equal 
alike  before  God  and  man  ! 


One  of  the  first  bad  deeds  of  the  Know  Noth'ng  Governor  of  .Massachu setts, 
after  his  election  in  1855,  was  the  disbanding  of  several  military  companies, 
composed  of  foreign  born  citizens. 

JOHN  MITCHELL,  the  Irish  patriot  and  refugee,  published  the  following  ad- 
mirable and  scathing  article  upon  the  subject  in  his  paper,  The  Citizen. 

DISARMING    OF  CITIZENS— THE   FIRST   STEP  TOWARDS   DES- 
POTISM. 

He  must  be  a  grossly  ignorant  Celt,  indeed,  who  docs  not  know  the  principles 
of  Republican  freedom  better  than  Mr.  Gardner,  Governor  of  Massachusetts. 
Mr.  Gardner  holds  "  that  the  foreigner  shall  enjoy  all  the  blessings  of  this 
country ;  but  that  the  natives  shall  continue  to  administer  the  laws,  according 
to  their  own  judgment  and  the  example  of  their  fathers."  Therefore  Governor 
Gardner  has  not  the  least  idea  what  the  blessings  of  this  country  are  (or  rather 
were)  when  he  excludes  from  the  number  of  those  blessings  the  equal  capacity 
of  all  citizens  to  "  administer  the  laws"  and  to  do  every  other  civic  duty  and 
exercise  every  other  civic  right.  When  he  presumes  to  cite  the  example  of  his 
fathers  for  this,  if  he  means  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  he  is  right  enough  ; — for  they 
had  little  notion  of  republican  freedom  or  any  other  freedom — but  if  he  means 
the  Fathers  of  the  American  Revolution,  then  he  blasphemes  his  fathers  and 
stultifies  his  fathers'  son.  His  fathers  did  not  call  a  naturalized  citizen  "  the 
foreigner  j"  his  fathers  did  not  claim  for  natives  the  sole  administration  of  the 
law.  His  fathers  knew  what  were  the  blessings  of  the  Revolution  they  achieved 
nml  of  the  country  they  created ;  and  they  made  laws  inviting  all  mankind  to 
come  and  participate  in  those  blessings  upon  equal  terms.  His  fathers  little 
thought  they  would  be  so  unlucky  as  to  beget  a  Know  Nothing. 

However,  he  has  begun  the  work ;  knowing  nothing,  and  we  suppose  caring 
nothing,  how  it  may  end.  k<  To  cultivate  a  living  and  energetic  nationality — 
to  develop  a  high  and  vital  patriotism,"  he  has  commenced  his  term  of  office  by 
issuing  an  order  to  disband  all  militia  companies  of  the  State,  whose  members 
were  lorn  in  other  lands — or  as  he  clearly  expresses  it,  "  Companies  composed 
of  foreign  birth."  Whether  he  has  by  law  the  power  to  carry  his  ukase  into 
effect  is  another  question,  which  we  are  glad  to  see  will  be  tried  with  him  ;  but 
in  the  mean  time,  so  far  as  in  him  lies,  he  revokes  the  invitation  of  his  fathers 
after  it  has  been  accepted  by  millions  of  men — after  they  have  abandoned  the 
crowded  and  crushed  lands  of  Europe,  their  home,  their  kindred,  and  what 
citizenship  they  had  there, — and  declares  his  resolution  to  cheat  them,  by  penal 
disabilities  and  disqualifications,  which  would  make  them  citizens  but  in  name, 
helots  in  fact. 


288 

This  is  what  Governor  Gardner  calls  Americanizing  America.  But  he  has 
other  plans,  this  Jearned  Governor — "  To  retain  the  Bible  (that  is  the  Protes- 
tant Bible)  in  our  Common  Schools,  and  to  keep  entire  the  separation  of  the 
Church  and  the  State."  Obviously  he  is  in  a  state  of  the  most  innocent  uncon- 
sciousness that  these  two  suggestions  destroy  one  another.  To  expend  the  taxes 
of  the  whole  people  in  maintaining  institutions  (call  them  schools  or  conventi- 
cles, or  what  you  will)  that  only  a  part  of  the  people  can  use  by  reason  of  some 
one  sort  of  religion  being  taught  there — this  is  not  separation,  but  connexion, 
of  Church  and  State.  We  do  not  mean  to  make  an  elaborate  criticism  on  the 
Massachusetts  inaugural.  It  is  all  like  what  we  have  quoted — ignorance,  bad 
sense,  bad  feeling,  and  bad  English.  But  what  we  do  mean  to  do  is  to  address 
a  few  words  of  advice  to  naturalized  citizens  in  the  premises.  . 

It  may  be  assumed  that  Governor  Gardner's  principles  and  measures  will  in 
the  present  temper  of  the  public  mind,  be  popular,  and  be  imitated  in  other 
States.  In  fact  Know  Nothing  Governors  may  even  attempt  to  improve  upon 
them,  and  invent  some  original  and  more  ingenious  oppression.  It  would  not  be 
easy,  just  now  to  go  too  far  in  that  direction.  It  is  full  time  that  the  people  against 
whom  all  these  blows  and  insults  are  aimed  should  take  counsel  together,  should 
ascertain  whether  they  are  indeed  citizens  in  the  true  and  full  meaning  of  the 
term,  if  not,  then  what  position  they  are  to  consider  themselves  as  holding  in 
America  henceforth, — and  in  the  mean  time  what  measures  can  be  taken  to 
avert  the  evils  which  the  present  proscription  may  bring  upon  themselves  and 
their  adopted  country. 

In  the  first  place  we  must  remark  the  fact  which  no  doubt  Governor  Gardner 
knows  well  enough — that  the  separate  military  organizations,  whether  of  Irish 
or  of  German  citizens,  although  certainly  an  evil,  are  fully  as  much  owing  to 
the  separate  organizations  of  native  Americans  as  to  any  disposition  on  the  part 
of  either  Irish  or  Germans  to  isolate  themselves.  There  are  companies  in  New 
York  which  do  not  admit  a  foreign-born  soldier,  and  doubtless  in  Boston  too. 
These  native  Americans  will  not  take  the  word  of  command  from  a  foreign-born 
officer ;  so  that  if  a  naturalized  citizen,  no  matter  how  educated  and  intelligent, 
were  even  admitted  into  those  corps  he  must  be  a  full  private.  The  plain  con- 
sequence is  that  naturalized  citizens  desirous  of  bearing  arms  under  the  flag  of 
their  adopted  country,  if  they  will  not  submit  to  humiliation,  must,  form  corps 
of  their  own.  We  say  this  is  an  evil ;  but  it  is  directly  produced  by  the  intol- 
erance of  the  natives ;  yet  the  natives  think  themselves  entitled  to  cry  out  in 
condemnation  of  it. 

Since  the  CITIZEN  was  established,  seeing  that  the  existence  of  separate  Irish, 
German  and  Native  American  companies  could  not  be  helped,  we  have  earnestly 
endeavored  to  impress  upon  the  Irish  soldier,  what  indeed  we  believe  every 
Irish  soldier  feels  without  being  tutored — that  he  bears  arms  solely  for  his 
adopted  country,  whose  laws  he  is  bound  to  obey,  and  whose  flag  and  constitu- 
tion he  is  to  defend  with  his  life.  We  have  loudly  condemned  the  anomaly 
and  absurdity  of  what  is  called  "  the  Irish  vote/'  (another  mischief  invented 
and  used  by  American  politicians)  and  exhorted  our  countrymen  not  to  vote  in 
masses  or  in  batches,  as  Irishmen,  nor  suffer  electioneering  intriguers  to  "  make 
capital"  of  them  by  a  few  blarneying  phrases.  We  have  preached  to  them  that 
here  they  are  never  to  forget  they  are  Americans,  and  exhorted  them  to  be  obe- 
dient to  the  laws,  and  to  rely  on  the  justice  of  their  fellow  citizens  and  on  the 
majesty  of  the  constitution. 

We  repeat  that  advice  still  more  earnestly  now.  Let  no  irritation  at  an  in- 
solent aggression  tempt  us  to  be  false  to  the  obligations  we  have  taken  upon  us. 
In  the  difficulties  that  are  approaching,  let  the  Know  Nothings  be  still,  as  they 
are  now,  wholly  in  the  wrong. 

But  whut  is  of  more  importance  still — submit  to  no  brand  of  inferiority,  no 
shadow  of  disparagement,  at  the  hand  of  these  natives.  You  are  their  equals 


289 

by  law;  you  arc  their  equals  every  way.  Disbandment  of  a  military  company 
is  a  direct  imputation  of  misconduct :  and  we  are  happy  to  find  that  Col.  Butler 
of  Lowell  refuses  to  brook  the  outrage.  He  declines  to  transmit  the  order  for 
disbandtnent  to  his  captains,  invites  a  Court  Martial,  and  appeals  to  the  law — 
for  there  is  still  an  appeal  to  the  law.  And  the  Shields!  Artillery  of  Boston 
have  taken  like  action  in  the  case.  If,  however,  the  final  decision  be  against 
them  and  against  Col.  Butler,  and  if  the  military  companies  of  foreign  birth 
are  actually  disarmed  and  disbanded,  then  for  every  musket  given  into  the 
State  Armory,  let  three  be  purchased  forthwith  ;  let  independent  companies  be 
formed,  thrice  as  numerous  as  the  disbanded  corps — there  are  no  Arms  Acts 
here  yet — and  let  every  "  foreigner"  be  drilled  and  trained,  and  have  his  arras 
always  ready.  For  you  may  be  very  sure,  (having  some  experience  in  that 
matter)  that  those  who  begin  by  disarming  you,  mean  to  do  you  a  mischief. 

Be  careful  not  to  truckle  in  the  smallest  particular  to  American  prejudices. 
Yield  not  a  single  jot  of  your  own  }  for  you  have  as  good  a  right  to  your  preju- 
dices as  they.  Do  not,  by  any  means,  suffer  Gardner's  Bible  to  be  thrust  down 
your  throats.  Do  not  abandon  your  post,  or  renounce  your  functions,  as  citizens 
or  as  soldiers,  but  after  resort  to  the  last  and  highest  tribunal  of  law  open  to 
you  ;  keep  the  peace ;  attempt  no  "  demonstrations  •"  discourage  drunkenness, 
and  stand  to  your  arms. 

It  is  hardly  to  be  conceived  that  the  madness  of  faction  and  the  insolence  of 
race  will  proceed  to  such  a  length  as  to  disarm  independent  companies, -or  private 
men.  If  they  do,  then  the  Constitution  is  at  an  end — the  allegiance  you  have 
sworn  to  this  Republic  is  annulled. 

Would  to  God  that  thoughtful  and  just  Americans  would  bethink  themselves 
in  time.  They  are  strong :  they  far  outnumber  the  foreign  born :  they 
are  proud  and  flushed  with  national  glory  and  prosperity  :  doubtless  they 
can  if  they  will,  do  great  and  grievous  wrong  to  a  race  that  has  never  wronged 
them  : — but  seriously,  earnestly  we  assure  them,  the  naturalized  citizens  will 
not  submit.  This  senseless  feud  must  be  reconciled  :  there  must  be  peace  : 
peace  or  else  a  war  of  extermination.  We  are  here  on  American  ground,  either 
as  citizens  or  as  enemies. 


HAS  EMIGRATION  INJURED  OUR  COUNTRY? 

It  is  stated — we  know  not  how  truly — that  the  Legislature  of  Wisconsin  has 
unanimously  passed  resolutions  against  any  alteration  of  the  naturalization  laws. 
This  item  of  news  has  suggested  some  reflections  on  the  subject  of  emigration, 
which  may  not  be  inapplicable  to  present  politics. 

In  1840  the  entire  population  of  Wisconsin  was  30,945. 

In  1850  the  entire  population  of  Wisconsin  was  305,391 — being  an  increase 
in  ten  years  of  886.88  per  cent.  ! 

Of  this  305,391  souls,  110,477  were  born  in  foreign  countries,  and  but  54,479 
within  the  State  of  Wisconsin. 

There  are  many  other  evidences  of  the  value  of  emigration  which  deserve 
notice. 

Chicago,  that  wonder  of  the  lakes,  which  twelve  years  ago  was  no  larger  than 
an  ordinary  village,  and  which  is  now  one  of  the  great  depots  of  the  far  West, 
had  a  population  of  30,000  two  years  ago.  Of  this  number  about  one  half  is- 
composed  of  citizens  born  in  other  countries. 

Take  next  the  city  of  Milwaukie,  Wisconsin,  which  has  only  risen  into  notice 
within  a  few  years,  and  we  find  there  a  population  of  20,000  three  years  ago,  of 
which  12,782  are  adopted  citizens  from  Germany  and  Ireland. 
19 


290 

* 

Cincinnati,  the  queen  city  of  the  West,  has  a  population  of  115,435,  of  which 
54,500  are  adopted  citizens  from  Germany  and  Ireland. 

St.  Louis  is  another  wonder.  In  1852  it  had  a  population  of  about  78,000, 
of  which  38,397  were  born  in  foreign  countries — chiefly  from  England,  Wales, 
Ireland  and  Germany. 

New  Orleans  has  a  population  of  50,470  native-born  to  48,601  foreign-born — 
mainly  from  Ireland,  France  and  Germany. 

Detroit  numbers  11,055  native  to  9,927  foreign-born. 
Boston  has  88,948  native  to  46,667  foreign-born. 
Philadelphia  has  286,346  native  to  121,699  foreign-born. 
It  appears,  says  the  Compendium  of  the  Census,  compiled  by  Mr.  DeBow, 
that  there  were,  in  1850,  in  the  United  States,  961,719  persons  born  in  Ire- 
land; 278,675  born  in  England;  70,550  in  Scotland;  29,868  in  Wales— ma- 
king  a  total  for  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  of  1,340,812,  which  is  considerably 
more  than  one  half  of  the  total  foreign-born  residents  in  the  United  States.  If  Bri- 
tish America  be  added,  (147,711,)  there  will  be  a  total  of  1,488,523,  which 
makes  two  thirds  of  the  total  foreign-born.    From  France  there  are  54,069  ;  from 
Prussia,  10,549 ;  from  the  rest  of  Germany,  573,225 ;  and  some  80,000  from 
other  countries,  including  Mexico. 

Closely  and  inseparably  connected  with  this  view  of  the  subject,  are  the  enor- 
mous and  increasing  resources  opened  by  this  emigration  to  our  commerce,  ma- 
nufactures, agriculture,  and  hence  to  the  revenues  of  the  general  government. 
The  amount  of  shipping  employed  is  itself  an  item  worthy  of  reflection.  New 
York,  which  is  the  point  at  which  most  of  the  emigration  from  the  Old  World 
arrives,  thence  to  take  its  departure  over  the  States  of  the  Union,  had  in  1821 
a  tonnage  equal  to  21,726,634,  and  in  thirty  years  after  (1851)  its  tonnage  was 
equal  to  106,568,635  !  This  ratio  holds  good  as  to  other  cities.  We  have  no 
data  by  which  to  estimate  the  large  amount  of  coin  that  follows  and  accompa- 
nies emigration  to  the  United  States;  and  this  is  an  element  of  first-rate  im- 
portance. Arrest  emigration  and  the  first  interest  to  feel  the  blow  will  be  that 
of  commerce. 

What  emigration  has  done  for  agriculture,  the  statistics  of  the  Western  States 
will  show  to  the  curious  inquirer.  Every  foot  of  uncultivated  soil  that  is  res- 
cued for  the  purposes  of  civilization  by  the  teeming  thousands  that  pour  into 
the  wilderness  of  the  far  West  is  made  to  add  to  the  enormous  products  that 
have  made  this  the  granary  of  the  world,  and  to  every  other  interest  in  every 
State  of  the  Union,  because  where  these  masses  of  citizens  do  not  produce  they 
consume,  giving  to  manufacturers  a  market  on  the  one  hand,  and  aiding  to  feed 
starving  millions  upon  the  other. 

There  is  probably  no  element  that  enters  so  largely,  and  at  the  same  time  so 
convincingly,  into  the  discussion  of  the  question  of  the  value  of  emigration  to 
the  United  States,  as  that  which  relates  to  the  public  lands.  Here  is  a  subject 
worthy  of  the  noblest  efforts  of  the  intellect.  Regarded  from  every  point  of 
view,  it  inspires  the  most  profound  ideas,  and  fills  the  mind  of  the  citizen  with 
sublime  anticipations  of  his  country's  greatness.  Indissolubly  connected  with 
the  question  of  revenue,  it  suggests  to  us  a  bulwark  against  a  world  in  arms. 
In  peace  it  promises  to  support  a  government  without  taxation,  and  so  enforces 
the  great  idea  of  free  trade  with  the  nations  of  the  earth.  In  war  it  furnishes 
us  with  the  means  to  protect  ourselves  against  the  invader.  Every  year  fills  up 
new  expanses  of  the  public  domain ;  and  yet,  as  State  after  State  is  recovered 
from  the  gloom  and  the  desolation  of  centuries  of  ignorance  and  of  neglect, 
other  regions  are  opened  to  the  energies  of  our  race,  startling  all  the  peoples  of 
the  globe  with  stories  of  illimitable  natural  resources.  The  policy  of  the  go- 
vernment has  not  fallen  below  the  majestic  dignity  of  this  subject,  in  all  its  re- 
lations, social  and  political.  Chiefly,  however,  has  it  been  considered  as  belong- 
ing to  that  class  of  interests  which  look  beyond  the  present,  and  connect  them- 


291 

selves  with  the  future.     The  following  brief  and  striking  paragraph  in  the  Pre- 
sident's last  annual  message  contains  a  volume  of  food  for  patriotic  thought : 

"  During  the  last  fiscal  year,  eleven  million  seventy  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  thirty-five  acres  of  the  public  lands  have  been  surveyed,  and  eight  million 
one  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  and  seventeen  acres  brought  into  market. 
The  number  of  acres  sold  is  seven  million  thirty-five  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  thirty-five,  and  the  amount  received  therefor  nine  million  two  hundred  and 
eighty-five  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-three  dollars.  The  aggregate 
amount  of  lands  sold,  located  under  military  scrip  and  land  warrants,  selected 
as  swamp  lands  by  states,  and  by  locating  under  grants  for  roads,  is  upwards  of 
twenty-three  millions  of  acres.  The  increase  of  lands  sold  over  the  previous 
year  is  about  six  millions  of  acres ;  and  the  sales  during  the  two  first  quarters 
of  the  current  year  present  the  extraordinary  result  of  five  and  a  half  millions 
sold,  exceeding  by  nearly  four  millions  of  acres  the  sales  of  the  corresponding 
quarters  of  the  last  year." 

It  is  not  necessary  that  we  should  retrace  the  history  of  emigration  for  the 
last  twenty  years,  and  especially  for  the  last  ten  years,  to  show  how  and  by 
whom  these  lands  are  purchased.  While  the  government  liberalizes  its  laws, 
cheapens  its  public  lands,  and  peacefully  treats  with  the  aborigines,  the  doctrines 
of  our  forefathers  are  equally  respected  and  applied,  and  the  oppressed  and 
down-trodden  of  the  Old  World  come  hitherwards  to  help  the  cause  of  enlight- 
ened liberty  on  these  shores,  and  to  find  homes  for  themselves,  with  none  to  mo- 
lest or  to  make  them  afraid.  We  thus  fulfil  ennobling  duties  to  ourselves  and 
hold  out  ennobling  inducements  to  all  our  fellow-beings.  We  reduce  our  pub- 
lic debt,  lighten  the  burdens  of  taxation  to  our  citizens,  open  the  pathway  to 
religion  and  civilization,  where  for  thousands  of  years  untutored  nature  reigned 
supreme,  and  reward  those  who  have  fought  our  battles  against  the  common  foe. 
Who  does  not  see  how  such  a  picture  held 'up  before  the  hunted  and  the  starv- 
ing masses  of  ancient  kingdoms  is  like  a  voice  from  God  himself  calling  them 
hitherwards  ?  It  is  He  who  speaks  in  these  wonderful  and  manifold  evidences 
of  His  goodness  and  His  glory.  And  when  the  emigrants  come,  answering  to 
us,  as  the  agents  of  the  Supreme  Ruler,  do  they  take  from  us  without  giving  in 
return  ?  Do  they  not  aid  to  make  the  wilderness  blossom  as  the  rose — to  dig 
the  canal — to  heave  the  ponderous  granite  from  its  time-worn  caves — to  stretch, 
the  long  line  of  railroad — to  pay  taxes — and  to  contend  against  our  enemies  at 
home  and  abroad  ?  But  more  than  this :  Leaving  the  material  advantages  thus 
given  on  the  one  hand,  and  returned  a  thousand-fold  upon  the  other,  to  those 
who  delight  in  such  calculations,  who  will  estimate  the  general  advantage  to 
those  rational  principles  of  freedom,  and  of  civilization  and  of  law,  secured  to 
us  by  these  additions  to  our  population  ?  Exceptions,  indeed,  there  are  to  this 
rule — deplorable  exceptions.  And  so  were  there  exceptions  after  the  revolu- 
tionary war  among  a  native-born  people,  who  rebelled  in  the  face  of  sacred  ob- 
ligations, and  resisted  the  delegated  authority  with  the  strong  arm.  But  the 
problem  has  been  too  fully  and  too  clearly  solved  in  regard  to  emigrants  to  this 
country.  Here  all  nations  mingle  and  make  up  a  race  such  as  the  sun  has  ne- 
ver shone  upon,  and  the  feature  that  towers  most  prominently  in  all  the  States — 
that  arrests  and  converts,  if  it  does  not  denounce  and  overwhelm,  every  element 
of  foreign  tumult  transported  here — is  the  feature  that  when  men  would  be 
truly  free  they  must  be  obedient  to  the  laws  they  themselves  have  made,  or 
sworn  to  respect.  And  this  is  the  rock  upon  which  for  fifty  years  a  popular 
government  has  stood,  and  upon  which  it  now  stands  stronger  than  ever.  This, 
too,  is  the  rock  upon  which  absurd  prophesies  and  craven  fears  have  been  shi- 
vered to  atoms. 

The  narrow  bigot,  or  the  selfish  demagogue,  may  choose  to  extract  apprehen- 
sions from  these  observations,  but  we  advise  him  to  adjourn  his  criticisms.  ,  We 


292 

advise  him  to  leave  as  a  legacy  to  the  future  his  present  persecutions  and  plots; 
and  there  can  be  little  danger  of  the  issue ;  for  if  he  will  try  his  theories  now, 
he  must  rest  on  a  more  enduring  basis  than  mere  proscription  and  envy.  He 
must  erect  his  standard  higher  than  the  secret  cells  of  midnight  schemers.  He 
must  raise  his  voice  in  a  purer  atmosphere  than  that  which  exhales  from  oath- 
bound  orgies.  He  may  riot  for  a  day  in  the  excitement  resulting  from  intoxi- 
cating prejudices  and  glittering  promises.  But  he  must  oppose  arguments  to 
facts,  truth  to  history,  great  thoughts  and  practical  benefits  to  the  solid  and  in- 
spiring record  that  we  hold  up  before  his  eyes.  Who  cannot  realize  such  a 
prospect  in  the  not  too  distant  future,  when  the  Pacific  slope  will  swarm  with 
human  beings ;  when  the  untrodden  empires  that  now  belong  to  our  country 
•will  be  peopled  with  freemen ;  when  we  have  rescued  the  suffering  nations  of 
this  hemisphere,  by  the  force  of  a  peaceful  example,  from  the  sword  and  the 
bayonet ;  when  our  lakes,  on  all  their  borders,  will  fulfil  the  destiny  that  awaits 
them,  and  renew  there  the  glories  of  the  ancient  republics }  when  in  all  the 
world  there  is  no  tyrant ;  and  when  there  need  be  no  emigrants  to  this  land, 
because  toleration,  equality,  and  peace  will  be  the  common  blessings  of  the 
whole  family  of  man  ? 


HOSTILITY  TO  EMIGRATION. 

The  following  powerful  articles  appeared  in  the  Washington  Union  during  the 
canvass  in  Virginia,  and  as  they  have  been  ascribed  to  two  of  the  most  distin- 
guished statesmen  of  the  Democratic  party,  we  republish  them.  In  learning 
and  research,  they  equal  any  writings  of  the  canvass. 

Hostility  to  Emigration — To  the  Extension  of  the  American  Union — To  the 
Rights  of  the  States  and  the  Rights  of  the  Citizen — And,  Finally,  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States — Now,  as  heretofore,  Integral  Portions  of 

Federal  Creed. 

« 

Now  that  a  party  has  arisen  in  our  midst,  boldly  avowing  the  worst  doctrines 
of  the  old  alien  law,  and  striking  down  its  victims  by  an  illegal  secret  process, 
it  will  serve  a  good  purpose  to  trace  its  relationship  to  the  federal  sources  from 
which  it  springs.  We  cannot  better  illustrate  and  establish  the  parentage  of 
this  party  than  by  again  taking  up  the  subject  upon  which  we  yesterday  ad- 
dressed some  observations  to  the  readers  of  the  Washington  Union.  This  party 
is  federal  in  its  origin,  in  its  instincts,  and  its  designs ;  but  in  nothing  can  this 
be  more  clearly  shown  than  in  its  relations  to  the  future  disposition  of  the  pub- 
lic lands,  in  its  hostility  to  emigration,  in  its  abolition  proclivities,  and  in  its 
opposition  to  the  erection  of  new  States.  General  Hayne,  of  South  Carolina, 
in  his  great  speech  in  reply  to  Mr.  Webster  in  1830,  eloquently  pointed  where 
the  federal  party  and  where  the  Democratic  party  respectively  stand  on  the 
question  of  the  public  lands.  What  was  true  of  both  in  1830,  is  faithfully 
correct  in  regard  to  them  in  1855.  We  copy  from  that  speech  as  follows : 

"  When  the  gentleman  refers  to  the  conditions  of  the  grants  under  which  the 
United  States  have  acquired  these  lands,  and  insists  that,  as  they  are  declared 
to  be  '  for  the  common  benefit  of  all  the  States/  they  can  only  be  treated  as  so 
much  treasure,  I  think  he  has  applied  a  rule  of  construction  too  narrow  for  the 
case.  If,  in  the  deeds  of  cession,  it  has  been  declared  that  the  grants  were  in- 
tended '  for  the  common  benefit  of  all  the  States/  it  is  clear  from  other  provi- 
sions that  they  were  not  intended  as  so  much  property ;  for  it  is  expressly  de- 


293 

clared  that  the  object  of  the  grants  is  to  erect  new  States ;  and  the  United 
States  in  accepting  the  trust,  bind  themselves  to  facilitate  tne  formation  of  those 
States,  to  be  admitted  into  the  Union  with  all  the  lights  and  privileges  of  the 
original  States.  This,  sir,  was  the  great  end  to  which  all  parties  looked,  and  it 
is  by  the  fulfilment  of  this  high  trust  that  the  common  benefit  of  all  the  States 
is  to  be  best  promoted.  Sir,  let  me  tell  the  gentleman  that  in  the  part  of  the 
country  in  which  I  live  we  do  not  measure  political  benefits  by  the  money 
standard.  We  consider,  as  more  valuable  than  gold,  liberty,  principle  and 
justice." 

This  is  the  Democratic  idea.  Observe,  next,  how  clearly  the  old  federal  idea, 
often  tried,  and  fatally  failing  on  each  successive  trial,  is  given  by  the  same 
masterly  hand  : 

"  The  lands  are,  it  seems,  to  be  treated  as  so  much  treasure,  and  must  be 
applied  to  the  common  benefit  of  all  the  States.  Now,  if  this  be  so,  where  does 
he  derive  the  right  to  appropriate  them  for  local  and  partial  objects  ?  How 
can  the  gentleman  consent  to  vote  away  immense  bodies  of  the  public  lands  for 
canals  in  Indiana  and  Illinois ;  to  the  Louisville  and  Portland  canal ;  to  Ken- 
yon  College  in  Ohio;  to  schools  for  deaf  and  dumb,  and  other  objects  of  a 
similar  description  ?  *  *  *  Sir,  the  true  difference  between  us 

I  take  to  be  this :  the  gentleman  wishes  to  treat  the  public  lands  as  a  great 
treasure — just  as  so  much  money  in  the  treasury — to  be  applied^ to  all  objects, 
constitutional  and  unconstitutional,  to  which  the  public  money  is  now  constantly 
applied.  I  consider  it  as  a  sacred  trust,  which  we  ought  to  fulfil  on  the  princi- 
ples for  which  I  have  contended." 

What  followed  all  these  efforts  to  convert  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the 
public  lands  into  a  common  fund  for  the  purpose  of  bribing  local  interests  and 
propitiating  the  electoral  votes  of  certain  States  for  presidential  favorites  ?  We 
had  a  long  procession  of  expedients  to  tax  the  products  of  labor ;  a  high  and 
exorbitant  tariff;  a  system  of  internal  improvements;  and  a  settled  effort,  on 
the  part  of  the  federal  leaders,  to  build  up  a  gigantic  "  national  bank/'  to  op- 
press labor,  and  to  aid  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many.  In  the  meanwhile, 
the  Democratic  party,  led  in  that  day  by  such  men  as  Benton,  Forsyth,  Grundy, 
and  Wright,  labored  with  herculean  energy  to  preserve  this  fund  from  the  pub- 
lic lands  for  two  great  objects:  1st,  that  by  the  encouragement  of  actual  settlers 
new  States  might  be  added  to  our  Union  ;  and,  2dly,  that  our  public  debt  might 
be  extinguished.  What  American  citizen  does  not,  at  this  day,  regard  our  pub- 
lic lands,  and  the  manner  in  which,  under  Democratic  auspices,  they  have  been 
disposed  of,  with  pride  ?  The  able  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office, 
John  Wilson,  in  his  last  annual  report,  speaks  of  the  blessings  which  the  pre- 
sent system  has  conferred  upon  our  country  as  follows : 

"  The  true  policy  of  the  land  system  is,  first,  to  encourage  the  actual  settle- 
ment and  improvement  of  the  public  domain.  This  may  be  done  by  such 
amendments  to  the  preemption  laws  as  experience  may  prove  necessary  for  the 
purpose,  and  by  which  every  actual  settler  may  secure  his  improvements  in  a 
reasonable  time,  without  risk  of  competition  from  speculators. 

"  And,  second,  to  aid  in  providing  the  necessary  facilities  for  intercommuni- 
cations, and  for  the  transportation  of  the  products  of  the  lands  to  market. 
Although  the  railroad  excitement,  in  many  cases,  has  been  carried  to  excess, 
experience  has  proved  that  grants  for  such  purposes,  when  carried  out  in  good 
faith,  are  alike  beneficial  to  the  people,  the  States,  and  the  general  govern- 
ment. 

"  To  prevent  mere  speculation,  and  to  secure  an  equivalent  to  the  government 
for  the  lands  granted  for  those  purposes,  some  modifications  in  the  acts  making 
them  seem  proper — as,  for  instance,  that  no  grant  should  be  made  except  on  the 


294 

application  of  the  legislature  of  a  State ;  that  the  lands  should  be  taken  in  al- 
ternate sections  within  a  certain  distance  on  each  side  of  the  improvement,  the 
minimum  price  of  the  remaining  sections  to  be  doubled  throughout  the  whole 
extent  of  the  grant ;  and  the  lands  to  be  certified  to  the  States  as  the  work 
progresses,  with  a  provision  of  forfeiture  in  case  of  failure. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  portray  the  vast  benefits  already  derived  by  the  West 
from  this  system.  Immense  regions  have  been  disposed  of  that  were  thought 
to  be  wholly  unsalable  because  of  the  difficulty  of  access ;  and  so  numerous  are 
the  applications  for  these  lands,  that  in  some  cases,  for  want  of  time,  they  can- 
not be  acted  on  for  months  after  they  are  made." 

At  this  point  we  come  to  the  efforts  now  making  by  the  new  secret  party  to 
arrest  emigration  from  the  Old  World,  by  which  the  wilderness  is  redeemed  to 
civilization,  industry  encouraged,  the  public  revenues  increased,  and  the  way 
gradually  but  surely  prepared  for  the  abolition  of  all  indirect  taxes  in  the  shape 
of  tariffs  upon  our  people.  Defeated  before,  and  with  results  that  we  can  never 
too  highly  appreciate,  the  federal  leaders  are  now  trying  to  arrest  emigration, 
so  that  this  noble  policy  may  be  destroyed.  Mr.  Benton  charged  these  leaders, 
twenty-five  years  ago,  with  being  guilty  of  the  same  monstrous  offence  de- 
nounced against  the  King  of  England,  by  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  in  the  following  words  : 

"  He  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population  of  these  States,  for  that  pur- 
pose obstructing  the  laws  for  the  naturalization  of  foreigners ;  refusing  to  pass 
others  to  encourage  their  migration  hither,  and  raising  the  conditions  of  new 
appropriations  of  lands." 

His  Majesty,  the  King  of  England,  professed,  like  the  federal  leaders  of  old, 
and  the  present  secret  party  under  the  control  of  federal  and  abolition  leaders, 
to  be  affectionately  devoted  to  this  country.  He,  too,  wanted  "  Americans  to 
rule  America,"  (meaning  himself  and  his  mercenaries.)  The  federalists  de- 
sired to  limit  the  boundaries  of  the  Union,  and  the  new  party  toils  to  effect  the 
same  object,  even  while  the  whole  world  acknowledges  the  wisdom  of  our  policy 
in  regard  to  the  oppressed  of  other  nations,  in  stopping  all  emigration  to  the 
United  States. 

Strange,  too,  that  from  the  very  Massachusetts  which  now  sends  the  rankest 
enemies  of  the  Union  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  the  most  re- 
lentless foes  of  the  adopted  citizen,  the  first  voices  were  raised  against  the  ex- 
pansion of  our  beloved  Union.  John  Quincy  Adams  admitted  this  in  October 
of  1813,  while  American  minister  at  the  Russian  court.  Speaking  of  the 
growth  of  western  States,  and  admiring  at  that  distance  the  sublime  spectacle, 
he  exclaims :  [How  true  is  this  voice  of  the  past  in  its  application  to  the  Mas- 
sachusetts of  1855  !] 

"  If  New  England  "  (says  Mr.  Adams)  "  loses  her  influence  in  the  councils 
of  the  Union,  it  will  not  be  owing  to  any  diminution  of  her  population,  owing 
to  these  emigrations  to  the  West.  It  will  be  from  the  partial,  sectarian,  or,  as 
Hamilton  called  it,  clannish  spirit,  which  makes  so  many  of  her  political  lead- 
ers jealous  and  envious  of  the  South,  This  spirit  is  in  its  nature  narrow  and 
contracted,  and  it  always  works  by  means  like  itself.  Its  natural  tendency  is 
to  excite  and  provoke  a  counteracting  spirit  of  the  same  character;  and  it  has 
actually  produced  that  effect  in  our  country.  It  has  combined  the  southern 
and  western  portions  of  the  United  States,  not  in  a  league,  but  in  a  concert  of 
political  views  adverse  to  those  of  New  England.  The  fame  of  all  the  great 
legislators  of  antiquity  is  founded  upon  their  contrivances  to  strengthen  and 
multiply  the  principles  of  attraction  in  civil  society.  Our  legislators  seem  to 
delight  in  multiplying  and  fomenting  the  principles  of  repulsion." 


295 

The  doctrines  of  Massachusetts  abolitionism  have,  we  regret  to  say,  since 
made  rapid  progress  in  those  free  western  States  whose  progress  they  so  long 
and  so  violently  resisted.  Their  avowed  hostility  feo  emigration,  however,  after 
a  long  silence  on  that  favorite  federal  dogma,  must  show  to  the  West  that  the 
"  snake  is  only  scotched,  not  killed ;"  and  that  opposition  to  the  rights  of  the 
South  is  now,  as  ever,  closely  identified  with  animosity  to  the  growth  of  the 
West. 

The  same  leaders  were  anxious  in  1786,  1787,  and  1788  to  surrender  the 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi  to  Spain. 

The  same  federal  leaders,  in  the  first  ordinance  for  the  sale  of  the  public  lands, 
refused  to  sell  a  less  quantity  than  six  hundred  acres,  and  also  refused  to  reduce 
the  price  for  actual  settlers. 

The  course  of  such  men  as  Josiah  Quincy,  of  Boston,  and  those  who  believed 
in  his  doctrines,  and  followed  his  example  in  opposing  the  acquisition  of  Loui- 
siana, is  an  event  familiar  to  the  youngest  readers  of  political  history.  The 
element  that  controlled  them  then  was  hostility  to  the  admission  of  a  flourish- 
ing people  and  a  noble  region  into  the  Union  ;  and  they  contended  with  memora- 
ble bitterness  against  that  memorable  acquisition.  In  the  midst  of  the  excite- 
ment on  this  question,  however,  Thomas  Jefferson  was  chosen  President.  To 
obtain  Louisiana  was  a  matter  of  the  greatest  importance,  commercially  and  po- 
litically. "  The  West,"  says  Mr.  Benton,  "  was  filling  up  with  people,  and 
covered  over  with  wealth  and  population.  It  was  no  more  the  feeble  settle- 
ment which  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation  had  seen,  and  whose  rights,  few 
as  they  were  to  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  had  given  birth  to  the 
most  arduous  struggle  ever  seen  in  Congress.  States  had  superseded  these  in- 
fant settlements.  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee  had  been  admitted  into  the 
Union ;  the  Territories  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Mississippi  were  making  their 
way  to  the  same  station.  The  western  settlements  of  Pennsylvania  and  Vir- 
ginia lined  the  left  bank  of  the  Ohio  for  half  the  length  of  its  course.  All 
was  animated  with  life,  gay  with  hope,  independent  in  the  cultivation  of  a  grate- 
ful soil,  and  rich  in  the  prospect  of  sending  their  accumulated  products  to  all 
the  markets  of  the  world,  through  the  great  channel  that  conducted  the  King  of 
Rivers  to  the  bosom  of  the  ocean.  The  treaty  with  Spain  had  guaranteed  this 
right  of  passage." 

in  1802  this  right  was  violated  and  New  Orleans  was  suddenly  closed  against 
the  States  and  Territories  alluded  to  above,  thus  producing  dismay,  disaster, 
and  bankruptcy.  Mr.  Jefferson  took  bold  and  rapid  measures  to  acquire  Loui- 
siana. He  sent  Livingston  and  Monroe  to  France  to  negotiate  the  purchase; 
and  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  on  the  confirmation  of  these  two  distin- 
guished gentlemen,  every  federal  vote  from  the  free  States,  including  nearly  all 
from  New  England,  was  cast  against  them  !  The  result  is  known,  and  Loui- 
siana was  acquired ;  but  not  without  a  fierce  and  relentless  opposition  from  the 
federal  leaders  in  Congress.  Massachusetts  was  the  first  State  to  raise  its  voice 
against  the  admission  of  Louisiana  as  a  State  of  this  Union.  We  copy  the 
following  resolutions,  reported  to  the  Massachusetts  legislature  by  Josiah  Quin- 
cy, Ashmun,  and  Fuller,  on  th'e  part  of  the  Senate,  and  Messrs.  Thatcher, 
Hall,  and  Bates,  on  the  part  of  the  House,  recorded  in  the  Boston  Sentinel, 
June  26,  1813  : 

"  Resolved,  (as  the  sense  of  this  legislature,)  That  the  admission  into  the 
Union  of  States  created  in  countries  not  comprehended  within  the  original  limits 
of  the  United  States  is  not  authorized  by  the  letter  or  the  spirit  of  the  federal 
constitution. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  interest  and  the  duty  of  the  people  of  Massachu- 
setts to  oppose  the  admission  of  such  States  into  the  Union  as  a  measure  tend- 
ing to  the  dissolution  of  the  Union. 


296 

"Resolved,  That  the  act  pcsssd  the  8th  day  of  April,  1812,  entitled  <  An 
act  for  the  admission  of  Louisiana  into  the  Union,  and  to  extend  the  law^s  of 
the  United  States  to  the  said  State/  is  a  violation  of  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States ;  and  that  the  senators  of  this  State  in  Congress  be  instructed, 
and  the  representatives  be  requested,  to  use  the  utmost  of  their  endeavors  to 
obtain  a  repeal  of  the  same.'7 

Without  going  out  of  the  way  to  show  the  advantages  to  the  whole  North,  of 
the  measures  which  gave  us  control  of  the  Mississippi,  and  of  the  treaty  that 
gave  us  Louisiana,  and  without  pointing  to  the  cultivated  and  liberal  States 
that  now  occupy  the  domain  thus  recovered  from  a  monarchy,  the  reader 
of  the  present  day  cannot  fail  to  see'  the  analogy  between  this  act  of  the  Boston, 
federalists  and  their  present  crusade  upon  Kansas  and  Nebraska. 

But,  as  if  to  show  how  this  ancient  hostility  to  emigration,  to  the  acquisition 
of  territory,  to  the  erection  of  new  States,  and  to  the  spread  of  liberal  princi- 
ples over  the  continent,  sympathizes  with  the  present  organized  secret  warfare 
upon  the  adopted  citizens,  and  the  hostility  to  new  States,  let  us  present 
another  evidence. 

The  same  Massachusetts,  by  a  vote  of  260  to  90,  in  the  house  of  represen- 
tatives, sent  delegates  to  the  Hartford  Convention  on  the  15th  of  December, 
1814 ;  and  the  next  day,  while  Jackson  was  preparing  for  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans,  with  the  adopted  citizen  and  the  native  American  by  his  side,  that 
convention 

"  Resolved,  That  the  most  inviolable  secrecy  shall  be  observed  by  each  mem- 
ber of  this  convention,  including  the  secretary,  as  to  all  propositions,  debates, 
and  proceedings  thereof,  until  this  injunction  shall  be  suspended  or  altered/' 

A  few  days  afterwards,  on  the  24th  of  December,  it  was  resolved  : 

"  That  it  is  expedient  to  make  provision,  for  restraining  Congress  in  the  exer- 
cise of  an  unlimited  power  to  make  new  States  and  admit  them  into  the 
Union." 

And  on  the  29th  of  December,  of  the  same  year,  the  same  convention  pro- 
prosed  : 

"  That  the  capacity  of  naturalized  citizens  to  hold  offices  of  trust,  honor,  or 
profit,  ought  to  be  restrained." 

Other  movements,  and  more  sectional  and  treasonable,  were  advocated,  and 
adopted.  But  we  rest  here. 

It  needs  only  to  complete  this  convincing  record  that  we  should  show  that 
the  same  federalists  have  continued  their  war  upon  emigration,  upon  the  expan- 
sion of  our  country,  upon  the  adopted  citizens,  and  upon  the  Union  of  these 
States,  down  to  this  moment  of  time.  They  opposed  the  annexation  of  Texas 
and  the  acquisition  of  California,  and  are  as  ready  to  denounce  the  peaceful  pur- 
chase of  Cuba  as  they  were  to  resist  the  great  triumph  that  gave  us  Louisiana. 
They  are  organized  all  over  the  North  to  set  the  laws  of  Congress  at  defiance, 
and  rejoice  at  the  success  of  their  fusion  with  the  Know  Nothings  because  it 
enables  them  to  throw  their  abolition  and  disunion  disciples  into  Congress. 
They  are,  therefore,  united  in  a  persistent  war  upon  the  established  rights  of 
the  South,  and  in  opposing  the  admission  of  any  more  slave  States  into  the 
Union,  even  at  the  risk  of  a  dissolution  of  the  confederacy.  Identified  with 
the  hostility  to  the  Irish  in  New  York,  when  the  latter  would  not  join  in  the 
crusade  against  Jackson  for  his  war  upon  the  bank  ;  refusing  to  make  good  the 
destruction  of  a  Catholic  convent  destroyed  by  a  Boston  mob  ;  the  aiders  and 
the  abettors  of  the  nutivist  movements  of  1841  and  1844-45 ;  they  are  once 
more  in  the  lead  of  a  secret  society,  which,  like  their  own  Hartford  Convention, 


297 

plots  treason  against  the  constitution  and  the  rights  of  the  citizen  in  the  dark, 
and  publicly  elevates  bold  and  reckless  factionists  and  demagogues  to  command- 
ing positions  in  the  national  legislature,  whence  they  may  scatter  fire  and  death 
over  the  South,  and  hurl  anathemas  against  the  rights  of  conscience. 

We  have  deemed  this  glance  at  the  history  of  the  past,  as  contrasted  with 
existing  parties  and  schemes,  eminently  due  to  the  cause  of  truth.  We  com- 
mend it  to  the  consideration  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the  whole  Union.  We 
ask  those  who  have  been  misled,  by  the  cry  of  a  "  new  party,"  into  the  Know 
Nothing  lodges,  to  observe  how  completely  they  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
the  advocates  of  those  very  doctrines  against  which  Jefferson  protested,  and 
over  which  the  Democratic  party  has  been  gloriously  and  ultimately  victorious 
ever  since  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  was  accepted  as  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  American  republic. 


ONE  OF  THE  VICTORIES  OF  THE  NEW  PARTY. 

While  the  Mexican  war  was  at  its  height,  a  gentleman  at  the  head  of  one  of 
the  departments  under  President  Polk  resigned  his  commission  in  the  civil  ser- 
vice of  the  country,  and  was  appointed  a  brigadier  general  in  the  American 
army.  He  was  an  Irishman  born.  He  had  made  a  most  favorable  impression 
while  discharging  his  official  duties  in  Washington.  He  was  among  the  very 
few  of  our  adopted  citizens  who  held  prominent  position  in  this  country.  The 
State  which  had  presented  him  to  the  President  as  eminently  worthy  of  his 
confidence,  had  herself  shown  her  appreciation  of  his  high  ability  and  unexcep- 
tionable deportment ;  and  the  result  proved  that  her  estimate  of  the  man  was 
just.  After  having  served  with  Generals  Taylor  and  Wool  on  the  other  line,  he 
landed  with  the  American  army  at  Vera  Cruz  under  command  of  Gen.  Scott, 
and  was  warmly  eulogized  for  his  gallantry  at  the  capture  of  that  city  and  the 
castle  of  San  Juan  de  Ulloa,  in  March  of  1847.  When  Gen.  Scott  issued  his 
brilliant  order  (No.  Ill)  of  the  17th  of  April,  in  which,  with  almost  prophetic 
inspiration,  he  sketched  the  very  details  of  the  great  victory  that  awaited  him 
at  Cerro  Gordo,  he  selected  this  brave  Irishman  as  one  of  the  leaders  in  that 
eventful  struggle.  He  said  : 

"  The  second  (Twigg's)  division  of  regulars  is  already  advanced  within  easy 
turning  distance  towards  the  enemy's  left.  That  division  has  instructions  to 
move  forward  before  daylight  to-morrow,  and  take  up  position  across  the  national 
road  in  the  enemy's  rear,  so  as  to  cut  off  a  retreat  towards  Jalapa.  It  may  be 
reinforced  to-day,  if  unexpectly  attacked  in  force,  by  regiments — one  or  two — 
taken  from  Shields'  brigade  of  volunteers.  If  not,  the  two  volunteer  regiments 
will  march  for  that  purpose  at  daylight  to-morrow  morning,  under  Brigadier 
General  Shields,  who  will  report  to  Brigadier  General  Twiggs,  on  getting  up 
with  him,  or  to  the  geueral-in-chief  if  he  be  in  advance." 

This  order  was  executed  to  the  letter.  The  party  under  Twiggs  and  Shields 
were  the  advance  party ;  but  while  leading  his  troops  to  the  conflict,  under  the 
heavy  lire  of  the  enemy,  General  Shields  fell,  as  it  was  supposed,  mortally 
wounded. 

"  Brigadier  General  Shields,  (says  General  Scott,  in  his  report  of  the  day's 
operations,)  a  commander  of  activity,  zeal,  and  talent,  is,  I  fear,  mortally 
wounded. 

And  again,  the  commander  says,  in  another  report : 

"  The  brigade  so  gallantly  led  by  General  Shields,  and,  after  his  fall,  by  Col- 
onel Baker,  deserves  high  commendation  for  its  fine  behavior  and  success." 


298 

General  Twiggs  said  :  u  Of  the  conduct  of  the  volunteer  force  under  the 
brave  General  Shields,  I  cannot  speak  in  two  high  terms." 

General  Patterson  united  in  these  strong  commendations  of  the  courageous 
general.  And  the  whole  country  soon  responded  to  the  sympathy  and  solici- 
tude which  his  dreadful  wounds  and  his  noble  bearing  had  secured  for  him  in 
the  American  army. 

The  Illinois  general  slowly  recovered,  however.  His  escape  from  death  was 
miraculous,  and  we  shall  never  forget  how  the  intelligence  of  his  restoration  to 
health  thrilled  the  American  people. 

The  next  great  battles  were  those  of  Contreras  and  Churubusco.  Here  we 
find  the  gallant  Shields  once  more  ready  for  action,  though  still  weak  and  suf- 
fering from  his  wounds.  It  is  remarkable  that,  after  having  been  carried  in  an 
ambulance  from  Jalapa  to  Puebla,  bleeding  and  suffering  from  his  wounds,  he 
insisted  upon  going  into  the  fight,  and  did  so,  when  so  weak  and  wasted  that 
his  physicians  declared  it  impossible  for  him  to  survive  ?  Again  General  Scott 
paid  him  the  highest  compliments  for  his  skill  and  daring  in  fulfilling  his  or- 
ders. This  was  on  the  19th  of  August,  1847. 

On  the  28th  of  the  same  month,  General  Scott  once  more  reports  to  the  Se- 
cretary of  War — and  this  time  he  writes  "  from  the  gates  of  Mexico/'  What 
does  he  say  of  Shields  ?  We  copy  from  his  despatch  : 

"  Shields,  the  senior  officer  of  the  hamlet,  after  Smith  had  arranged  with 
Cadwalader  and  Riley  the  plan  of  attack  for  the  morning,  delicately  waived  in- 
terference ;  but  reserved  to  himself  the  double  task  of  holding  the  hamlet  with 
his  two  regiments,  (South  Carolina  and  New  York,)  against  ten  times  his  num- 
bers on  the  side  of  the  city,  including  the  slopes  to  his  left,  and,  in  case  the 
camp  in  his  rear  should  be  carried,  to  face  about  and  cut  off  the  flying  enemy." 

And  again,  speaking  of  the  grand  finale  of  that  day,  Gen.  Scott  says : 

"  Shields,  too,  by  the  wise  disposition  of  his  brigade,  and  his  gallant  activity, 
contributed  much  to  the  general  results.  He  held  masses  of  cavalry  and  in- 
fantry, supported  by  artillery,  in  check  below  him,  and  captured  hundreds, 
with  one  general,  (Mendoza,)  of  those  who  fled  from  above." 

Referring  to  the  fifth  victory  of  that  glorious  day,  Gen.  Scott  says  : 

"  It  has  been  stated  that  some  two  hours  and  a  half  before  Pierce's  brigade, 
followed  closely  after  the  volunteer  brigade,  both  under  the  command  of  Brig- 
adier General  Shields,  had  been  detached  to  our  left  to  turn  the  enemy's  works, 
to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  garrisons,  and  to  oppose  the  extension  of  the  enemy's 
numerous  corps  from  the  rear,  upon  and  around  our  left. 

"In  a  winding  march  around  to  the  right  this  temporary  division  found  itself 
on  the  edge  of  an  open,  wet  meadow,  and  in  the  presence  of  some*  4,000  of 
the  enemy's  infantry,  a  little  in  the  rear  of  Churubusco,  on  that  road.  Estab- 
lishing the  right  at  a  strong  building,  Shields  extended  his  left  parallel  to  the 
road  to  outflank  the  enemy  towards  the  capital.  But  the  enemy  extending  his 
right,  supported  by  three  thousand  cavalry,  more  rapidly  (being  favored  by 
better  ground)  in  the  same  direction,  Shields  concentrated  the  division  about  a 
hamlet,  and  determined  to  attack  in  front.  The  battle  was  long,  hot,  and  va- 
ried, but  ultimately  success  crowned  the  zeal  and  gallantry  of  our  troops,  led  by 
their  distinguished  commander,  Brigadier  General  Shields.  Shields  took  300 
prisoners,  including  officers." 

General  Worth  spoke  highly  of  the  gallant  bearing  of  Pillow,  Shields,  Cad- 
walader, and  Pierce  in  this  fierce  engagement.  His  praises  were  re-echoed  by 
Generals  Twiggs  and  Smith.  General  Shields,  in  his  own  report,  which  is  a 
model  of  its  kind,  presents  a  graphic  and  beautiful  sketch  of  the  battle. 


299 

But  we  find  General  Shields  in  the  last,  as  in  the  first,  conflict.  In  the  ter- 
rible attack  upon  the  city  of  Mexico  he  was  in  the  advance  with  the  veteran 
Quitman  and  the  accomplished  Persifer  F.  Smith.  General  Scott  refers  to  him 
warmly,  and  says,  in  one  part  of  his  report  of  the  battle,  ''General  Quitman, 
being  in  hot  pursuit — gallant  himself,  and  ably  supported  by  Generals  Shields 
and  Smith — Shields  badly  wounded  before  Chepultepec  and  refusing  to  retire," 
&c. 

General  Quitman  writes :  "  In  directing  the  advance,  Brigadier  General 
Shields  was  badly  wounded  in  the  arm.  No  persuasions,  however,  could  induce 
that  officer  to  leave  his  command  and  quit  the  field."  And  again  :  "  Until 
carried  from  the  field  on  the  night  of  the  13th,  in  consequence  of  the  severe 
wound  received  in  the  morning,  he  was  conspicious  for  his  gallantry,  energy, 
and  skill." 


SPEECH  OF  MR. 

The  speech  of  Mr.  Thomas  Ruffin  of  North  Carolina  was  used  with  great  ef- 
fect in  the  Virginia  canvass,  and  doubtless  in  every  Southern  State,  in  the  con- 
flicts of  the  Democracy  with  Know  Nothingism.  Its  distinguished  ability 
eminently  entitles  it  to  a  place  in  this  compilation  : 

Speech  of  Hon.  Thos.  Ruffin,  of  North   Carolina,  Delivered  in  the  House  of 
Representatives^  February  27,  1855. 

[The  House  being  in  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union.] 

Mr.  Ruffin.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  rise  in  my  place  for  the  first  time  since  I  have 
had  a  seat  upon  this  floor,  with  the  view  of  submitting  a  few  remarks.  I  do 
not  propose  to  discuss  the  question  immediately  before  the  Committee,  and  shall 
avail  myself  of  the  privilege  now  accorded  me,  to  consider  another  question. 
Since  I  have  been  a  member  of  this  House,  it  has  acted  upon  many  important 
questions.  Being  loth  to  trespass  upon  the  time  of  the  House,  I  have  contented 
myself  by  giving  a  silent  vote  upon  all  of  them.  These  were  questions  which 
had  heretofore  entered,  more  or  less,  into  the  political  discussions  of  our  coun- 
try, and  upon  them  my  opinions  were  not  unknown  to  my  constituents.  Since 
the  commencement  of  the  present  session  of  Congress  we  have  heard  discussions 
in  this  Hall  upon  questions  which  were  thought  to  have  been  settled  long  ago. 
I  allude  more  particularly  to  those  great  questions  of  religious  toleration  and 
naturalization. 

I  had  thought  that  the  question  of  religious  toleration  was  settled  by  the 
Constitution  of  the  country,  and  that  American  citizens  had  always  proudly 
boasted  that  here,  every  man  had  the  right  to  worship  Almighty  God  according 
to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience,  and  that  this  right  was  not  only  guaran- 
teed by  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land,  but  was  regarded  as  inherent  and  ina- 
lienable. 

And,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  had  thought  that  the  naturalization  laws,  passed  under 
the  administration  of  Jefferson,  amended  and  perfected  by  subsequent  legislation, 
had  given  general  satisfaction  to  the  country,  with  the  exception  of  a  small 
faction.  Throughout  the  country,  discussion  on  these  questions  has  been  re- 
vived of  late. 

To  keep  pace  with  the  spirit  of  the  times,  early  in  the  present  session  hono- 
rable gentlemen  were  struggling  to  get  the  floor  to  bring  them  before  the  House 
for  its  consideration. 


300 

The  honorable  gentleman  from  Tennessee  (Mr.  Taylor),  more  fortunate  than 
his  competitors,  succeded  in  his  efforts,  and,  having  obtained  the  floor,  introduced 
a  bill  proposing  an  alteration  of  the  naturalization  laws. 

Sir,  that  gentleman  is  responsible  for  the  introduction  of  the  subject  here,  or 
if  he  prefers  it,  he  is  entitled  to  the  distinguished  honor  of  having  been  the 
first  to  introduce  this  measure  into  the  House  at  the  present  session  of  Congress. 

And  again,  Sir,  not  long  since  a  series  of  resolutions  embodying  certain  prin- 
ciples in  relation  to  these  questions  was  offered  by  the  honorable  gentleman  from 
Pennsylvania,  (Mr.  Witte).  I  was  called  upon  to  vote  for  the  suspension  of  the 
rules  to  enable  the  House  to  consider  those  resolutions,  and  it  is  not  out  of  place 
here  that  I  should  give  the  reasons  which  influenced  me  in  giving  the  vote 
which  I  gave  on  that  occasion.  These  are  generally  known  as  the  anti-Know 
Nothing  resolutions. 

I  can  conceive  of  no  evil,  either  real^r  imaginary,  existing  or  supposed,  to 
exist  in  this  country,  which  will  justify  American  freemen  in  the  formation  of 
secret  oath-bound  political  societies.  They  may  do  for  the  despotism  of  Russia ; 
they  may  do  for  Austria ;  but  there  can  certainly  be  no  necessity  for  such  in 
our  land. 

No,  sir,  in  our  country  where  every  man  has  the  right  to  speak,  print,  and 
publish  whatever  he  may  see  fit,  only  being  liable  for  the  abuse  of  that  privi- 
lege, and  where,  to  use  the  language  of  an  old  revolutionary  writer,  u  Tho 
press  glows  with  freedom's  sacred  zeal," — here,  sir,  there  can  be  no  necessity  for 
resorting  to  institutions  of  this  kind  with  a  view  of  controlling  the  legislation 
of  the  country.  Those  who  framed  our  government  wisely  provided  the  means 
of  altering  such  laws  as  needed  amendment.  They  are  open  to  repeal,  or  altera- 
tion ;  but,  sir,  this  can  be  done  through  the  ballot-box  in  the  sunlight  of  broad 
day.  Our  institutions  depend  for  their  success  on  the  virtue,  intelligence,  and 
patriotism  of  the  people ;  and  when  the  time  comes  in  which  they  will  desert 
the  usual  mode,  do  away  with  the  open  action  of  day  and  resort  to  these  secret 
cabals  to  influence  the  legislation  of  the  country,  then,  in  my  opinion,  the  days 
of  the  republic  are  numbered.  He  has  read  history  with  but  little  profit,  who 
has  not  observed  that  in  every  country  where  the  people  have  lost  their  liberties 
they  have  brought  such  misfortune  upon  themselves.  When  they  have  become 
demoralized  and  ready  for  a  change,  then  the  turmoil  of  the  times  has  given 
birth  to  some  adventurer  who  boldly  usurps  their  liberties,  assumes  the  man- 
agement of  their  affairs,  and  concentrates  all  political  power  in  himself.  Learn- 
ing lessons  of  wisdom  from  the  records  of  the  past,  let  us  strive  to  escape  the 
calamities  that  have  befallen  other  republican  governments. 

What  master  spirit  devised  this  organization  ?  I  do  not  know  that  this  is  a 
question  of  any  great  importance.  I  do  not  think  that  the  author  is  entitled  to 
any  great  credit  for  originality,  I  do  not  undertake  to  say  whether  it  is  taken  from 
the  forms  and  ceremonies  adopted  by  Catiline  and  his  co-conspiritors  at  Rome, 
or  whether  it  is  like  unto  the  societies  formed  in  certain  districts  of  England  to 
protect  labor  against  capital,  or  whether,  as  seems  most  probable,  it  has  for  its 
prototype  the  order  of  religious  Jesuits,  as  depicted  in  the  "  Wandering  Jew/' 
and  that  the  federal  treasury  is  the  Renepont  inheritance,  which  it  is  using  its 
appliances  and  secret  machinery  to  get  possession  of. 

I  was  forcibly  struck  with  the  similarity  between  the  two  orders,  the  religious 
Jesuits  and  the  Know  Nothings,  in  the  speech  of  the  honorable  gentleman  from 
Alabama  (Mr.  Smith),  and  I  am  sorry  that  he  is  not  present  this  evening. 
From  his  graphic  description  in  his  defence  of  the  Know  Nothing  order,  we  see 
that  it  makes  use  of  the  same  appliances  to  accomplish  its  objects  as  the  reli- 
gious Jesuits  which  order  he  set  out  to  denounce.  In  one  portion  of  his  speech, 
he  says,  that  the  Know  Nothings  are  formed  for  the  purpose  of  making  war 
against  the  religious  Jesuits.  Both  seemed  to  be  the  same  in  organization. 
Each  is  after  power  and  spoils.  Each  is  enshrouded  in  the  garb  of  mystery. 


301 

One  hides  its  iniquities  under  the  cloak  of  religion ;  the  other  under  a  most 
exalted  devotion  to  country.  Each  teaches  the  practice  of  falsehood,  craft,  and 
deceit.  Each  binds  its  members  by  a  mighty  oath,  the  violation  of  which  they 
assume  to  punish.  The  one  claims  devout  piety,  the  other  intense  patriotism. 
The  gentleman  from  Alabama  says,  that  "  when  you  fight  the  devil  you  have 
the  right  to  fight  him  with  fire."  That  seems  to  be  in  fact  an  acknowledgment 
on  his  part  that  the  new  order  was  taken  from  the  other  one.  But  will  this 
principle  hold  good  ?  Fight  the  devil  with  fire — perpetrate  an  evil  to  obviate 
the  consequences  of  another  one — commit  one  fraud  to  nullify  another  ?  The 
gentleman  is  a  distinguished  lawyer  and  I  would  ask  him  whether  he  would  con- 
sider it  right  to  meet  a  forged  bond  with  a  forged  release  ?  The  principle 
is  the  same.  That  was  said  to  have  been  a  practice  at  one  time  quite  common 
among  the  British  lawyers  in  the  East  Indies.  It  has  never  been  introduced 
into  this  country  and  I  trust  that  it  never  will  be.  It  is  unsound  in  morals.  It 
is  a  sentiment  unfit  to  be  proclaimed  in  the  presence  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people  here  in  this  Hall. 

He  also  says  in  the  course  of  his  speech  that  these  religious  Jesuits  were  or- 
ganized by  thwarted  military  aspirants  after  the  reformation.  I  would  ask 
whether  this  order  of  political  Jesuits,  of  which  the  gentleman  is  champion  upon 
this  floor,  was  not  organized  after  the  great  political  revolution  which  swept  fed- 
eralism out  of  power  in  1852.  Until  this  power  was  ground  down,  until  Democ- 
racy was  in  the  ascendancy,  we  never  heard^of  any  such  order  as  this. 

But  to  go  on  with  the  simile.  The  Gentleman  says,  that  these  religious  Jesuits 
were  taught  to  ingratiate  themselves  into  the  confidence  of  men  of  power  and 
influence,  or,  to  use  his  own  language,  "  to  cultivate  their  friendship,  probe 
their  designs,  and  communicate  their  secrets."  How  stands  the  order  that  he 
defends  ?  Is  it  not  well  known  to  Gentlemen  on  this  floor  who  were  candi- 
dates in  the  late  elections  for  Congress,  that  these  Know  Nothings  formed  this 
plan ;  pretended  to  be  their  friends,  went  into  convention  pretending  to  be 
Democrats,  assisted  in  making  the  nominations,  drew  their  secrets  and  all  their 
plans  from  them,  obtained  all  the  'information  they  could  from  them,  and  after 
night-fall  skulked  into  the  Know  Nothing  lodges  and  communicated  those  se- 
crets !  This  is  a  notorious  fact  and  cannot  be  denied.  I  say,  that  it  is  beneath 
the  dignity  of  American  gentlemen  and  honorable  men  to  resort  to  such  means 
in  midnight  lodges  for  any  purpose.  Do  we  not  know  that  they  make  it  a  boast 
in  Pennsylvania  that  in  the  Gubernatorial  election  there,  they  took  the  distin- 
guished Democratic  candidate,  Governor  Bigler,  from  one  county  to  another, 
and  his  pretended  friends  of  one  lodge  handed  him  over  (if  I  may  use  the  ex- 
pression) to  the  tender  care  of  his  professed  friends  of  another  lodge  who  would 
take  him  in  special  charge,  and  in  the  language  of  the  Gentleman  from  Ala- 
bama, "  cultivate  his  friendship,  probe  his  designs,  and  communicate  his  se- 
crets." Sir,  this  indicated  a  degree  of  proficiency  in  Jesuitism  that  would 
have  gladdened  the  heart  and  raised  a  ghastly  smile  even  on  the  countenance  of 
old  Rodin  himself.  [Laughter.] 

The  Gentleman  from  Alabama  justifies  the  oath  of  this  order,  and  says,  that 
it  finds  its  justification  in  the  practices  of  its  adversaries.  Is  not  that  sound 
doctrine  to  hold  forth  in  an  American  Congress  ?  Finds  its  justification  in  the 
practices  of  its  adversaries  !  The  religious  Jesuits  are  the  adversaries  he 
speaks  of. 

The  Gentleman  says  also,  that  "  an  oath  solemnly  taken  is  an  element  of 
purfty."  Well,  Sir,  if  a  solemn  oath  was  what  they  sought  for,  this  order 
should  not  have  stopped  at  the  oath  of  the  Jesuits,  but  gone  a  few  centuries 
further  back  and  adopted  the  oath  which  Cataline  administered  to  his  co-con- 
spirators when  they  met  in  the  back-room  of  the  house  of  one  Sempronia,  a 
Roman  bawd — in  a  place,  as  the  historian  says,  every  way  suited  for  the  purpose, 
and  well  adapted  to  their  occult  and  dark  practices,  for  there,  after  administer- 


302 


ing  a  mighty  oath,  just  as  the  Know  Nothings  administer  it,  they  sealed  that 
oath  by  drinking  from  bowls,  draughts  of  wine  mingled  with  human  blood ! 
"Was  that  an  element  of  purity  ?  Did  that  oath  make  them  pure  ?  Why,  Sir, 
if  the  history  of  those  times  are  correct,  they  were  men  of  desperate  fortunes 
and  abandoned  characters — men  dangling  loose  upon  society,  who  were  ready 
for  any  change  of  affairs  that  promised  to  benefit  themselves. 

Then,  Sir,  the  Gentleman  says  that  secrecy  is  the  great  element  of  success, 
and  that  the  "  Order  should  preserve  in  their  halls  the  most  inviolable  secrecy/' 
all  the  time  acting  upon  the  old  doctrine  that  the  end  will  justify  the  means. 
Now,  Sir,  if  this  is  not  Jesuitism,  I  do  not  understand  what  is  the  meaning  of 
the  term.  But  the  Gentleman  says  that  it  finds  its  great  justification  of  se- 
crecy in  the  fact  that  it  is  warring  against  Jesuits.  Warring  against  Jesuits  ! 
If  the  religious  Jesuits  are  what  the  Gentleman  represents  them  to  be,  and  if 
these  political  Jesuits  of  Know  Nothingism  are  what  I  believe  them  to  be,  I 
Sir,  should  look  upon  a  contest  between  them  with  perfect  indifference.  I 
would  look  upon  it  as  American  citizens  now  generally  look  upon  the  war  go- 
ing on  between  Russia  and  England,  or  as  a  Western  hunter  would  look  upon 
a  fight  between  a  bear  and  an  alligator,  or  a  mink  and  a  polecat.  [Much 
Laughter.]  Every  objection  that  the  Gentleman  has  urged  against  the  Jesuits 
seems  to  apply  with  equal  force  to  the  Know  Nothings.  They  are  neither  of 
them  suited  to  our  country  and  they  cannot  flourish  here.  One  is  the  counter- 
part of  the  other,  and  Sir,  as  my  friend  from  the  Red  River  district  of  Loui- 
siana, (Mr.  Roland  Jones)  says,  that  the  men  of  my  State  are  fond  of  making 
quotations  from  Hudibras,  let  me  say  to  the  Gentleman  from  Alabama;  of  the 
Know  Nothings  and  Jesuits,  that : 

"  They  are  so  near  akin, 

And  like  in  all  as  well  as  sin, 

That  put  them  in  a  bag  and  shake  'em, 

Himself  on  the  sudden  would  mistake  'em. 

And  not  know  which  was  which,  unless 

He  measured  by  their  wickedness."    [Laughter.] 

Who  set  on  foot  the  organization  in  the  United  States  ?  We  first  find  it 
springing  up  in  the  North,  in  the  old  hot-bed  of  federalism.  It  had  been  con- 
quered under  every  name  by  the  Democratic  party.  It  was  the  old  Federal 
party  and  was  conquered  under  that  name.  It  assumed  the  name  of  National 
Republican,  then  Whig,  and  then  degenerated  into  isms.  The  Whig  party  had 
become  almost  extinct  at  the  North.  There  was  in  fact  but  one  party  there  and 
that  was  the  Democratic  party.  All  the  others  were  but  isms. 

Mr.  Washburne,  of  Illinois.  Will  the  Gentleman  tell  me  in  which  State  at 
the  North  the  Democratic  party  now  exist  ? 

Mr.  Rufiin.  I  think  it  does  in  Illinois,  judging  from  the  late  election  there. 
[Laughter.] 

Mr.  Washburne.  I  suppose  the  Gentleman  refers  to  the  election  of  an  anti- 
Nebraska  Senator.  [Renewed  laughter.] 

Mr.  Rufiin.     No,  Sir,  I  do  not,  but  I  will  come  to  his  election  by  and  by. 

Mr.  Florence.  I  will  say  to  the  Gentleman,  that  it  exists  in  Pennsylvania, 
thank. God  ! — "its  banner  torn  but  flying."  [Great  Laughter.] 

Mr.  Washburne.     In  what  part  of  Pennsylvania  ?  0 

Mr.  Florence.  In  the  First  Congressional  District.  [Renewed  laughter.] 
That  will  do.  Now  let  the  Gentleman  from  N.  C.  go  on. 

Mr.  Rufiin.  The  Democratic  party  being  triumphant  at  the  North,  there 
was  a  fusion  of  all  the  isms  to  oppose  it.  This  organization  sprang  up.  It  of- 
fered great  inducements.  There  were  a  host  of  old  political  hacks  out  of  of- 
fice, men  who  had  lived  all  their  lives  out  of  the  public  crib.  They  had  then 


303 

nothing  to  resort  to.  The  Democratic  party  was  in  power  in  the  general  gov- 
ernment and  at  that  time,  in  most  of  the  States,  and  these  old  political  hacks, 
who  were  wandering  about  like  stray  spirits  on  the  Stygian  banks,  thought  it  a 
fine  chance  to  join  in  a  new  venture,  and  they  joined  this  organization.  I  say, 
Sir,  that  it  is  taken  from  the  old  Federal  party.  That  party  has  never  been 
eradicated  at  the  North.  It  is  true,  the  old  tree  of  federalism  is  dead,  its 
leaves  have  long  since  withered  and  been  wafted  away  upon  the  winds  of  Hea- 
ven, its  boughs  have  crumbled  and  fallen,  and  its  aged  trunk  lying  prostrate  has 
mouldered  into  dust,  but  from  its  prolific  roots  has  sprung  up  this  bastard  slip 
of  Know  Nothingisin.  It  has  incorporated  into  its  platform,  planks  from  that 
old  party. 

Mr.  Campbell.     Amen !     [Laughter.] 

Mr.  Ruffin.  Anti-naturalization  !  Where  is  that  taken  from?  It  is  a  plank 
of  the  black  cockade  federalism  of  the  days  of  the  elder  Adams,  and  the  order 
finds  a  bright  example  of  secrecy  in  the  blue-light  federalists  who  met  in  the 
Hartford  Convention  to  plot  treason  against  the  Government. 

It  has  flourished  in  that  section  of  country  fruitful  in  isms,  in  abolitionism, 
freesoilism,  atheism,  women's-rightism  and  every  other  ism  imaginable.  These, 
Sir,  have  given  it  its  strength  there,  in  that  section  of  our  country  where  men 
meet  together  in  convention  and  declare  "  there  is  no  God ;"  where  agrarian 
mobs,  the  very  scum  of  the  earth,  parade  the  streets  by  thousands,  recognizing 
no  distiction  between  meum  and  tuum,  and  crying  aloud  for  a  division  of  pro- 
perty. In  that  section  of  country  where  weak-minded  men,  crazy  fanatics, 
meet  in  convention  with  strong-minded  women  clothed  in  boots  and  breeches,  to 
discuss  the  important  question  of  women's  rights.  [Laughter.] 

Inaugurated  under  these  auspices,  how  can  it  be  conservative  ?  Sir,  the  idea 
is  preposterous.  It  professes  now  to  be  the  only  true  National  Conservative 
Union  party — whereas  it  is  a  sectional  radical  destructive  party.  It  is  an  abo- 
lition, disunion  scheme,  and  in  every  step,  its  progress  gives  unerring  indi- 
cation of  a  settled  purpose  to  sever  asunder  the  ties  which  bind  these  States 
together. 

It  has  given  strength  to  the  abolitionists  of  the  North,  and  now  it  has  the 
unblushing  effrontery  and  daring  impudence  to  offer  itself  to  the  South  as  some- 
thing which  is  conservative,* something  which  is  designed  to  place  in  their  hands 
and  the  hands  of  their  friends,  the  power  of  the  General  and  State  Govern- 
ments. Sir,  I  for  one,  never  had  any  confidence  in  it  from  the  beginning,  for 
it  came  from  the  wrong  quarter. 

"  Timao  Danaos  et  dona  ferentes." 

I  was  satisfied  that  within  the  cavity  of  that  wooden  horse  were  concealed  the 
elements  of  abolitionism.  It  was  absurd  to  believe  that  the  abolitionists  of  the 
North,  when  they  had  for  years  and  years  in  their  weakness,  waged  an  offensive 
war  against  the  South,  would  now  in  the  pride  of  their  strength — after  their 
shattered  ranks  had  been  recruited  by  untold  thousands,  after  the  embattled 
hosts  of  Know  Nothingism  had  flocked  to  their  standards,  not  in  straggling 
parties  like  deserters,  but  in  solid  column  with  flags  flying  and  drums  beating 
— be  so  magnanimous  as  to  raise  the  long  siege,  and  celebrate  it  with  a  peace 
offering.  I  for  one,  Sir,  as  a  Southern  man,  cannot  trust  it.  Was  I  not  right, 
Sir,  in  my  opinion  at  that  time  ?  I  say  that  I  was.  Recent  developments  have 
proved  this  beyond  all  doubt.  The  Know  Nothing  party  of  the  North  has 
never  aided  in  the  election  of  a  single  friend  of  the  Nebraska  bill  to  either 
House  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  I  again  assert  that  it  has  not. 
I  challenge  successful  contradiction  from  any  quarter  and  pause  for  a  reply. 
They  have  elected  no  man  who  is  willing  to  give  the  South  the  rights  guaran- 
teed to  it  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Maine,  Pennsylvania, 
New  York,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Iowa  and  Wisconsin  have  returned  to  this  House 


304 

men  who  arc  pledged  to  vote  for  the  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  which 
we  regard   as  the  very  bond  which  binds  the  Union   together.     In  the  above 
named  States  it  has  aided  abolition  in  striking  down  the  true  friends  of  the 
Constitution,  and  filling  their  places  with  a  dangerous  class  of  politicians. 
Let  us  see  what  a  Northern  Editor  says  about  its  doings  in  the  North  : 

11  But  if  we  lacked  positive  proof  of  the  feelings  of  the  masses  of  the  party 
in  regard  to  slavery,  the  late  elections  in  this  and  other  States  of  the  Union 
show  the  liberal  tendencies  of  the  whole  party.  In  New  York  the  American 
party  polled  122,000  votes,  but  they  aided  the  anti-Nebraska  party  in  that 
State  in  returning  to  the  next  Congress  twenty-nine  men  opposed  to  the  admis- 
sion of  slavery  into  Kansas.  In  Pennsylvania  we  saw  a  like  result;  while  in 
Illinois,  by  the  aid  of  this  movement,  the  Douglasites  were  completely  routed  ; 
and  so  in  Michigan,  where  the  whole  State  was  carried  for  freedom  by  the 
council  fires  of  the  American  party." 

But  Sir,  we  are  sometimes  pointed  by  Southern  Know  Nothings  to  the  Mas- 
sachusetts election,  and  gravely  told  that  the  Know  Nothings  in  that  State  have 
sent  a  new  delegation  to  Congress  with  but  two  exceptions.  I  am  not  aware  of 
any  alteration  in  this  respect  so  far  as  liberality  and  nationality  are  concerned. 
No  Sir,  these  Yankees  of  Massachusetts  are  cunning  men  and  they  followed  the 
example  of  the  skilful  huntsman  who,  when  his  hounds  are  flagging  in  the 
chase  blows  them  off,  lets  slip  the  leashes  and  hies  on  a  fresh  pack,  the  more 
speedily  to  hunt  down  his  prey.  The  people  of  Massachusetts  no  doubt  thought 
that  their  representatives  here,  being  removed  from  the  fanaticism  which  sur- 
rounds them  at  home,  had  become  less  zealous  and  were  rather  flagging  in  the 
chase,  and  therefore  considered  it  better  to  send  on  a  new  set.  [Laughter.] 

But,  Sir,  if  any  body  has  doubted  this  abolition  sentiment  of  Know  Noth- 
ingism,  let  us  look  at  the  recent  elections  carried  by  these  Know  Nothings. 
Look  at  the  men  elected  by  them, — Harlan,  the  fusionist  in  Iowa.  Trumbull, 
the  man  of  "isms,"  in  Illinois,  over  the  gallant  Shields,  whose  body  is  scarred 
with  wounds  received  in  defence  of  the  flag  of  his  adopted  country.  Durkee, 
the  Abolition  agrarian  in  Wisconsin.  Wilson,  the  embodiment  of  rampant 
freesoilisrn  in  Massachusetts,  the  latter  elected  by  a  Legislature  in  which  there 
was  but  one  Democrat,  and — it  is  said — but  some-  five  or  six  old  line  Whigs. 
Are  the  Know  Nothings  not  responsible  for  the  election  of  these  men  ?  Are 
they  not  responsible  for  the  election  of  this  Mr.  Wilson  to  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  ?  Yet  another  election  !  that  of  Seward,  the  "  Jupiter  Tonans" 
of  abolition,  the  "  higher  law"  Senator,  who,  in  the  intensity  of  his  hatred  of 
the  South,  stands  a  head  and  shoulders  above  them  all.  The  Know  Nothings 
had  made  a  boast  that  they  would  defeat  him, — that  they  would  show  their  na- 
tionality in  that  election, — that  they  were  going  to  take  the  arch-agitator  from 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  put  a  conservative  in  his  place.  That 
election  was  looked  to  with  probably  more  interest  than  any  Senatorial  election 
ever  held  in  any  of  the  States  of  this  Union.  We  all  recollect  Tuesday,  the 
6th  of  February, — I  believe  that  was  the  day.  It  was  at  all  events  a  dark  and 
gloomy  day.  It  was  known  that  the  election  for  United  States  Senator  from 
New  York  was  to  be  held  that  day  in  Albany.  The  hour  had  arrived.  The 
telegraphic  office  in  this  capital  was,  on  that  occasion,  an  interesting  place. 
Numbers  of  politicians  might  be  seen  wending  their  way  there — -your  Southern 
Know  Nothings  and  your  Northern  Know  Nothings.  They  were  there  about 
the  time  when  they  expected  the  announcement  to  come.  They  were  watching 
with  straining  eyes,  and  palpitating  hearts,  and  half-suppressed  respiration. 
The  mystic  wire  is  watched  with  the  fixed  gaze  of  intense  anxiety.  A  message 
comes  rushing  upon  the  wings  of  the  lightning.  The  suspense  is  but  short. 
"The  sybil  speaks,  the  dream  is  o'er."  The  dispatch  is  read.  It  was  a  sweet 
morsel  to  your  freesoil  Know  Nothings.  They  hearkened  to  it  as  the  prodigal 


305 

son  to  his  father's  testament.  They  gulped  it  down  with  all  imaginable  avidity. 
It  was  as  sweet  to  them  as  the  manna  from  Heaven  to  the  hungry  Israelites  in 
the  wilderness.  But  how  was  it  to  the  Southern  Know  Nothings  ?  Ah  !  it 
was  a  bitter  pill  for  them.  They  had  to  swallow  it  down,  but  oh  !  what  rueful 
grimaces  and  contortions  of  countenance,  it  was  like  gall  and  wormwood  to  a 
sick  and  fainting  girl. 

Now,  Sir,  let  us  see  what  is  thought  of  him  as  a  national  man  in  the  North. 
I  read  an  extract  from  one  of  the  New  York  Journals.  I  do  not  know  whether 
it  is  Know  Nothing  or  not,  but  I  suppose  it  is,  at  all  events  it  was,  allied  with 
them  in  the  grand  contest. 

Speaking  of  the  Senator  from  New  York,  it  says  : 

"  He  has  pressed  with  equal  ardor  the  claims  of  Commerce,  Agriculture  and 
Manufactures — he  has  vindicated  with  equal  zeal,  the  just  rights  and  interests 
of  the  West  and  South,  and  those  of  the  East  and  of  the  North.  There  is  not 
at  this  day,  in  the  Senate  or  in  public  life,  a  statesman  of  more  ability — more 
laborious  and  conscientious  in  his  discharge  of  public  duties,  or  more  thoroughly 
and  truly  national  in  all  his  views,  than  Governor  Seward." 

And  again,  what  a  Know  Nothing  Journal  means  by  conservatism  : 

11  The  slavery  question  canaot  affect  the  American  party,  for  its  whole  power 
and  all  its  hopes  are  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  Its  aspirations  are  for 
freedom,  and  when  the  party  is  accused  of  being  pro-slavery,  let  its  defenders 
point  the  men  who  utter  the  base  lie  to  every  election  that  has  occurred  since 
the  party  sprung  into  existence." 

Also,  what  is  meant  by  "  ignoring  slavery." 

"  The  party  never  has,  and  we  hope  never  will,  fulminate  anti-slavery  resolves 
for  the  purpose  of  humbugging  the  masses,  but  it  will  do  right,  move  right,  and 
act  right,  and  in  every  free  State  in  the  Union  it  will  give  new  protection  to 
every  citizen  within  its  borders.  Its  first  great  national  aim  is  to  procure  an 
alteration  of  the  naturalization  laws,  and  upon  that  point  they  will  know  no 
sectional  division  ;  but  upon  the  great  question  of  freedom  and  slavery,  every 
northern  American  freeman  will  raise  his  voice  for  liberty,  and  Banks,  DeWitt, 
and  Trafton  will  utter  upon  the  floor  of  Congress  the  sentiments  of  this  new 
party.  That  foreign  element  that  has  given  the  pro-slavery  Democratic  party 
the  control  of  this  country  will  soon  lose  the  means  of  augmenting  its  numbers; 
and  when  that  is  effected,  freedom  in  this  republic  is  secure.  The  prize  we  are 
battling  for  is  '  liberty  to  all ;'  and  when  Americans  rule  America  we  shall 
obtain  it,  and  not  till  then." 

Thus  we  learn  what  is  meant  by  their  "  ad  captandum"  expressions — conser- 
vative indeed  !  "  lucus  a  non  lucendo"  called  conservative  for  the  same  reason 
that  a  certain  mythological  character  was  called  Midas,  from  a  Greek  word 
meaning  to  eat,  because  he  could  not  eat.  What  can  Southern  men  promise 
themselves  by  affiliating  with  this  "  Order  ?"  If  the  people  of  the  South  acfc 
with  their  usual  foresight,  they  will  fly  from  it  as  from  a  raging  pestilence,  and 
shun  a  "  Know  Nothing"  lodge  room  as  they  would  the  charnel-house  of  a  small- 
pox hospital. 

I  have  thought  from  the  beginning  of  this  new  movement  that  it  was  an 
emanation  from  the  filth  and  corruption  of  rotten  and  festering  isms,  and  tbat  it 
was  a  mere  iynisfatuus,  fetid  miasma  springing  up  from  moral  and  political  de- 
cay, corruscating  and  shining  in  the  darkest  hour  of  night,  but  disappearing  be- 
fore the  light  of  morn.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  people  of  the  South, 
are  to  be  blinded  and  led  by  this  jack  with  a  lantern  into  the  bogs  and  marshes 
of  Abolitionism  ;  nor  will  they  follow  Sam  with  his  dark  lantern  into  the  mid- 
night conclave  of  the  Know  Nothings.  But  they  tell  us  that  these  men  are 
20 


306 


native  Americans,  and  that  we  are  not  to  suspect  them.  Is  it  not  true  that 
much  the  larger  portion  of  the  Abolitionists  of  this  country  are  native-born 
Americans.  Some  of  the  leading  spirits  who  figure  in  this  Know  Nothing  par- 
ty are  foreigners,  although  the  party  itself  profess  such  a  holy  horror  for  all 
foreigners.  The  Crusader,  a  Know  Nothing  paper  at  New  York,  is  edited  by 
one  Caselli,  and  has  for  its  chief  contributor  Father  Gavazzi.  It  would  require 
but  little  credulity  for  one  to  infer  from  the  columns  of  the  New  York  Herald, 
that  a  leading  spirit  in  the  councils  of  the  order  might  be  found  in  its  editor. 
Bennett,  an  unnaturalized  foreigner,  and  a  political  Ishmaelite,  whose  hand  has 
been  against  every  man,  and  every  man's  hand  against  him,  has  probably  done 
more  towards  furthering  the  progress  of  this  order  than  any  man  in  the  United 
States.  History  will  record  two  remarkable  things  of  this  order,  one  is  that 
professing  to  be  composed  entirely  of  native  Americans,  its  chief  pillars  of 
support  are  foreigners ;  and  the  other  is,  that  it  is  a  society  of  political  Jesuits, 
professedly  formed  for  the  purpose  of  waging  war  against  religious  Jesuits. 

The  friends  of  the  "  order"  say  that  it  is  necessary  to  establish  their  secret 
societies  to  protect  ourselves  against  foreign  influence.  In  the  section  of  the 
country  in  which  I  live,  we  have  none  of  this  foreign  influence,  and  we  are  not 
troubled  with  anything  of  the  kind.  What  foreigners  we  have  among  us  are 
generally  intelligent  and  educated  people,  men  of  character,  and  I  suppose  one 
reason  of  it  is  owing  to  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  the  "  peculiar  institution" 
among  us  which  I  regard  as  one  of  the  greatest  moral,  social  and  political  bles- 
sings that  was  ever  vouchsafed  to  man,  and  another  reason  is  owing  to  the  fact 
that  we  have  not  encouraged  these  men  to  come  as  they  have  in  some  of  the 
Northern  States  where  they  are  now  complaining  of  them  so  much.  Why  do 
we  not  know  that  two  or  three  years  ago  the  people  of  some  of  the  Northern 
cities  regarded  foreign  fiddlers  and  show  girls  as  beings  worthy  of  adoration,  al- 
most of  worship ;  then  coming  from  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  was  of  itself 
a  certain  passport  to  the  highest  honors. 

We  all  recollect  with  what  exultation  it  was  heralded  through  the  land  when 
the  "Swedish  Nightingale"  touched  the  American  shores.  No  one  has  forgot- 
ten the  grand  demonstration  that  was  made  in  the  great  commercial  emporium 
of  New  York,  when  the  literati,  the  elite,  aristocracy  and  upper  tendom  of 
of  that  city  flocked  in  her  train  in  greater  numbers  than  ever  the  Pagans  fol- 
lowed after  the  car  of  Juggernaut.  It  was  but  a  few  years  ago  that  they  intro- 
duced at  the  North,  a  member  of  the  British  Parliament,  to  lecture  upon  the 
subject  of  abolitionism.  The  people  of  the  North  are  alone  responsible  for  the 
introduction  into  the  country  of  that  class  of  turbulent  and  vicious  foreigners, 
of  whom  they  now  complain  so  loudly. 

Here  I  will  say,  that  I  am  as  much  opposed  as  any  man  can  be  to  the  intro- 
duction into  this  country  of  the  vagabonds,  felons,  paupers,  and  convicts  of  the 
Old  World.  I  say,  let  the  government  pass  such  laws  as  it  has  authority  and 
power  to  do  under  the  constitution,  let  the  States  and  your  municipal  corpora- 
tions;  pass  such  laws  as  they  please,  to  suppress  the  introduction  of  this  class  of 
foreigners ;  but  do  not  persecute  the  well-disposed  foreigners  on  this  account. 
You  will  find  it  no  easy  matter  to  stop  the  importation  of  convicts  and  paupers, 
and  when  you  try  it  you  will  ascertain  that  it  will  be  something  like  the  slave 
trade.  Mercenary  men  will  fit  out  vessels  in  the  port  of  New  York  to  bring 
convicts  and  paupers  of  Europe  to  this  country,  as  they  now  fit  out  slavers  to 
sail  to  the  coast  of  Africa  to  get  slaves  for  the  markets  of  Brazil  and  Cuba.  I 
do  not  care  what  kind  of  laws  you  pass  against  the  importation  of  felons  and 
convicts,  you  will  find  Yankee  captains  visiting  the  ports  of  Europe,  and  having 
their  agents  in  its  cities  to  contract  secretly  with  the  public  authorities  to  rid 
them  of  their  convicts  and  vagabonds  by  bringing  them  to  our  seaports — the 
more  risk  the  higher  will  be  the  price  of  passage,  and  a  brisk  trade  will  soon  be 
"  opened  up"  by  these  enterprising  men.  You  may  have  laws  upon  your  stat- 


307 

ute  books,  for  punishing  in  the  severest  manner  those  who  engage  in  the  impor- 
tation of  foreign  criminals.  You  may  for  what  I  care,  if  you  can  find  warrant 
for  it  in  the  constitution,  put  this  importation  of  felons  on  the  same  footing 
with  piracy — you  may  take  the  vessels  of  the  navy  and  scour  the  high  seas  in 
search  of  the  violators  of  the  law — you  may,  whenever  you  find  a  "  live  cargo" 
of  criminals  on  board  a  ship,  string  up  your  Yankee  skipper  to  the  yard-arm, 
and  pitch  his  body  to  the  fishes  of  the  sea.  Even  then,  sir,  I  fear  it  will  be 
difficult  to  stop  the  importation.  Sir,  there  are  now  men  at  the  North  who  have 
grown  rich  by  the  importation  of  this  class  of  foreigners.  Punish  those  who 
engage  in  it.  Do  not  adopt  the  plan  recently  proposed  by  the  philosopher, 
Horace  Greely.  That  amounts  in  substance  to  reducing  the  poorer  class  of 
foreigners  to  slavery,  and  if  it  is  carried  out,  New  York  will  become  a  great 
slave  market — white  men  will  be  sold  at  the  block. 

I  am  opposed  to  making  slaves  out  of  any  class  of  white  men  on  earth.  I 
know  of  no  good  reason  for  prohibiting  the  immigration  of  well-disposed  for- 
eigners to  this  country,  to  assist  in  developing  its  resources.  A  large  portion 
of  the  foreigners  in  the  West  are  German  farmers,  and  they  are  known  to  be 
good  citizens.  I  for  one,  can  see  no  reason  why  an  orderly  and  well-disposed 
class  of  our  population  should  be  persecuted  because  mercenary  men  in  the 
commercial  cities  will  violate  the  rules  of  decency  and  propriety  by  bringing  a 
different  class  of  foreigners  here.  Enforce  your  naturalization  laws.  We  hear 
a  great  deal  said  about  its  having  been  always  customary  to  naturalize  any  man 
who  desired  to  be  naturalized.  In  that  part  of  the  Union  in  which  I  reside,  I 
rejoice  to  say  that  the  naturalization  laws  of  the  Federal  Government  are  en- 
forced to  the  very  letter — just  as  strictly  as  any  law  we  have  upon  the  statute 
book  of  our  State.  ]f  you  will  impeach  your  judges  when  they  violate  their 
duty,  and  make  them  enforce  the  law,  we  can  then  have  none  but  a  good  class 
of  naturalized  citizens,  and  no  man  unless  he  proves  a  good  character,  and  is 
well  disposed  to  our  institutions,  &c.  can  get  his  naturalization  papers.  I  do 
not  understand  this  sudden  change  of  opinion  in  regard  to  foreigners.  Twelve 
months  ago  the  case  of  Martin  Kostza  was  before  this  House,  and  gentlemen 
then  seemed  to  be  exceedingly  anxious  to  curry  favor  with  foreigners.  Why 
this  sudden  change  ?  Is  it  because  military  companies  composed  of  naturalized 
citizens  stood  in  serried  ranks  in  Boston,  to  maintain  the  laws,  and  protect  the 
officers  of  the  Government  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  when  a  Southern 
man  was  there  seeking  to  claim  his  property  under  the  Constitution  ?  Is  it  be- 
cause these  naturalized  Irishmen  prevented  a  blood-thirsty  tru>b  of  native-born 
traitors  from  rescuing  a  fugitive  slave  ?  Is  it  because  Bachelder  who  was  as- 
sassinated by  that  mob  was  a  native  of  Ireland  ? 

Yes,  Sir,  because  these  men  kept  off  abolition  traitors,  we  hear  this  cry 
against  them,  the  fact  is  notorious  that  one  of  the  first  act  of  the  Know-Nothing 
Governor  of  Massachusetts  was  to  disband  their  military  companies.  I  sup- 
pose another  reason  for  the  outcry  against  foreigners  is  because  they  generally 
vote  the  Democratic  ticket.  In  the  last  presidential  canvass  the  Whig  candidate 
proclaimed  a  new  principle  on  this  subject.  He  was  for  admitting  to  the  rights 
of  citizenship  all  who  had  served  in  the  army  for  a  certain  length  of  time,  and 
but  a  short  time  at  that.  The  Whigs  then  said  he  was  right— they  then  said 
that  service  for  a  few  months  in  camp — (the  last  place  to  learn  the  operation  of 
our  institutions) — should  entitle  a  foreigner  to  citizenship.  Such  of  them  as 
have  joined  this  unew  movement"  now  say  let  no  one  who  is  born  abroad  ever 
be  naturalized. 

Yes,  Sir,  it  is  because  they  cannot  get  the  sturdy  Germans  and  generous 
Irish  to  sing  the  peans  of  federalism  that  they  are  prejudiced  against  them. 
The  ways  of  federalism  are  the  ways  of  inconsistency;  before  an  important  elec- 
tion it  has  a  high  appreciation  of  adopted  citizens — it  is  then  greatly  fascinated 
with  the  "  rich  Irish  brogue,  and  the  sweet  German  accent/'  but  the  election 


308 

over,  and  how  is  it  then  ?  Why,  Paddy  becomes  a  "  splay-footed  Irish  bog- 
trotter,"  and  Hans  a  "  damned  lop-eared  Dutchman."  [Laughter.J  Why  are 
efforts  now  made  to  raise  a  party  opposed  to  religious  toleration. 

And  here  again  I  must  be  permitted  to  say  that  I  have  no  relation  or  con- 
nection, so  far  as  I  know,  either  among  the  living  or  the  dead,  who  ever  was  a 
member  of  any  Catholic  church,  and  while  I  yield  to  no  man  in  the  ardent  and 
sincere  hope  that  the  day  will  come  when  the  Protestant  religion  shall  have  its 
churches  and  altars  in  every  part  of  the  Globe  ;  yet,  Sir,  I  do  not  believe  that 
either  the  fostering  hand  of  the  government  or  a  persecution  of  other  churches 
would  expedite  its  onward  progress.  I  never  will  join  in  persecuting  any  man 
for  his  religious  opinions.  That  is  a  matter  between  him  and  his  God.  In  the 
part  of  the  country  in  which  I  live,  and  I  dare  say  in  the  whole  State  which  I 
have  the  honor  in  part  to  represent,  there  is  not  a  master  who  would  dictate  to 
his  slave  the  manner  in  which  he  shall  worship  God,  or  the  church  to  which  he 
shall  belong.  This  new  fangled  doctrine  of  the  Know-Nothings  to  hunt  down 
men  on  account  of  their  religious  opinions  is  a  monstrous  proposition.  It  is  at 
utter  variance  with  the  whole  spirit  of  our  government. 

And  where  did  this  proscription  against  the  Catholic  religion  originate  ?  It 
originated  in  the  same  section  of  the  country,  at  the  North,  where  those  three 
thousand  and  fifty  abolition  clergymen  got  up  a  traitorous  petition  to  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States.  No  Catholics  joined  them.  No  Catholic  signed 
that  petition.  But,  Sir,  this  seems  to  be  an  effort  either  to  make  them  join  the 
abolition  party,  and  engage  in  an  abolition  crusade  against  the  South,  or  that 
they  will  drive  them  from  the  country  by  persecution.  Opposition  to  this  reli- 
gion is  held  out  to  us  of  the  South  as  the  reason  why  we  should  join  this 
"  Know-Nothing  "  order.  As  the  Catholics  do  not  wage  a  war  against  us,  I, 
for  one,  am  opposed  to  waging  war  against  them.  As  long  as  they  obey  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws,  their  rights  should  be  respected  by  every  man.  It 
is  a  deep  laid  scheme,  all  these  ghost  tales,  cock-and-bull  stories,  and  old  wives' 
fables  about  the  Jesuits  and  Catholics  of  the  United  States.  All  designed  to 
operate  on  the  prejudices  of  the  people.  They  expect  them  to  operate  as  a 
charm  upon  the  South,  and  in  that  way  to  throw  us  off  our  guard.  We  have 
muoh  stronger  reasons  for  apprehending  danger  from  the  machinations  of  the 
3050  wooly-headed  abolition  clergymen  who  with  the  wierd  sanctity  of  bigotry 
and  fanaticism  are  disseminating  treason  from  their  pulpits,  than  from  the 
tiara  that  encircles  the  brow  of  the  feeble  and  harmless  old  man  at  Home, 
thousands  and  thousands  of  leagues  by  land  and  sea,  far,  far  away  from  our 
shores. 

But,  Sir,  in  this  connexion  let  us  see  what  is  going  on  in  New  England — a 
newspaper  has  this  advertisement : 

"  SLAVERY  AND  POPERY. — Rev.  Thomas  James,  a  fugitive  slave,  will  ad- 
dress the  citizens  of  various  towns  upon  Slavery  and  Popery,  and  show  their 
bearing  on  the  nation." 

And  then  follows  a  list  of  appointments.  If  a  Southern  minister  should  de- 
sire to  preach  from  one  of  their  pulpits  the  privilege  would  be  denied  him,  yet 
this  negro  can  use  them. 

I  have  seen  it  stated  frequently  in  the  papers,  that  in  the  great  State  of  New 
York,  free  negroes  had  actually  formed  "  Know-Nothing"  lodges.  This  is  the 
conservative  party  which  the  people  of  the  South  are  invited  to  join,  so  as  to  wage 
war  against  the  Pope.  Sir,  we  have  enemies  a  plenty  at  our  own  doors  without 
looking  across  the  waters  to  find  others.  How  is  it  proposed  to  sustain  the 
Know  Nothing  party  ?  By  boasting  and  threats.  The  gentleman  from  Mary- 
land  (Mr.  Sellers)  would  have  us  believe  that  this  party  is  one  of  gigantic 
power,  and  that  he  who  has  any  hopes  of  a  political  future  should  not  be  so  rash  as 
to  combat  it.  He  says  "  it  has  gone  sweeping  like  a  whirlwind"  and  "  annihilat- 


309 

ing  all  its  opponents."  He  appeals  to  the  fears  of  gentlemen,  and  talks  to  them 
of  political  graves — let  him  take  heed  lest  when  looking  around  for  burial  places 
for  others,  he  shall  himself  be  consigned  to  a  political  grave  as  deep  as  the 
u gloom  where  dreary  chaos  reigns"  and  where  he  may  be  even  beyond  the 
reach  of  that  politico  geological  explorer  of  whom  he  spoke,  who  at  some  fu- 
ture day  is  to  search  for  the  opponents  of  Know  Nothingism  among  the  fossil 
remains  of  an  extinct  race.  I,  Sir,  tender  my  thanks  to  the  eloquent  gentle- 
men from  Mississippi  and  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Barry  and  Mr.  Keit)  for  their 
exposition  of  the  objects  and  aims  of  the  Know  Nothings,  and  for  their  moral 
courage  in  being  first  on  this  floor  to  assail  the  principles  of  this  new  order — 
with  keen  blades  and  stalwart  blows  they  shivered  into  fragments  the  crazy 
mail  that  but  feebly  protected  this  staggering  carcass  of  galvanized  federalism, 
and  exhibited  it  in  its  nakedness  and  hideous  deformity  to  the  gaze  of  the 
world.  The  order  had  not  then  so  fully  developed  its  anti-slavery  sentiment. 
The  gentleman  clamed  for  it  "  intense  nationalft/."  We  were  to  hear  no  more 
of  the  invasion  of  Southern  rights,  if  they  dared  make  the  attempt  he  himself 
would  meet  his  Northern  friends  at  Mason  &  Dixon's  line,  not  as  brothers  but 
with  "banner,  brand  and  bow."  Let  him  adhere  to  this  determination  when 
the  rights  of  the  South  are  invaded — let  him  be  prepared  to  defend  them — when 
the  Scotts  cross  the  border  line,  let  him  as  a  true  knight,  wind  the  cornage 
horn. 

Know  Nothingism  professes  to  be  eminently  patriotic,  struggling  for  the  com- 
mon weal,  not  for  office.  Well,  Mr.  Chairman,  why  is  it,  thut  wheiever  they 
have  reached  power  they  have  proscribed  all,  from  the  highest  officials  even  down 
to  the  hog  constables  of  the  little. towns.  Anticipating  a  majority  in  the  next 
House  of  Representatives,  there  are  already  hosts  of  applicants  for  the  places 
within  its  gift.  Yes  sir,  if  all  the  men  who  aspire  to  these  offices  were  formed 
into  regiments  and  drilled  for  a  few  weeks,  General  Scott  could  take  them  to 
the  Crimea  and  carry  Sebastopol  by  storm. 

They  are  looking  after  all  the  places,  from  the  Speaker's  chair  down  to  the 
humble  office  held  by  the  sable  high  priest  who  ministers  at  the  altars  of  the 
temple  of  Cloasina  in  the  basement  of  this  Capitol.  (Laughter.) 

Look  at  their  election  in  this  city  ?  It  was  an  extraordinary  affair.  They 
seemed  to  be  after  the  Exchequer,  the  first  thing,  like  Sir  John  Falstaff.  They 
desired  to  get  the  control  of  the  funds  of  the  Washington  National  Monument. 
They  banded  together  in  this  capital  and  proscribed  such  men  as  General  Win- 
field  Scott,  Mr.  Seaton,  Gen.  Jones,  Elisha  Whittlesay  and  others,  to  make  room 
for  such  renowned  and  august  individuals  as  Vespasian  Ellis,  French  S.  Evans, 
"  et  id  omne  genus." 

Yes  sir,  General  Scott  was  proscribed — the  eagle  was  stricken  from  his  eyre 
to  put  the  mousing  owl  there.  This  plot  is  said  to  have  been  concocted  at  the 
National  Council  of  Know  Nothings  held  at  Cincinnati.  What  right  had  these 
intolerant  proscriptionists  to  take  in  charge  the  Monument  to  Washington  ? 
Let  his  own  words  rebuke  them.  I  read  from  a  letter  written  by  the  Father  of 
his  country  to  a  committee  of  the  Baptist  church  of  Va.,  after  paying  a  high 
and  just  compliment  to  the  Baptist  for  their  patriotism  and  liberality,  he  says  : 

"  If  I  could  have  entertained  the  slightest  apprehension  that  the  Constitution 
framed  in  the  convention  where  I  had  the  honor  to  preside  might  possibly  en- 
danger the  religious  rights  of  any  ecclesiastical  society,  certainly  I  would  never 
have  placed  my  signature  to  it ;  and  if  I  could  now  conceive  that  the  General 
Government  might  ever  be  so  administered  as  to  render  the  liberty  of  conscience 
insecure,  I  beg  you  will  be  persuaded  that  no  one  would  be  more  zealous  than 
myself  to  establish  effectual  barriers  against  the  horrors  of  spiritual  tyranny 
and  every  species  of  religious  persecution  ,•  for  you  doubtless  remember  I  have 
often  expressed  my  sentiments  that  every  man,  conducting  himself  as  a  good 


310 

citizen,  and  b^ing  accountable  to  God  alone  for  bis  religious  opinions,  ougbt  to 
be  protected  in  worshipping  the  Deity  according  to  tbe  dictates  of  his  own  con- 
science/' 

Mr.  Chairman.  I  have  heard  many  strange  sentiments  expressed  in  this  hall, 
but  there  was  one  uttered  by  the  gentleman  from  Mass.  (Mr.  Banks)  which  for 
boldness  and  originality,  surpasses  all  others.  After  speaking  of  the  power,  the 
secret  plans,  the  covered  cavernous  ways  of  the  order,  he  says — 

"Sir,  it  is  the  people  who  are  passing  through  these  avenues,  those  who  make 
judges  and  district  attorneys,  and  they  will  take  care  of  them  all.  They  will 
take  care  of  the  juries  and  sheriff's  as  well  as  judges. " 

The  startling  announcement  has  been  made  by  a  representative  on  the  floor  of 
the  American  Congress,  that  this  secret  order  fs  to  take  charge  of  the  judges 
and  juries  of  the  country.  Yes  sir,  it  is  to  lay  its  ruthless  hand  upon  the  judi- 
cial ermine.  Yv^hen  that  is  done,  our  laws  will  not  be  worth  the  paper  en  which 
they  are  written.  If  the  judges  of  the  courts  are  to  be  overawed  by  the  com- 
binations and  machinations  of  midnight  conspirators,  what  becomes  of  our  indi- 
vidual safety  '/  Is  such  an  association  fit  for  American  citizens  ?  Can  it  be 
commanded  to  the  South  ?  The  judiciary  is  the  great  shield  of  our  protection. 
Destroy  it,  and  the  Constitution  would  be  no  more  than  a  rope  of  sand. 

They  took  care  of  Judge  Loring.  This  is  an  illustration  of  the  state  of  feel- 
ing existing  in  what  is  called  the  Athens  of  America.  There  a  judge  is  pro- 
scribed for  doing  what  he  conscientiously  believed  to  be  his  duty.  He  did  his 
duty  and  I  presume  that  no  man  will  here  deny  it.  He  delivered  up  to  his 
owner,  after  a  patient  hearing  of  all  the  facts,  the  fugitive  slave,  Anthony 
Burns;  and,  for  this,  he  is  proscribed  and  hunted  clown  as  a  wild  beast.  That 
is  what  is  meant  by  the  taking  care  of  judges.  Is  not  a  Know  Nothing  asso- 
ciation illegal  ?  It  has  been  so  held  by  one  of  the  ablest  jurists  of  the  country. 
Judge  Porter,  of  Pa.,  once  a  member  of  the  Cabinet,  in  a  late  charge  to  a  grand 
jury  in  reference  to  it,  used  this  language  : 

u  If  any  number  of  men  combine  to  form  themselves  into  an  association  by 
agreements,  vows,  or  oaths  to  control  the  opinions  and  votes  of  any  portion  of 
our  citizens  in  the  exercise  of  their  suffrages,  so  that  they  shall  vote  not  accor- 
ding to  their  own  choice  or  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences,  but  as  a  ma- 
jority of  such  association  shall  determine,  it  is  a  conspiracy,  and  punishable  as 
such  by  indictment. 

And  you  will  remember  that-it  is  the  agreement  to  do  the  act  that  constitutes 
the  criminality,  even  if  tbe  act  itself  be  not  done.  It  may  be  well  here  to  ob- 
serve that  if  any  person  or  persons  shall  have  unthinkingly,  unadvisedly,  or  with- 
out being  aware  of  the  criminal  character  of  such  an  act,  joined  such  association, 
or  taken  upon  himself  any  such  vows,  obligations,  or  oaths,  they  are  not  binding 
upon  him  in  law,  and  ought  not  to  be  in  morals.  He  will  enact  the  part  of  a 
good  citizen  by  eschewing  all  such  fellowship  or  association,  and  abandoning  the 
illegal  enterprise." 

This  Know  Nothingism  is  a  step  in  advance  of  Jesuitism,  it  combines  higher 
law  "ism" — it  claims  supremacy  over  all  laws.  Is  such  an  institution  to  be 
tolerated  : 

Is  law  to  be  perverted  from  its  course  ? 
Is  abject  fraud  to  league  with  brutal  force  ? 
Is  freedom  to  be  crushed,  and  every  sou 
Who  dares  maintain  her  cause  to  be  undone  ? 
Is  base  corruption  creeping  through  the  land 
To  plan  and  work  her  ruin  underhand  ? 


311 

Mr.  Chairman.  In  the  sincerity  of  my  heart,  I  hope  the  people  of  the  South 
will  take  warning,  and  not  affiliate  with  such  an  organization.  I  have  reason 
to  believe  that  many  good  and  patriotic  men  in  the  South,  of  both  political  par- 
ties, have  joined  this  new  movement.  It  is  to  be  hoped  they  will  take  warning 
in  time.  I  beseech  them  to  study  more  closely  the  aims  of  this  order,  before 
deciding  in  its  favor.  I  beseech  them  to  test  "  Sam"  by  his  principles,  and 
they  will  find  that,  like  the  evil  spirit  when  touched  with  the  spear  of  Ithuriel, 
he  will  squat,  toadlike,  to  the  earth.  They  will  find  that  "  Sam/'  the  good  ge- 
nius of  the  order,  has  flirted  and  caressed  with  every  "  ism"  of  the  day.  Sir, 
I  proclaim  it  with  pride,  that  the  State  which  I  have  the  honor,  in  part,  to  rep- 
resent has,  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances,  been  true  to  the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  Union — she  is  eminently  conservative,  and  no  "ism"  ever  got 
foothold  there,  and  for  this  she  has  been  charged  with  being  always  asleep. 
Better,  far  better,  that  she  should  sleep  on,  than  to  arouse  from  her  slumbers  to 
fiud  herself  locked  in  the  meretricious  embraces  of  that  graceless  lib-.jrtine, 
dubbed  by  its  godfathers  with  the  euphonious  and  classical  sobriquet  of  "  Sam." 
I  have  too  high  a  regard  for  my  native  State,  to  suspect,  for  even  a  moment, 
that  her  people  will  be  controlled  by  su,-h  influences.  North  Carolina  will  do 
nothing  to  endanger  the  liberties  of  her  people  and  the  union  of  these  States — 
nothing  to  tarnish  the  bright  escutcheon  of  her  ancient  renown.  In  the  oldea 
time,  she  was  the  first  to  rise  up  against  the  oppressions  of  the  British  King — 
within  her  borders  the  first  declaration  of  independence  was  made — the  hills  of 
Mecklenberg  first  re-echoed  the  hosannas  of  a  people  who  had  declared  them- 
selves free  aud  •  independent,  and  along  Carolina's  mountain  passes,  first  rever- 
berated the  sacret  hymn  of  freedom,  "nature's  melodious  anthem"  as  her  pa- 
triotic sons  hailed  with  soul  stirring  shouts  the  newborn  Goddess  of  American 
liberty.  The  men  of  that  day  met  openly  and  boldly,  and  God  forbid  that 
their  descendeuts  should  discard  the  noble  example. 

If  there  are  laws  requiring  repeal  or  amendment,  why  not  go  about  the  work 
openly  .as  heretofore?  The  time  is  not  auspicious  for  the  Southern  people  to 
inaugurate  new  practices.  It  is  said,  that  in  the  Know  Nothing  councils  the 
majority  govern  absolutely,  and  that  the  National  Council  governs  the  State  coun- 
cils. Who  can  tell  what  mandatory  edicts  this  National  Council  may  issue  ?  Nor- 
thern Know  Nothings  control  it — Northern  Know  Nothings  are  in  favor  of  exclu- 
ding all  persons  who  cannot  read  and  write  from  voting.  Will  their  Southern 
brethren  stand  with  them  on  that  platform.  The  North  has  kept  the  South  poor 
by  high  protective  tariffs  and  navigation  laws — has  drawn  from  it  that  wealth 
which  would  have  enabled  it  to  educate  all  its  people,  and  now,  because  we  have 
a  large  number  of  persons  who  have  not  received  the  benefits  of  an  education, 
the  Northern  Know  Nothings  arrogantly  propose  to  add  insult  to  injury,  by  de- 
claring to  us  who  are  to  be  admitted  to  the  right  of  suffrage.  They  had  as  well 
let  us  alone  j  we  can  manage  our  own  affairs.  The  Whigs  of  the  South  have, 
heretofore,  advocated  principles.  Why  quit  them  now  ?  Why  should  any 
Southern  Democrat  quit  his  party  novv  ?  It  has  proved  itself  equal  to  everj 
emergency.  Under  its  principles  the  country  has  prospered.  It  is  the  party  of 
progress,  of  State  rights — of  the  Constitution — pledged  to  maintain  all  its 
guarantees.  General  Pierce  has  proved  true  to  the  principles  upon  which  he 
was  elected — true  to  the  Constitution,  and  consequently  to  the  South.  If  he 
has  lost  ground,  he  lost  it  by  maintaining  the  rights  of  the'  South.  He  has 
proved  himself  a  friend  to  the  South.  Ingratitude  is  not  a  trait  in  Southern 
character,  and  every  true  Democrat  in  the  Southern  States  will  sustain  his  ad- 
ministration, so  long  as  he  stands  on  that  great  platform,  the  "  Constitution  of 
our  country,"  and  administers  the  Government  upon  the  principles  of  that  in- 
strument. 


312 


LETTER  OF  HON.  A.  H.  STEPHENS,  OF  GEORGIA. 

Equally  effective  was  the  following  able  letter,  in  the  canvass  in  Virginia  and 
other  Southern  States. 

CRAWFORDVILLE,  GA.,  May  9th,  1855. 

Dear  Sir  : — Your  letter  of  the  5th  inst.  was  received  some  days  ago,  and 
should  have  been  answered  much  earlier,  but  for  my  absence  from  home.  The 
rumor  you  mention  in  relation  to  my  candidacy  for  re-election  to  Congress,  is 
true.  I  have  stated,  and  repeated  on  various  occasions,  that  I  was  not,  and  did 
not  expect  to  be,  a  candidate — the  same  I  now  say  to  you.  The  reason  of  this 
declaration  on  my  part,  was  the  fact,  that  large  numbers  of  our  old  political 
frieh&s  seemed  to  be  entering  into  new  combinations  with  new  objects,  purposes 
and  principles  of  which  I  was  not  informed,  and  never  could  be,  according  to 
the  rules  of  their  action  and  the  opinions  I  entertain.  Hence  my  conclusion, 
that  they  had  no  further  use  for  me  as  their  representative ;  for  I  presumed 
they  knew  enough  of  me  to  be  assured  if  they  had  any  secret  aims  or 
objects  to  accomplish  that  they  never  could  get  my  consent,  even  if  they  de- 
sired it,  to  become  a  dumb  instrument  to  execute  such  a  purpose.  I  certainly 
never  did,  and  never  shall,  go  before  the  people  as  a  candidate  for  their  suffrages 
with  my  principles  in  my  pocket.  It  has  been  the  pride  of  my  life,  heretofore, 
not  only  to  make  known  fully  and  freely  my  sentiments  upon  all  questions  of 
public  policy,  but  in  vindication  of  those  sentiments  thus  avowed,  to  meet  any 
antagonist  arrayed  against  them,  in  open  and  manly  strife — '•  face  to  face  and 
toe  to  toe."  From  this  rule  of  action,  by  which  I  have  up  to  this  time  been 
governed,  I  shall  never  depart.  But  you  ask  me  what  are  my  opinions  and 
views  of  this  new  party,  called  Know  Nothings,  with  a  request  that  you  be 
permitted  to  publish  them.  My  opinions  and  views  thus  solicited,  shall  be 
given  most  cheerfully,  as  fully  and  clearly  as  my  time,  under  the  pressure  of 
business,  will  allow.  You  can  do  with  them  as  you  please — publish  them,  or 
not,  as  you  like.  They  are  the  views  of  a  private  citizen.  I  am  at  present,  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  whatsoever,  literally  one  of  the  people.  I  hold  no  office 
nor  seek  any,  and  as  one  of  the  people  I  shall  speak  to  you  and  them  on  this, 
and  on  all  occasions,  with  that  frankness  and  independence  which  it  becomes  a 
freeman  to  bear  towards  his  fellows.  And  in  giving  rny  views  of  "  Know 
Nothingism,"  I  ought,  perhaps,  to  premise  by  saying,  and  saying  most  truly, 
that  I  really  "  know  nothing"  about  the  principles,  aims  or  objects  of  the  party 
I  am  about  to  speak  of — they  are  all  kept  secret — being  communicated  arid 
made  known  only  to  the  initiated,  and  not  to  these  until  after  being  first  duly 
pledged  and  sworn.  This,  to  me,  is  a  very  great  objection  to  the  whole  organi- 
zation. All  political  principles,  which  are  sought  to  be  carried  in  legislation  by 
any  body  or  set  of  men  in  a  republic,  in  my  opinion,  ought  to  be  openly  avowed 
and  publicly  proclaimed.  Truth  never  shuns  the  light  nor  shrinks  from  investi- 
gation— or  at  least  it  ought  never  to  do  it.  Hiding  places,  or  secret  coverts, 
are  natural  resorts  for  error.  It  is,  therefore,  a  circumstance  quite  sufficient  to 
excite  suspicion  against  the  truth  to  see  it  pursuing  such  a  course.  And  in  re- 
publics where  free  discussion  and  full  investigation  by  a  virtuous  and  intelligent 
people  is  allowed,  there  can  never  be  any  just  grounds  to  fear  any  danger  even 
from  the  greatest  errors  in  religion  or  politics.  All  questions,  therefore,  rela- 
ting to  the  government  of  a  free  people,  ought  to  be  made  known,  clearly  un- 
derstood, fully  discussed,  and  understandingly  acted  upon.  Indeed,  I  do  not 
believe  that  a  republican  government  can  last  long,  where  this  is  not  the  case. 
In  my  opinion,  no  man  is  fit  to  represent  a  free  people  who  has  any  private  or 
secret  objects,  or  aims,  that  he  does  not  openly  avow,  or  who  is  not  ready  and 


313 

willing,  at  all  times,  when  required  or  asked,  candidly  and  truthfully,  to  pro- 
claim to  the  assembled  multitude  not  only  his  principles,  but  his  views  and 
sentiments  upon  all  questions  that  may  come  before  him  in  his  representative 
capacity.  It  was  on  this  basis  that  representative  government  was  founded, 
and  on  this  alone  can  it  be  maintained  in  purity  and  safety.  And  if  any  secret 
party  shall  ever  be  so  far  successful  in  this  country  as  to  bring  the  government 
in  all  its  departments  and  functions  under  the  baneful  influence  of  its  control 
and  power,  political  rain  will  inevitably  ensue.  No  truth  in  pol^ics  can  be 
more  easily  and  firmly  established,  either  by  reason  or  from  history,  upon  prin- 
ciple or  authority  than  this.  These  are  my  opinions,  candidly  expressed. 

I  know  that  many  good  and  true  men  in  Georgia  differ  with  me  in  this  par- 
ticular— thousands  of  them,  I  doubt  not,  have  joined  this  secret  order  with 
good  intentions.  Some  of  them  have  told  me  so,  and  I  do  not  question  their 
motives.  And  thousands  more  will,  perhaps,  do  it  with  the  same  intentions  and 
motives.  Should  it  be  a  short  lived  affair,  no  harm  will  or  may  come  of  it. 
But  let  it  succeed — let  it  carry  all  the  elections,  State  and  Federal — let  the  na- 
tural and  inevitable  laws  of  its  own  organism  be  once  fully  developed — and  the 
country  will  go  by  the  board.  It  will  go  as  France  did.  The  first  Jacobin 
Club  was  organized  in  Paris  on  the  6th  of  November  1789,  under  the  alluring 
name  of  "  the  Friends  of  the  Constitution,"  quite  as  specious  as  that  we  now  hear 
of  "  Americans  shall  rule  America."  Many  of  the  best  men  and  truest  patriots 
joined  it — and  thousands  of  the  same  sort  of  men  joined  the  affiliate  clubs  af- 
terwards— little  dreaming  of  the  deadly  fangs  of  that  viper  they  were  nurturing 
in  their  bosoms.  Many  of  these  very  men  afterwards  went  to  the  guillotine, 
by  orders  passed  secretly  in  these  very  clubs.  All  legislation  was  settled  in  the 
clubs — members  of  the  National  Assembly  and  Convention,  all  of  them,  or 
most  of  them,  were  members  of  the  clubs,  for  they  could  not  be  otherwise  elec- 
ted. And  after  the  question  was  settled  in  the  clubs,  the  members  went  next 
day  to  the  nominal  Halls  of  Legislation  nothing  but  trembling  automatons,  to 
register  the  edicts  of  the  "  Order/'  though  it  were  to  behead  a  monarch,  or  to 
cause  the  blood  of  the  best  of  their  own  number  to  flow  beneath  the  stroke  of 
the  axe.  Is  history  of  no  use  ?  Or  do  our  people  vainly  imagine  that  Ameri- 
cans would  not  do  as  the  French  did  under  like  circumstances?  "  Is  thy  ser- 
vant a  dog  that  he  should  do  this  thing?"  said  the  haughty,  self-confidant 
Ha/eel.  Yet,  he  did  all  that  he  bad  been  told  that  he  would  do.  "  Let  him 
that  thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed  lest  he  fall."  Human  nature  is  the  same 
compound  of  weak  frailties  and  erring  passions  everywhere.  Of  these  clubs  in 
France,  an  elegant  writer  has  said  : 

"  From  all  other  scourges  which  had  afflicted  mankind,  in  every  age  and  in 
every  nation,  there  had  been  some  temporary  refuge,  some  shelter  until  the 
storm  might  pass.  During  the  heathenism  of  antiquity,  and  the  barbarism  of 
the  middle  ages,  the  temple  of  a  god  or  the  shrine  of  a  saint,  afforded  a  refuge 
from  despotic  fury  or  popular  rage.  But  French  Jacobins,  whether  native  or 
adopted,  treated  with  equal  scorn  the  sentiments  of  religion  and  the  feelings  of 
humanity  •  and  all  that  man  had  gathered  from  his  experience  upon  earth,  and 
the  revelations  he  hoped  had  been  made  him  from  the  sky,  to  bless  and  adorn 
his  mortal  existence,  and  elevate  his  soul  with  immortal  aspirations,  were 
spurned  as  imposture  by  these  fell  destroyers.  They  would  have  depraved  man 
from  his  humanity,  as  they  attempted  to  decree  God  out  of  his  universe.  Not 
contented  with  France  as  a  subject  of  their  ruthless  experiments — Europe  itself 
being  too  narrow  for  their  exploits,  I  hey  send  they  propagandists  to  the  new 
world,  with  designs  about  as  charitable  as  those  with  which  Satan  entered 
Eden." 

This  is  but  a  faint  picture  of  some  of  the  scenes  enacted  by  that  self  same 
party,  which  was  at  first  formed  by  those  who  styled  themselves  "  the  friends 


314 

of  the  Constitution."  And  where  did  these  "  secret  Councils  "  we  now  hear 
of  come  from  ?  Not  from  France,  it  is  true — but  from  that  land  of  isms, 
where  the  people  would  have  gone  into  anarchy  long  ago,  if  it  had  not  been  for 
the  conservative  influence  of  the  more  stable  minded  men  of  the  South  ?  And 
what  scenes  have  we  lately  witnessed  in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  where 
the  new  political  organism  has  more  fully  developed  itself  than  any  where  else. 
What  are  its  fruits  there  ?  Under  the  name  of  "  The  American  Party,"  they 
have  arniQd  themselves  against  the  Constitution  of  our  common  country  which 
they  were  sworn  to  support — with  every  member  of  the  Legislature,  I  believe, 
save  eight  belonging  to  "the  order,"  they  have  by  an  overwhelming  majority 
vote  deposed  Judge  Loring,  for  the  discharge  of  his  official  duty,  in  issuing  a 
warrant  as  United  States  Commissioner,  to  cause  the  arrest  of  the  fugitive-slave 
Burns.  In  reviewing  this  most  unheard  of  outrage  upon  the  Constitution,  the 
"National  Intelligencer,"  at  Washington,  says  it  "shudders  for  the  Judiciary." 
And  if  they  go  on  as  they  have  begun,  well  may  the  country  "  shudder,"  not 
only  for  the  Judiciary,  but  for  everything  else  we  hold  most  sacred.  "  If  these 
things  be  done  in  the  green  tree,  what  may  you  expect  in  the  dry." 

But  I  have  been  anticipating  somewhat.  I  was  on  the  preliminary  question; 
that  is,  the  secrecy  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  party — that  atmosphere 
of  darkness  in  which  "  it  lives,  and  moves,  and  has  its  being,"  and  without 
which  probably  it  could  not  exist.  I  do  not,  however,  intend  to  stop  with  that. 
I  will  go  further,  and  give,  now,  my  opinions  upon  those  questions,  which  are 
.said  to  be  within  the  range  of  its  secret  objects  and  aims.  The  principles  as 
published  (or  those  principles  which  are  attributed  to  the  Order,  though  no 
body  as  an  organized  party  avow  them,)  have,  as  I  understand  them,  two  lead- 
ing ideas,  and  two  only.  These  are  a  proscription  by  an  exclusion  from  of- 
fice of  all  Catholics,  as  a  class,  and  a  proscription  of  all  persons  of  foreign  birth, 
as  a  class ;  the  latter  to  be  accomplished  not  only  by  an  exclusion  from  office 
of  all  foreigners  who  are  now  citizens  by  naturalization,  but  to  be  more  effec- 
tually carried  out  by  an  abrogation  of  the  naturalization  law  for  the  future,  or 
such  an  amendment  as  would  be  virtually  tantamount  to  it.  These,  as  we  are 
told,  are  the  great  ostensible  objects  for  all  this  machinery — these  oaths — 
pledges — secret  signs — equivocations — denials,  and  what  not.  And  what  I  have 
to  say  of  them,  is,  that  if  these  indeed  and  in  truth  be  the  principles  thus  at- 
tempted to  be  carried  out,  then  I  am  opposed  to  both  of  them,  openly  and  un- 
qualifiedly. 

I  am  opposed  to  them  "  in  a  double  aspect,"  both  as  a  basis  of  party  organ- 
ization and  upon  their  merits  as  questions  of  public  policy.  As  the  basis  of 
party  organization,  they  are  founded  upon  the  very  erroneous  principle  of  look- 
ing, not  to  how  the  country  shall  be  governed,  but  who  shall  hold  the  of- 
fices— not  to  whether  we  shall  have  wise  and  holdsome  laws,  but  who  shall 
"  rule  us,"  though  they  may  bring  ruin  with  their  rule.  Upon  this  principle, 
Trumbull,  who  defeated  Gen.  Shields  for  the  Senate  in  Illinois,  can  be  as  good 
a  "Know  Nothing,"  as  any  man  in  the  late  "Macon  Council,"  though  he 
may  vote  as  he  doubtless  will,  to  repeal  the  Fugitive  Slave  law,  and  against  the 
admission  of  any  slave  State  in  the  Union ;  while  Shields,  who  has  ever  stood 
by  the  Constitution,  must  be  rejected  by  Southern  men  because  he  was  not  born 
in  the  country  ?  Upon  this  principle  a  Boston  Atheist,  who  denies  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Bible,  because  it  sanctions  slavery,  is  to  be  sustained  by  Georgia 
"  Know  Nothings"  in  preference  to  me,  barely  because  I  will  not  "  bow  the 
knee  to  Baal,"  this  false  political  god  they  have  set  up.  The  only  basis  of 
party  organization  is  an  agreement  amongst  those  who  enter  into  it  upon  the 
paramount  question  of  the  day.  And  no  party  can  last  long  without  bringing 
disaster  and  ruin  in  its  train,  founded  upon  any  other  principle.  The  old  Na- 
tional Whig  party  tried  the  experiment  when  there  was  radical  differences  of 
opinion  on  such  questions,  and  went  to  pieces.  The  National  Democratic  party 


315 

are  now  trying  a  similar  experiment,  and  arc  experiencing  a  similar  fate.  This 
is  what  is  the  matter  with  it.  Its  vital  functions  are  deranged — hence  that 
disease  which  now  afflicts  it  worse  than  dry  rot,  And  what  we  of  the  South 
now  should  do  is,  not  to  go  into  any  "  Know  Nothing"  mummery  or  mischief, 
as  it  may  be,  but  to  stand  firmly  by  those  men  at  the  North  who  are  true  to  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union,  without  regard  either  to  their  birth  place  or  reli- 
gion. The  question  we  should  consider  is  not  simply  who  "  shall  rule  Ameri- 
ca," but  who  will  vote  for  such  measures  as  will  best  promote  the  interests  of 
America,  and  with  that  the  interests  of  mankind. 

But  to  pass  to  the  other  view  of  these  principles — that  is,  the  consideration 
of  them  as  questions  of  public  policy.  With  me,  they  both  stand  in  no  better 
light  in  this  aspect  than  they  do  in  the  other.  The  first. assumes  temporal  ju- 
risdiction in  "forum  conecicntise,'" — to  which  I  am  quite  as  much  opposed  as  I 
am  to  the  spiritual  powers  controlling  the  temporal.  One  is  as  bad  as  the  other 
— both  are  bad.  I  am  utterly  opposed  to  mingling  religion  with  politics  in  any 
way  whatever,  and  especially  am  I  opposed  to  making  it  a  test  in  qualifications 
for  civil  office.  Religion  is  a  matter  between  a  man  and  his  Creator,  with 
which  governments  should  have  nothing  to  do.  In  this  country  the  Constitu- 
tion guarantees  to  every  citizen  the  right  to  entertain  whatever  creed  he  pleases 
or  no  creed  at  all  if  he  is  so  inclined,  and  no  other  man  has  a  right  to  pry  into 
his  conscience  to  enquire  what  he  believes,  or  what  he  does  not  believe. 
As  a  citizen  and  as  a  member  of  society,  he  is  to  be  judged  by  his  acts 
and  not  by  his  creed.  A  Catholic,  therefore,  in  our  country,  and  in  all 
all  countries  ought,  as  all  other  citizens,  to  be  permitted  to  stand  or  fall  iu  pub- 
lic favor  and  estimation  upon  his*  own  individual  merits.  "  Every  tub  should 
stand  upon  its  own  bottom." 

But  I  think  of  all  the  Christian  denominations  in  the  United  States,  the  Ca- 
tholics are  the  last  that  Southern  people  should  join  in  attempting  to  put  under 
the  ban  of  civil  proscription.  For  as  a  church  they  have  never  warred  against  us 
or  our  peculiar  institutions.  No  man  can  say  as  much  of  New  England  Bap- 
tists, Presbyterians  or  Methodists;  the  long  roll  of  abolition  petitions,  with 
which  Congress  has  been  so  much  excited  and  agitated  for  years  past,  come  not 
from  the  Catholics;  their  pulpits  at  the  North  are  not  desecrated  every  Sab- 
bath with  anathemas  against  slavery.  And  of  the  three  thousand  New  Eng- 
land clergymen  who  sent  the  anti-Nebraska  memorial  to  the  Senate  last  year, 
not  one  was  a  Catholic  as  I  have  been  informed  and  believe.  Why  then  should 
we  Southern  men  join  the  Puritans  of  the  North  to  proscribe  from  office  the 
Catholics  on  account  of  their  religion  ?  Let  them  and  their  religion  be,  as  bad 
as  can  be,  or  as  their  accusers  say  they  are,  they  cannot  be  worse  than  these 
same  Puritanical  accusers,  who  started  this  persecution  against  them  say  that 
we  are.  They  say  we  are  going  to  perdition  for  the  enormous  sin  of  holding 
slaves.  The  Pope  with  all  his  followers  cannot  I  suppose,  evea  in  their  judg- 
ment, be  going  to  a  worse  place  for  holding  what  they  consider  the  monstrous 
absurdity  of  "  immaculate  conception."  And  for  my  part  I  would  about  as 
soon  risk  my  own  chance  for  Heaven  with  him,  and  his  crowd  too,  as  with  these 
self-righteous  hypocrites  who  deal  out  fire  and  brimstone  so  liberally  upon  our 
heads.  At  any  rate  I  have  no  hesitancy  in  declaring  that  I  should  much  sooner 
risk  my  civil  rights  with  the  American  Catholics,  whom  they  are  attempting  to 
drive  from  office,  than  with  them.  But  sir,  I  am  opposed  to  this  proscription 
upon  principle.  If  it  is  once  begun  there  is  no  telling  where  it  will  end.  When 
faction  once  tastes  the  blood  of  a  victim  it  seldom  ceases  its  ravages  amongst 
the  fold  so  long  as  a  single  remaining  one,  be  the  number  at  first  ever  so  great, 
is  left  surviving.  It  was  to  guard  against  any  such  consequences  as  would  cer- 
tainly ensue  in  this  country  if  this  eifort  at  proscription  of  this  sect  of  re- 
ligionists should  be  successful,  that  that  wise  provision  to  which  I  have  alluded 
was  put  in  the  fundamental  law  of  the  Union.  And  to  maintain  it  intact  in 


316 

letter  and  spirit  with  steadfastness  at  this  time,  I  hold  to  be  a  most  solemn  pub- 
lic duty. 

And  now,  as  to  the  other  idea — the  proscription  of  foreigners — and  more  par- 
ticularly that  view  of  it  which  looks  to  the  denial  of  citizenship  to  all  those 
•who  may  hereafter  seek  a  home  in  this  country  and  choose  to  cast  their  lots  and 
destinies  with  us.  This  is  a  favorite  idea  with  many  who  have  not  thought  of 
its  effects,  or  reflected  much  upon  its  consequences.  The  abrogation  of  the 
naturalization  laws  would  not  stop  immigration,  nor  would  the  extension  of  the 
term  of  probation,  to  the  period  of  twenty-one  years  do  it.  This  current  of  migra- 
tion from  East  to  West,  this  Exodus  of  the  excess  of  population  from  the  Old  to  the 
New  World,  which  commenced  with  the  settlement  of  this  continent  by  Europeans 
would  still  go  on.  And  what  would  be  the  effect,  even  under  the  most  modified 
form  of  the  proposed  measure — that  is  of  an  extension  of  the  period  from  five 
to  twenty-one  years,  before  citizenship  should  be  granted  ?  At  the  end  of  the 
first  twenty-one  years  from  the  commencement  of  the  law,  we  should  have  seve- 
ral millions  of  people  in  our  midst — rn^en  of  our  own  race — occupying  the  un- 
enviable position  of  being  a  degraded  caste  in  society,  a  species  of  serfs  without 
the  just  franchise  of  &  freeman  or  the  needful  protection  due  to  a  slave.  This 
would  be  at  war  with  all  mv  ideas  of  American  Republicanism  as  I  have  been 
taught  them  and  gloried  in  them  from  my  youth  up.  If  there  be  danger  now 
to  our  institutions,  (as  some  seem  to  imagine,  but  which  I  am  far  from  feeling 
or  believing,)  from  foreigners  as  a  class,  would  not  the  danger  be  greatly  en- 
hanced by  the  proposed  remedy  ?  Now  it  is  true  they  are  made  to  bear  their 
share  of  the  burthens  of  Government,  but  are  permitted,  after  a  residence  of 
five  years,  and  taking  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution,  to  enjoy  their  just 
participation  in  the  privileges,  honors  and  immunities  which  it  secures.  Would 
they  be  less  likely  to  be  attached  to  the  Government  and  its  principles  under 
the  operation  of  the  present  system,  than  they  would  be  under  the  proposed  one 
which  would  treat  them  as  not  much  better  than  outcasts  and  outlaws  ?  All 
writers  of  note,  from  the  earliest  to  the  latest,  who  have  treated  upon  the  ele- 
ments and  component  parts,  or  members  of  communities  and  States,  have  point- 
ed this  out  as  a  source  of  real  danger — having  a  large  number  of  the  same 
race,  not  only  aliens  by  birth  but  aliens  in  heart  and  feeling,  in  the  heart  of  so- 
ciety. 

Such  was,  to  a  great  extent,  the  condition  of  the  Helots  in  Greece — men  of 
the  same  race  placed  in  an  inferior  position,  and  forming  within  themselves  a 
degraded  class.  I  wish  to  see  no  such  state  of  things  in  this  country.  With 
us  at  the  South,  it  is  true,  we  have  a  u  degraded  caste,"  but  it  is  of  a  race  fitted 
by  nature  for  their  subordinate  position.  The  negro,  with  us,  fills  that  place  in 
society  and  under  our  system  of  civilization  for  which  he  was  designed  by  na- 
ture. No  training  can  fit  him  for  either  social  or  political  equality  with  his  su- 
periors ]  at  least  history  furnishes  us  with  no  instance  of  the  kind  ]  nor  does 
the  negro  with  us  feel  any  degradation  in  his  position,  because  it  is  his  natural 
place.  But  such  would  not  be  the  case  with  men  of  the  same  race,  and  coming 
from  the  same  State  with  ourselves.  And  what  appears  not  a  little  strange 
and  singular  to  me  in  considering  this  late  movement  is,  that  if  it  did  not  ori- 
ginate with,  yet  it  is  now  so  generally  and  zealously  favored  by  so  many  of 
those  men  at  the  North  who  have  expended  so  much  of  their  misguided  philan- 
thropy in  behalf  of  our  slaves.  They  have  been  endeavoring  for  years  to  ele- 
vate the  African  to  an  equality  socially  and  politically  with  the  white  man. 
And  now,  they  are  moving  heaven  and  earth  to  degrade  the  white  man  to  a 
condition  lower  than  that  held  by  the  negro  in  the  South.  The  Massachusetts 
"  Know  Nothing"  Legislature  passed  a  bill  lately  to  amend  their  Constitution, 
so  as  to  exclude  from  the  polls  in  that  State,  hereafter,  all  naturalized  citizens, 
from  whatever  nation  they  may  come ;  and  yet  they  will  allow  a  runaway  negro 
slave  from  the  South  the  same  right  to  vote  that  they  give  to  their  own  native 


317 

born  sons  !  They  thus  exhibit  the  strange  paradox  of  warring  against  their 
own  race — their  own  blood — even  their  own  "  kith  and  kin/'  it  may  be,  while 
they  are  vainly  and  fanatically  endeavoring  to  reverse  the  order  of  nature,  by 
making  the  black  man  equal  to  the  white.  Shall  we  second  them  in  any  such 
movement  ?  Shall  we  even  countenance  them  so  far  as  to  bear  the  same  name 
— to  say  nothing  of  the  same  pledges,  passwords,  signs  and  symbols  ?  Shall  we 
affiliate  and  unite  ourselves  under  the  same  banner,  with  men  whose  acts  show 
them  to  be  governed  by  such  principles,  and  to  be  bent  upon  such  a  purpose  ? 
.This  is  a  question  for  Southern  men  to  consider.  Others  may  do  it  if  they 
choose  ;  but  I  tell  you,  I  never  shall ;  that  you  may  set  down  as  a  "  fixed  fact/' 
— one  of  the  fixedest  of  the  fixed.  I  am  not  at  all  astonished  at  the  rapid 
spread  of  this  new  sentiment  at  the  North,  or  rather  new  way  of  giving  embo- 
diment and  life  to  an  old  sentiment,  long  cherished  by  a  large  class  of  the 
Northern  people,  notwithstanding  the  paradox.  It  is  true,  "  Know  Nothingism" 
did  not  originate,  as  I  understand  its  origin,  with  the  class  I  allude  to.  It  com- 
menced with  the  laborers  and  men  dependant  upon  capital  for  work  and  em- 
ployment. It  sprang  from  the  antagonism  of  their  interests  to  foreigners  seek- 
ing like  employments,  who  were  underbidding  them  in  the  amount  of  wages. 
But  many  capitalists  of  that  section,  the  men  who  hold  the  land  and  property 
in  their  own  hands,  wishing  to  dispense  with  laborers  and  employees,  whose 
votes  at  the  polls  are  equal  to  their  own,  seized  upon  this  new  way  of  effecting 
their  old,  long-cherished  desire.  And  the  more  eagerly  as  they  saw  that  many 
of  the  very  men  whom  they  have  ever  dreaded  as  the  insuperable  obstacle  be- 
tween them  and  their  purpose,  had  become  the  willing,  though  unconscious  in- 
strument of  carrying  that  purpose  out,  which,  from  the  beginning,  was  a  desire 
to  have  a  votingless  population  to  do  their  work,  and  perform  all  the  labor,  both 
in  city,  town  and  country,  which  capital  may  require.  And  as  certainly  as 
such  a  law  shall  be  passed,  so  far  from  its  checking  immigration,  there  will  be 
whole  cargoes  of  people  from  other  coutries  brought  over,  and  literally  bought 
up  in  foreign  ports — to  be  brought  over  in  American  ships  to  supply  the  mar- 
ket for  labor  throughout  all  the  free  States  of  the  Union.  The  African  Slave 
Trade,  if  re-opened,  would  not  exhibit  a  worse  spectacle  in  trafficking  in  human 
flesh,  than  those  most  deluded  men  of  the  North  who  started  this  thing,  and 
who  are  now  aiding  to  accomplish  the  end,  may  find  they  have  but  kindled  a 
flame  to  consume  themselves.  The  whole  sub  stratum  of  Northern  society  will 
soon  be  filled  up  with  a  class  who  can  work,  and  who,  though  white,  cannot  vote. 
This  is  what  the  would-be  lords  of  that  section  have  been  wanting  for  a  long 
time.  It  is  a  scheme  with  many  of  them  to  get  white  slaves  instead  of  black 
ones.  No  American  laborer,  or  man  seeking  employment  there,  who  has  a  vote, 
need  to  expect  to  be  retained  long  when  his  place  can  be  more  cheaply  filled  by 
a  foreigner  who  has  none.  This  will  be  the  practical  working  of  the  proposed 
reformation.  This  is  the  philosophy  of  the  thing.  It  is  a  blow  at  the  ballot 
box.  It  is  an  insidious  attack  upon  general  suffrage.  In  a  line  with  this  policy, 
the  "  Know  Nothing"  Governor  of  Connecticut  has  already  recommended  the 
passage  of  a  law  denying  the  right  of  voting  to  all  who  cannot  read  and  write. 
And  hence,  the  great  efforts  which  are  now  being  made  throughout  the  North, 
to  influence  the  elections,  not  only  these,  but  in  spending  their  money  in  the 
publication  of  books  and  tracts  written  by  "  nobody  knows  who,"  and  scattered 
broad-cast  throughout  the  Southern  States,  to  influence  elections  here  by  appeal- 
ing to  the  worst  of  passions  and  strongest  prejudices  of  our  nature,  not  omitting 
those  even  which  bad  and  wicked  men  can  invoke  under  the  sacred  but  prosti- 
tuted name  of  religion. 

Unfortunately  for  the  country,  many  evils  which  all  good  men  regret  and 
deplore,  exist  at  this  time,  which  have  a  direct  tendency,  wonderfully  to  aid 
and  move  forward  this  ill-omened  crusade.  These  relate  to  the  appointment  of 
so  many  foreigners — wholly  unfit,  not  only  to  minister  offices  at  home,  but  to 


318 

represent  our  country,  as  Ministers,  abroad.  And  to  the  great  frauds  and  gross 
abuses  which  at  present  attend  the  administration  of  our  naturalization  laws — 
these  are  the  evils  felt  by  the  whole  country,  and  they  ought  to  be  corrected. 
Not  by  a  proscription  of  all  foreigners  without  regard  to  individual  merits. 
But  in  the  first  place  by  so  amending  the  naturalization  laws,  as  effectually  to 
check  and  prevent  these  frauds  and  abuses.  And  in  the  second  place,  by  hold- 
ing to  strict  accountability  at^the  polls  in  our  elections,  all  those  public  func- 
tionaries, who  either  with  partisan  views,  or  from  whatever  motive,  thus  im- 
properly confer  office,  whether  high  or  low,  upon  undeserving  foreigners,  to  the 
exclusion  of  native  born  citizens,  better  qualified  to  fill  them.  Another  evil 
now  felt,  and  which  ought  to  be  remedied,  is  the  flooding,  it  is  said,  of  some  of 
the  cities  with  paupers  and  criminals  from  other  countries.  These  ought  all  to 
be  unconditionally  excluded  and  prohibited  from  coming  amongst  us — there  is 
no  reason  why  we  should  be  the  feeders  of  other  nations'  paupers,  or  either  the 
keepers  or  executioners  of  their  felons — these  evils  can  and  ought  to  be  reme- 
died without  resorting  to  an  indiscriminate  onslaught  upon  all  who  by  industry, 
enterprise  and  merit  may  choose  to  better  their  condition  in  abandoning  the  re- 
spective dynasties  of  the  Old  World  in  which  they  may  have  chanced  to  have 
been  born,  and  by  uniting  their  energies  with  ours,  may  feel  a  pride  in  advan- 
cing the  prosperity,  development  and  progress  of  a  common  country  not  much 
less  dear  to  them  than  to  us.  Against  those  who  thus  worthily  come,  who  quit 
the  misruled  Empires  of  their  "  father  land/'  whose  hearts  have  been  fired  with 
the  love  of  our  ideas  and  our  institutions  even  in  distant  climes,  I  would  not 
close  the  door  of  admission.  But  to  all  such  as  our  fathers  did  at  first,  so  I 
would  continue  most  freely  and  generously  to  extend  a  welcome  hand.  We 
have  from  such  a  class  nothing  to  fear.  When  in  battle  or  in  the  walks  of 
civil  life  did  any  such  ever  prove  traitor  or  recreant  to  the  flag  or  cause  of  his 
country  ?  On  what  occasion  have  any  such  ever  proven  untrue  or  disloyal  to 
the  Constitution  ? 

I  will  not  say  that  no, foreigner  has  ever  been  untrue  to  the  Constitution  ; 
but  as  a  class  they  certainly  have  not  proven  themselves  so  to  be.  Indeed,  I 
know  of  but  one  class  of  people  in  the  United  States  at  this  time  that  I  look 
upon  as  dangerous  to  the  country.  That  class  are  neither  foreigners  or  Catho- 
lics— They  are  those  native  born  traitors  at  the  North  who  are  disloyal  to  the 
Constitution  of  that  country  which  gave  them  birth,  and  under  whose  beneficent 
institutions  they  have  been  reared  and  nurtured.  Many  of  them  are  "  Know 
Nothings. "  This  class  of  men  at  the  North,  of  which  the  Massachusetts,  New 
Hampshire  and  Connecticut  "  Know  Nothing"  Legislatures  are  but  samples,  I 
consider  as  our  worst  enemies.  And  to  put  them  down,  I  will  join,  as  political 
allies  now  and  forever,  all  true  patriots  at  the  North  and  South,  whether  na- 
tive or  adopted,  Jews  or  Gentiles. 

What  our  Georgia  friends,  whether  Whigs  or  Democrats,  who  have  gone  into 
this  "  New  Order/'  are  really  after,  or  what  they  intended  to  do,  I  cannot  imagine. 
Those  of  them  whom  I  know  have  assured  me  that  their  object  is  reform,  both 
in  our  State  and  Federal  Administrations — to  put  better  and  truer  men  in  the 
places  of  those  who  now  wield  authority — that  they  have  no  sympathies  as  party 
men  or  otherwise  with  that  class  I  speak  of  at  the  North— that  they  are  for 
sustaining  the  Union  platform  of  our  State  of  1850,  and  that  the  mask  of  se- 
crecy will  soon  be  removed  when  all  will  be  made  public.  If  these  be  their 
objects,  and  also  to  check  the  frauds  and  correct  the  abuses  in  the  existing  nat- 
uralization laws,  which  I  have  mentioned,  without  the  indiscriminate  proscrip- 
tion of  any  class  of  citizens  on  account  of  their  birth  place  or,  religion,  then  they 
will  have  my  co-operation,  as  I  have  told  them,  in  every  proper  and  legitimate  way, 
to  effect  such  a  reformation.  Not  as  a  secretly  initiated  co-worker  in  the  dark  for 
any  purpose,  but  as  an  open  and  bold  advocate  of  truth  in  the  light  of  day. 
But  will  they  do  as  they  say  ?  Will  they  throw  off  the  mask  ?  That  is  the 


319 

question.  Is  it  possible  that  they  will  continue  in  political  party  fellowship 
with  their  "  worthy  brethren"  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  Hampshire, 
and  the  entire  North  ?  Every  one  of  whom  elected  to  the  next  Congress  is 
our  deadly  foe  !  Do  they  intend  to  continue  their  alliance  with  these  open  ene- 
mies of  our  institutions  and  the  Constitution  of  the  country  under  the  totally 
misnamed  association  of  the  "  American  Party" — the  very  principle  upon  which 
it  is  based  being  anti-American  throughout  ? 

True  Americanism,  as  I  have  learned  it,  is  like  true  Christianity — disciples  in 
neither  are  confined  to  any  nation,  clim«,  or  soil  whatsoever.  Americanism  is 
not  the  product  of  the  soil,  it  springs  not  from  the  land  or  the  ground ;  it  is  not 
of  the  earth,  or  earthly ;  it  emanates  from  the  head  and  the  heart  j  it  looks  up- 
ward, and  onward,  and  outward ;  its  life  and  soul  are  those  grand  ideas  of  gov- 
ernment which  characterize  our  institutions  and  distinguish  us  from  all  other 
people  j  and  there  is  no  two  features  in  our  system  which  so  signally  distinguish 
us  from  all  other  nations,  as  free  toleration  of  religion  and  the  doctrine  of  expa- 
triation— the  right  of  a  man  to  throw  off  his  allegiance  to  any  and  every  other 
State,  Prince  or  Potentate  whatsoever,  and  by  naturalization  to  be  incorporated 
as  citizens  into  our  body  politic. 

Both  these  principles  are  specially  provided  for  and  firmly  established  in  our 
Constitution.  But  these  American  ideas  which  were  proclaimed  in  1789  by 
our  u  sires  of  '76,"  are  by  their  "  sons"  at  this  day  derided  and  scoffed  at.  We 
are  now  told  that  "  naturalization"  is  a  "  humbug,"  and  that  it  is  an  "  impossi- 
bility." So  did  not  our  fathers  think. 

This  "  humbug"  and  "  impossibility"  they  planted  in  the  Constitution  ;  and 
a  vindication  of  the  same  principle  was  one  of  the  causes  of  our  second  war  of 
independence.  England  held  that  "  naturalization"  was  an  impossible  thing. 
She  claimed  the  allegiance  of  subjects  born  within  her  realm,  notwithstanding 
they  had  become  citizens  of  this  liepublic  by  our  Constitution  and  laws.  She 
not  only  claimed  their  allegiance,  but  she  claimed  the  right  to  search  our  ships 
upon  the  high  seas,  and  take  from  them  all  such  who  might  be  found  in  them. 
It  was  in  pursuit  of  this  doctrine  of  hers — of  the  right  of  search  for  our  "  nat- 
uralization" citizens — that  the  Chesapeake  was  fired  into,  which  was  the  imme- 
diate cause  of  the  war  of  1812.  Let  no  man  then,  barely  because  he  was  born 
in  America,  presume  to  be  imbued  with  real  and  true  "  Americanism"  who 
either  ignores  the  direct  and  positive  obligations  of  the  Constitution,  or  ignores 
this,  one  of  its  most  striking  characteristics.  As  well  might  any  unbelieving 
sinner  claim  to  be  one  of  the  faithful — one  of  the  elect  even — barely  because 
he  was  born  somewhere  within  the  limits  of  Christendom.  And  just  as  well 
might  the  Jacobins,  who  "  decreed  God  out  of  his  Universe,"  have  dubbed  their 
club  a  "  Christian  association,"  because  they  were  born  on  Christian  soil.  The 
genuine  disciples  of  "  True  Americanism,"  like  the  genuine  followers  of  the 
Cross,  are  those  whose  hearts  are  warmed  and  fired — purified,  elevated  and  en- 
nobled— by  those  principles,  doctrines  and  precepts  which  characterize  their 
respective  systems.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  a  Kamschatkan,  a  Britton,  a  Jew, 
or  a  Hindoo,  can  be  as  good  a  Christian  as  any  one  born  on  "  Calvary's  brow," 
or  where  the  "  Sermon  on  the  Mount"  was  preached !  And  for  the  same  reason 
an  Irishman,  a  Frenchman,  a  German  or  Itussian,  can  be  as  thoroughly  "  Ame- 
rican" as  if  he  had  been  born  within  the  walls  of  the  old  Independence  Hall  it- 
self. "Which  was  the  "  true  American,"  Arnold  or  Hamilton  ?  The  one  was  a 
native  and  the  other  was  an  adopted  son.  But  to  return.  What  do  our  Geor- 
gia friends  intend  to  do  ?  Is.  it  not  time  that  they  had  shown  their  hand  ?  Do 
they  intend  to  abandon  the  Georgia  Platform,  and  go  over  "  horse,  foot  and 
dragoons"  into  a  political  alliance  with  Trumbull,  Durkee,  Wilson  &  Co  ?  Is 
this  the  coflrse  marked  out  for  themselves  by  any  of  the  gallant  old  Whigs  of 
the  7th  and  8th  Congressional  Districts?  I  trust  not,  I  hope  not. 


320 

But  if  they  do  not  intend  thus  to  commit  themselves,  is  it  not  time  to  take  a 
reckoning  and  see  whither  they  are  drifting  ?  When  "  the  blind  lead  the 
blind"  where  is  the  hope  of  safety  ?  I  have  been  cited  to  the  resolution  which, 
it  is  said,  the  late  Know  Nothing  Convention  passed  in  Macon.  This,  it  seems, 
is  the  only  thing  that  the  600  delegates  could  bring  forth  after  a  two  days 
"labor" — and  of  it  we  may  well  say,  "  Mantes  parturient  et  ridiculus  mus 
nascitur" — "  The  mountains  have  been  in  labor  and  a  ridiculous  mouse  is  born." 
It  simply  affirms,  most  meekly  and  submissively,  what  no  man  South  of  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line  for  the  last  thirty-live  years  would  have  ventured  to  deny, 
without  justly  subjecting  himself  to  the  charge  of  incivism — that  is,  that  "  Con- 
gress has  no  constitutional  power  to  intervene  by  excluding  a  new  State  apply- 
ing for  admission  into  the  Union,  upon  the  ground  that  the  constitution  of  such 
State  recognizes  slavery."  This  is  the  whole  life  and  soul  of  it,  unless  we  ex- 
cept the  secret  blade  of  Joab  which  it  bears  towards  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  con- 
cealed under  a  garb. 

It  is  well  known  to  all  who  are  informed,  that  in  the  organic  law  of  these 
territories  the  right  of  voting,  while  they  remain  territories,  was  given  to  all 
who  had  filed  a  declaration  of  intention  to  become  citizens.  This  was  in  strict 
compliance  with  the  usual  practice  of  the  Government  in  organizing  Territories  ; 
and  under  this  provision  that  class  of  persons  are  now  entitled  to  vote.  Kan- 
sas, in  two  elections  under  this  law  has  shown  that  an  overwhelming  majority 
of  her  people  are  in  favor  of  slavery,  notwithstanding  the  Executive  influence 
of  the  Freesoil  Governor  (Reed)  whom  Mr.  Pierce  sent  out  there  to  prevent  it ; 
but  whom  the  people  have  lately  driven,  as  they  ought  to  have  done  from  the 
country.  Now,  then,  when  Kansas  applies  for  admission  as  a  Slave  State,  as 
she  doubtless  will,  a  Southern  "  Know  Nothing,"  under  this  Resolution,  can 
unite  with  his  worthy  brethren  at  the  North,  in  voting  against  it  upon  the 
ground  that  some  have  voted  for  a  Constitution  recognizing  slavery,  who  had 
not  been  "naturalized,"  but  had  only  declared  their  intention.  For  this  Reso- 
lution in  its  very  heart  and  core,  declares  that  the  right  to  establish  Slave  insti- 
tutions "in  the  organization  of  the  State  Governments,  belongs  to  the  native 
and  naturalized  citizens,"  excluding  those  who  have  only  declared  their  inten- 
tions. A  more  insidious  attack,  was  never  made  upon  the  principles  of  the 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  Bill.  And  is  this  to  be  the  plank  on  which  Northern  and 
Southern  "  Know  Nothings"  are  to  stand  in  the  rejection  of  Kansas.  But  to 
the  other  and  main  objection,  why  did  it  stop  with  a  simple  denial  of  the  power 
of  Congress  to  reject  a  State  on  account  of  slavery  ?  Particularly  when  it  had 
opened  the  door  for  the  rejection  of  Kansas  on  other  grounds  by  way  of  pre- 
text ?  Why  did  it  not  plant  itself  upon  the  principles  of  the  Georgia  Resolu- 
tions of  1850,  and  say  what  ought  to  be  done  in  case  of  the  rejection  of  a  State 
by  Congress  because  of  slavery  ?  So  far  from  this  it  does  not  even  affirm  that 
such  rejection  by  their  "  worthy  brethren"  of  the  North  would  be  sufficient 
cause  for  severing  their  party  affiliation  with  them  for  it  ? 

Again  I  would  say,  not  only  to  the  old  Whigs  of  the  7th  and  8th  Congressional 
Districts,  but  to  all  true  Georgians,  whether  Whigs  or  Democrats,  Union  men 
or  Fire-Eaters,  whither  you  are  drifting  ?  Will  you  not  pause  and  reflect  ?  Are 
we  about  to  witness  in  this  insane  cry  against  Foreigners  and  Catholics  a  fulfil- 
ment of  the  ancient  Latin  Proverb.  "  Quern  Dens  mill  perdire  prius  dementat !" 
"  When  the  gods  intend  to  destroy  they  first  make  mad  ?"  The  times  are  in- 
deed portentous  of  evil.  The  political  horizon  is  shrouded  in  darkness.  No 
man  knows  whom  he  meets,  whether  he  be  friend  or  foe,  except  those  who  have 
the  dim  glare  of  the  covered  light  which  their  secret  signs  impart.  And  how 
long  this  will  be  a  protection  even  to  them,  is  by  no  means  certain.  They  have 
already  made  truth  and  veracity  almost  a  by-word  and  a  reproach.  When  truth 
loses  caste  with  any  people — is  no  longer  considered  as  a  virtue — and  its  daily 
and  hourly  violation  are  looked  upon  with  no  concern  but  a  jeer  or  laugh,  it  re- 


321 

quires  very  little  forecast  to  see  what  will  very  soon  be  the  character  of  that 
people.  But,  sir,  come  what  may,  I  shall  pursue  a  course  which  sense  of  duty 
demands  of  me.  While  I  hope  for  the  best,  I  shall  be  prepared  for  the  worst ; 
and  if  the  worst  comes,  with  my  fellow  citizens,  bear  with  patience  my  part  of 
the  common  ills.  They  will  affect  me  quite  as  little  as  any  other  citizen,  for  I 
have  but  little  at  stake ;  and  so  far  as  my  public  position  and  character  are 
concerned,  I  shall  enjoy  that  consolation  which  is  to  be  derived  from  a  precept 
taught  me  in  early  life,  and  which  I  shall  ever  cherish  and  treasure,  whatever 
fortune  betide  me. 

"But  if,  on  life's  uncertain  main, 
Mishap  shall  mar  thy  sail, 
If,  faithful,  firm  and  true  in  vain, 
Woe,  want,  and  exile  thou  sustain, 
Spend  not  a  sigh  on  fortune  changed." 

Yours,  most  respectfully, 

*  A.  H.  STEPHENS. 
Col.  T.  W.  THOMAS,  Elberton,  Ga. 


From  the  Richmond  Examiner,  May  1,  1855. 

KNOW  NOTHING  HUMBUGS  EXAMINED  AND  EXPLODED. 

The  present  canvass  has  been  prodigiously  fruitful  in  all  sorts  of  Roorbacks, 
humbugs,  misrepresentations  and  even  downright  falsehoods.  The  whole  land 
teems  with  garbled  extracts,  apochryphal  pamphlets,  Munchausen  paragraphs, 
and  statements  of  the  most  transparent  and  egregious  absurdity.  To  crush 
this  prolific  brood,  would  require  the  labors  of  a  dozen  regiments  of  men,  like 
the  hero  of  the  Augean  stables.  We  propose  examining,  at  this  time,  three 
of  the  most  current  and  common  place,  which  we  read  every  day  in  our  ex- 
changes. 

When  a  Democratic  editor  or  newspaper  points  to  the  identity  of  the  Know 
Nothing  and  the  old  Federal  parties,  as  far  as  their  common  hostility  to  foreign 
immigration  is  concerned,  he  is  invariably  told  that,  although  the  objections  to 
immigration  fifty  years  ago  were  absurd,  yet  that  the  causes  which  made  immi- 
gration desirable  have  ceased,  the  land  has  inhabitants  enough,  and  that  we 
should  keep  the  domain  for  our  children.  Without  stopping  to  point  out,  for 
the  fiftieth  time,  that  the  repeal  of  the  naturalizations  laws  will,  in  no  manner 
diminish  or  affect  immigration,  let  us  see  whether  our  landed  estate  is  already 
filling  up  too  rapidly. 

The  census  of  1850  furnishes  us  with  the  following  facts,  which  effectually 
demonstrate  the  absurdity  of  this  argument  of  the  Know  Nothings  : 

Area  of  the  United  States,  3,306,865  of  square  miles  or  2,116,383,600 
acres. 

Number  of  acres  in  farms,  293,560,614 

Number  of  acres  improved,  113,032,614 

"           "     unimproved,  180,528,000 


Total  in  farms,  as  above,  293,560,614 

It  has  therefore  required,  from  this  official  statement,  320  years  to  bring- 
113,032,614  acres  under  cultivation,  and  we  have  yet  left  the  small  number  of 
two  billions  three  millions  of  unimproved  lands.     We  are  therefore  certainly  not 
21 


322 

in  imminent  peril  of  our  dense  population'  covering  our  limited  possessions  two 
or  three  layers  deep,  and  the  excess  slipping  off  into  the  Atlantic  and  the  Paci- 
fic oceans.  The  absurdity  of  this  humbug  of  Know  Nothingism  might  be  ren- 
dered still  more  glaring  by  a  calculation,  demonstrating  how  greatly  the  two 
billions  of  unimproved  acres,  might  be  made  to  add  to  our  national  wealth,  by 
cultivation  and  population ;  but  the  good  sense  of  our  readers  will  render  such 
an  argument  unnecessary. 

II. 

The  second  humbug  maintains  that  immigration  has  increased  the  pauperism 
of  this  country,  and  that  New  York  and  the  New  England  States  are  taxed  to 
support  the  paupers  of  Europe.  The  simple  fact  that  immigration  profitably 
employs  a  large  portion  of  the  marine  of  the  free  States,  renders  their  railroads 
and  canals  valuable,  and  enriches  thousands  who,  in  the  shape  of  boarding 
house  keepers,  agents,  runners,  and  store  keepers,  prey  upon  the  immigrants  af- 
ter their  long  sea  voyages,  would  be  a  sufficient  refutation  of  this  assertion. 
But  there  is  still  more  conclusive  evidence.  The  German  emigrants  alone 
bring  into  this  country  annually,  it  has  been  estimated,  11,000,000  of  dollars 
in  gold  and  silver.  The  commissioners  of  emigration  for  the  State  of  New 
York  so  state.  But  the  enemies  of  immigration,  pinned  to  the  wall  by  this 
fact,  say  the  Irish  paupers,  not  the  Dutch,  are  the  rascals  who  are  devouring 
the  substance  of  New  York  and  New  England. 

Here,  again,  stubborn  and  unquestionable  facts  nail  the  falsehood  to  the 
counter.  The  following  letter,  from  the  President  of  the  Irish  Emigration  So- 
ciety of  New  York,  effectually  spikes  that  gun : 

OFFICE  IRISH  EMIGRATION  SOCIETY,     | 
New  York  City,  Jan.  4,  1855.  j 

Dear  Sir : — In  reply  to  yours  of  the  1st  instant,  addressed  to  the  lamented 
president  of  the  Irish  Emigrant  Society,  lately  deceased,  relative  to  the  receipt 
and  disbursement  of  the  funds  received  and  disbursed  on  account  of  emigrants 
arriving  at  this  port,  I  beg  leave  to  state — 

That  in  May,  1847,  the  State  Legislature  organized  the  commissioners  of 
emigration,  and  passed  laws  requiring  that  for  each  alien  passenger  landed  at 
this  port  the  owners  and  consignees  of  the  vessel  bringing  them  should  pay  to 
the  commissioners  of  emigration — first,  $1  per  head,  with  50  cents  each  for  hos- 
pital tax,  to  support  the  Quarantine  Hospital,  which  latter  was  decided  to  be 
illegal  and  was  abolished ;  then  it  was  increased  to  81  50,  and  at  the  last  ses- 
sion it  was  further  increased  to  $2,  (which  tax  is  included  by  the  owners  and 
masters  of  vessels  in  the  passage  money,)  and  giving  the  commissioners  authori- 
ty to  disburse  all  such  moneys  received  by  them,  for  care  and  support  of  all  emi- 
grants chargeable  to  them,  and  to  every  city,  town,  or  county  in  the  State,  for 
a  period  of  five  years  from  the  date  of  their  arrival  at  this  port. 

The  amounts  received  by  the  commissioners  of  emigration  and  disbursed  by 
them  for  the  support  of  emigrants,  since  their  creation  in  May,  1847  are  as 
follows  : 

In  1847,  -  -  193,293  00 

1848,  -  311,002  38 

1849,  ....     315,876  16 

1850,  -        -  ^   -     358,010  36 

1851,  -        -  -     469,538  27 

1852,  ....     555,911  96 

1853,  -  -        -     571,651  92 

1854,  .        -        .        .     688,802  98 

$3,464,187  03 


323 

Which  have  been  all  disbursed,  less  the  amount  of  £G4,000  now  on  hand, 
for  the  care,  maintenance,  and  support  of  emigrants  arriving  at  this  port,  and 
chargeable  in  the  various  counties  of  this  State,  and  in  forwarding  them  to 
their  friends  and  to  places  where  they  may  get  employment. 

In  reply  to  your  second  question,  I  beg  leave  to  inform  you,  that  since  the 
creation  of  the  commissioners  of  emigration,  the  city  authorities  have  paid  no 
money  on  account  of  alien  passengers  arriving  at  this  port,  nor  has  the  city 
incurred  any  expense  for  their  support ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  commissioners 
have  paid  since  May,  1847,  to  the  various  public  institutions  in  this  city,  for 
the  care  of  such  emigrants,  chargeable  to  them,  as  they  could  not  take  care  of 
in  their  own  institutions,  such  as  lunatics  blind,  deaf  and  dumb  persons,  £Uo,- 
490. 

#  *###*«# 

With  great  respect,  yours  truly, 

AND.  CARRIG'AX, 

President  Irish  Emigrant  Society. 

Really,  the  President  of  the  Emigration  Society  is  too  cruel.  He  proves 
that  a  tax  laid  upon  the  immigrants  more  than  pays  all  their  expenses,  that 
there  is  now  on  hand  a  surplus  of  64,000  dollars,  and  that  there  has  been  paid 
to  the  charitable  institutions  of  the  State  of  New  York,  for  their  disinterested 
care  and  support  of  the  "  pauper  Irishmen,"  the  sum  of  93,500  dollars. 

This  then  is  a  truthful  picture  of  Irish  pauperism,  and  New  York  philan- 
thropy. How  stands  th.e  matter  in  the  slave  States  ?  Are  we  taxed  for  the 
support  of  the  German  and  Irish  pauper  immigrants  ?  Baltimore  is  the  port, 
at  which  we  suppose  nine-tenths  of  the  European  paupers  are  landed.  The 
following  is  a  letter  from  the  President  of  the  Maryland  Emigration  Society  : 

BALTIMORE,  Jan.  3,  1855. 

Dear  Sir  : — I  received  yesterday  your  favor  of  the  29th  ult.,  asking  informa- 
tion about  the  amount  of  head-money  paid  by  emigrant  passengers  and  its  ap- 
plication. In  reply,  I  can  only  give  you  the  amounts  collected,  which  have 
been  as  follows : 

In  1850,  ....  10,015  11 

1851,  -  -  -  -  12,505  20 

1852,  20,128  71 

1853,  ....  17;185  77 

being  at  the  rate  of  $1  50  for  each  passenger.  A  portion  of  these  sums — say 
two-fifths,  or  sixty  cents  per  head — has  been  annually  paid  over  to  the  several 
beneficial  societies,  and  the  German  Society  has  been  the  recipient  of  some  five 
or  six  thousand  dollars  per  annum. 

I  am  not  aware  that  our  city  authorities  have  been  put  to  any  expense  on  ac- 
count of  emigrants.  There  is  no  special  provision  made  for^Jiem,  and  it  is  left 
to  the  German,  Hibernian,  St.  Andrews,  and  other  charitable  societies,  to  as- 
sist the  sick  and  indigent. 

The  balance  of  the.  head-money,  with  the  exception  of  trifling  donations  in 
some  instances  made  to  Dutch  passengers,  is  applied  towards  the  support  of 
the  Baltimore  city  and  county  almshouse. 

I  have  not  yet  ascertained  the  exact  number  of  passengers  which  arrived  at 
this  port  during  last  year;  it  has  been  somewhat  greater  than  during  the  pre- 
ceding year,  and  the  collections  will  probably  reach  $20,000. 

It  will  afford  me  pleasure  to  give  you  any  further  information  on  the  the 
subject  of  emigration  at  my  command ;  and  I  remain,  with  sincere  regard*, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

A.  SCHUMACHER. 


324 

Far  from  being  a  tax  upon  the  people  of  the  slaveholding  State  of  Mary- 
land, we  find  that  a  large  part  of  this  "  head  money/'  or  tax  upon  the  immi- 
grants, is  actually  applied  "  towards  the  support  of  the  Baltimore  city  and 
county  almshouse,"  the  "  foreign  paupers"  furnishing  their  mite  towards  the 
support  of  the  indigent  native  Americans. 

III. 

The  third  Roorback  and  humbug  of  the  Know  Nothings,  is  "  that  the  influx 
of  foreigners  depreciates  the  price  of  labor."  This  is  the  rankest  and  most 
transparent  nonsense  which  we  have  yet  heard,  even  from  the  Order  which  has 
inaugurated  misrepresentation  as  one  of  their  cardinal  virtues.  The  price  of 
labor  is,  like  everything  else  that  can  be  bought  or  hired,  regulated  by  the  de- 
mand for  it.  If  immigration  did  not  open  new  resources  by  bringing  immense 
tracts  of  land  under  cultivation,  by  opening  roads  for  the  exchange  of  commo- 
dities between  the  various  portions  of  the  country,  and  by  an  increased  home 
consumption,  it  would  necessarily  come  to  pass,  that  a  constant  influx  of  foreign 
mechanics  and  laborers  would  soon  glut  the  market  and  depreciate  the  price  of 
labor. 

But  the  fact  is,  that  the  wages  of  labor  have  increased  more  rapidly,  during 
the  last  seven  years,  than  they  have  ever  done,  and  yet,  during  the  last  seven 
years,  immigration  has  also  more  rapidly  increased  than  at  any  subsequent  period 
of  our  history  as  a  nation.  We  shall  not  insult  the  intelligence  of  our  readers  by 
elaborating  the  argument  which  this  fact  will  prove  to  every  sensible  man. 


From  the  Richmond  Examiner,  May  15,  1855, 

EQUAL  RIGHTS  AND  EQUAL  LAWS. 

Equal  Rights  and  Equal  Laws — these  things  have  ever  been  the  dearest  to 
the  heart  of  the  race  whose  descendants  we  are.  In  all  eras,  under  all  climates, 
in  every  alteration  of  society,  that  key-note  recurs  in  the  grand  symphony  of 
its  utterance  and  action.  Equal  Rights  and  Equal  Laws  !  These  words  sum 
up  the  political  system  of  the  American  States  and  the  American  people.  To 
them  they  represent  all  things  that  are  good  in  government.  They  have  fought 
for  them,  and  toiled  for  them,  and  paid  for  them  in  money  and  in  blood ;  till 
they  thought  the  principles  those  words  express  were  so  won  to  their  possession, 
so  wrought  into  their  flesh,  so  mingled  with  the  life  stream  that  they  were  send- 
ino1  down  to  after  ages,  that  all  the  waters  of  the  multitudinous  seas  would  never 
wash  them  out,  nor  all  the  drowsy  syrups  of  the  East  erase  them  from  the 
memory  of  any  posterity  of  theirs.  But  that  heroic  hope  was  only  a  glorious, 
noble  dream.  Thjjir  children  have  already  forgotten  the  Declaration  of  Rights 
which  do  pertain  unto  the  people  of  Virginia,  and  unto  their  posterity. 

As  the  white  cloud  by  day  and  the  pillar  of  fire  by  night  were  insufficient  to 
assure  the  wanderers  in  the  deserl  of  the  presence  in  their  midst  of  the  God  of 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  they  must  needs  make  a  golden  calf  to  worship 
in  his  stead,  and  choose  other  leaders  than  the  Lord's  anointed  ;  so  are  we  dis- 
carding the  maxims  of  our  fathers  which  have  brought  the  Republic  to  its  pre- 
sent power,  as  worn  out  trumpery  unsuited  to  its  now  exalted  estate,  and  adop- 
ting a  new  class  of  dogmas,  at  war  with  the  example  of  our  ancestors,  substitu- 
ting narrow  counsels  for  noble  and  exalting  sentiments,  strife  for  harmony,  in- 
tolerance for  charity,  privilege  for  equulity,  birth  for  merit,  hypocrisy  for  faith, 
and  making  the  name  American  instead  of  a  symbol  of  all  that  is  generous, 
brave,  hospitable,  self-reliant,  enterprising,  excellent,  elevated,  and  free  in  con- 


325 

science,  in  effort,  in  enterprise,  in  aspiration,  in  ambition,  in  the  person  and  in 
the  soul — a  confined  idea,  limited  between  narrow  latitudes  and  longitudes,  sy- 
nonymous with  Ishmaelite  and  cur,  and  expressive  only  of  jealousy,  selfishness, 
ill-nature,  inhospitality,  meanness  of  instinct  and  narrowness  of  soul. 

And  that  which  makes  the  blood  of  the  patriot  boil  with  the  fiercer  ipdigna- 
tion  in  contemplating  the  conduct  of  the  advocates  of  this  total  change  in  the 
genius  and  spirit  of  our  institutions,  is  to  see  them  hypocritically  attempting  to 
impose  the  belief  upon  the  ignorant  and  simple,  that  their  new-fangled  dogmas 
have  the  sanction  of  the  founders  of  the  Republic. 

Equal  Rights  and  Equal  Laws  for  all  free  citizens,  was  the  cardinal  maxim 
and  fundamental  principle  ruling  the  whole  conduct  of  the  framers  of  our  in- 
stitutions. They  prescribed  no  test  of  religious  faith  as  a  qualification  for  of- 
fice or  citizenship.  They  expressly  forbade  that  so  proscriptive,  so  unjust,  so 
insulting  a  test  should  ever  be  applied  to  the  freemen  of  our  country.  Although 
the  Republic  was  then  weak  and  the  Pope  was  strong,  and  although  taunted  by 
the  Arnolds  of  those  days  to  measures  of  intolerance,  they  refused  to  require 
an  oath  purging  even  the  Catholic  conscience  of  its  imputed  transcendental  alle- 
giance to  its  spiritual  Ruler.  They  left  these  measures  of  proscription  to  be 
taken  by  new  light  statesmen  of  the  present  hour — when  ours  has  become  the 
strongest  power  on  earth,  and  the  Pope  the  weakest  potentate — when  Protes- 
tantism has  come  to  number  in  proselytes  and  creeds  as  the  sands  of  the  sea, 
and,  growing  up  like  the  spreading  oak,  is  stretching  out  its  limbs  to  the  four 
winds  of  heaven,  and  like  the  banyan  tree  of  India,  is  reaching  forth  its  arms, 
and  striking  down  its  roots  into  all  regions  of  the  earth.  They  left  the  people 
the  option  to  choose  from  among  the  members  of  all  the  different  religious  per- 
suasions, whomsoever  themselves  and  not  unequal  laws  should  adjudge  a  most 
honest,  most  capable  and  most  faithful  to  the  Constitution."  They  left  it  to 
modern  bigots,  by  demagogue  oaths  and  unequal  laws,  to  cut  the  people  off 
from  one  entire  religious  persuasion  in  their  elections  of  public  servants ;  and 
to  prescribe  a  rule  and  enforce  an  oath,  which,  if  Brigham  Young  and  Judge 
Taney  were  rival  candidates  for  office,  would  command  them — THE  PEOPLE — 
to  vote  for  the  polygamist,  the  outlaw,  the  impostor,  the  whoremonger,  the 
adulterer,  the  brute  and  the  infidel,  rather  than  for  the  man — clarum  venerabile 
nomen  gentibus,  et  multum  nostrse  quod  prod cr at  urbi. 

The  same  great  principle  of  equal  rights  and  equal  laws  for  free  citizens  was 
carried  by  our  fathers  into  their  welcome  to  the  emigrant.  They  required  a 
probationary  residence  of  the  foreigner  as  requisite  to  the  attainment  of  citizen- 
ship, it  is  true ;  but,  once  a  citizen,  they  made  the  emigrant  a  peer  of  the 
proudest  native  in  respect  of  all  the  privileges  and  franchises  of  the  citizen. 
True  it  was,  that  our  fathers,  in  consideration  of  the  tender  years  of  the  Re- 
public, its  infancy  and  weakness,  the  power  of  hostile  governments  whose  ty- 
ranny it  had  escaped  by  miracle,  the  jealousy  with  which  the  monarchies  abroad 
regarded  our  free  institutions,  and  the  danger  of  insidious  efforts  from  that 
quarter  to  undermine  our  liberties  unawares  to  our  people  while  few  and  feeble, 
ordained  that  the  Federal  executive  and  some  of  the  State  executives  should  be 
native  male  citizens.  But  there  they  stopped,  and  that  was  the  single  excep- 
tion which  they  engrafted  upon  that  wonderful  system  of  legislation,  which  they 
planted  upon  the  foundation  stone  of  Equal  Laws  and  Equal  Rights.  With 
that  single  exception,  they  left  the  unrestricted  choice  of  their  public  servants 
to  the  people — to  the  judgment,  the  discernment,  the  discrimination,  the  pa- 
triotism, the  justice,  the  WILL  of  the  people.  Proceeding  upon  the  great 
American  maxim,  of  the  capacity  of  the  people  for  self-government,  they  did 
not  essay  to  prescribe  to  them  from  what  class  of  citizens  they  should  select 
their  servants,  or  by  what  accidents  of  birth  or  privilege  they  should  restrict 
their  choice.  They  left  it  to  the  innovating  demagogues  of  the  present  day  to 
deny  the  capacity  of  the  people  for  self-government,  and  to  hamper  the  POPU- 


326 

LAIk  WILL  and  paralyze  the  elective  franchise  by  unequal  laws  and  extra" 
judicial  oaths,  under  which,  if  the  felon  Native  American,  E.  Z.  C.  Judson* 
and  that  great  and  generous  foreigner,  the  Marquis  LaFayette,  were  rival  candi- 
dates for  office,  the  people  would  be  compelled,  in  the  exercise  of  the  highest 
function  of  the  American  freeman,  to  exalt  the  convict  and  proscribe  the  hero — 
under  which  base  laws  and  oaths  restricting  the  people  in  the  exercise  of  the 
elective  franchise,  if  all  the  foreigners  wafted  by  ship  loads  to  our  shores  were 
Gallatins  and  DeKalbs,  and  all  our  natives  were  Garrisons,  Phillipses  and  Burns 
rescuers  and  rioters,  they — the  people^ — would  be  compelled  to  hurl  the  Galla- 
tins  from  power  and  substitute  an  infamous  litter  of  Wilsons,  Hisses  and  Fol<* 
soms  in  their  places.  Yes,  our  fathers  left  it  to  the  innovators  of  the  present 
evil  hour,  to  deny  to  the  people  the  liberty  of  choosing  their  public  servants 
according  to  their  judgment,  patriotism  and  WILL,  and,  distrusting  the  great, 
primary  American  doctrine — the  capacity  of  the  people  for  self-government — 
to  fetter  the  people's  judgments,  their  wishes  and  their  choice  with  unequal  laws 
and  extra-judicial  oaths. 

In  their  desperation,  these  innovators  are  now  vouching,  at  this  late  hour  of 
the  Virginia  canvass,  and  as  a  last  recourse  to  support  a  failing  cause,  certain 
resolutions  of  the  Virginia  General  Assembly  of  1799,  proposing  to  exclude 
foreign-born  persons,  thereafter  to  come  into  the  country,  from  the  two  houses 
cf  Congress  and  the  Executive  and  Judicial  offices  of  the  federal  government, 
running  in  these  words  : 

"  The  general  assembly,  nevertheless,  concurring  in  opinion  with  the  legisla- 
ture of  Massachusets,  that  every  constitutional  barrier  should  be  opposed  to  the 
introduction  of  foreign  influence  into  our  national  councils : 

Resolved,  That  the  constitution  ought  to  be  so  amended,  that  no  foreigner 
who  shall  not  have  acquired  rights  under  the  constitution  and  laws  at  the  time 
of  making  this  amendment,  shall  thereafter  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  senator 
or  representative  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  nor  to  any  office  in  the 
judiciary  or  executive  departments. 

Agreed  to  by  the  Senate,  January  16,  1799." 

The  resolution  was  adopted  by  that  immortal  body,  just  after  their  memora- 
ble contest  over  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws,  and  was  doubtless  offered  by  the 
illustrious  Virginians  of  that  day,  in  the  generosity  of  victors  to  the  vanquished, 
as  a  testimonial  of  a  spirit  of  compromise  and  concession  on  their  part  towards 
a  fallen  adversary  after  his  ignominious  defeat.  The  resolution  proposed  to 
•extend  the  exception  already  mentioned  in  respect  to  the  presidency  of  the 
Union  and  Governorship  of  some  of  the  States — an  exception  to  the  great 
American  doctrine  of  equal  laws  and  equal  rights — to  the  subordinate  offices  of 
the  federal  Executive,  and  to  the  federal  Judiciary  and  the  federal  Legislature. 
It  was  a  concession  on  the  part  of  those  illustrious  men  to  the  advocates  of  the 
Alien  and  Sedition  laws,  which  their  own  after  conduct  proves  that  they  them- 
selves considered  unwise  and  unnecessary.  They  themselves  condemned  it  as  a 
temporary  indiscretion,  and  left  it  to  sink  into  sudden  and  incontinent  oblivion. 
The  resolution  has  slept  the  sleep  of  death  upon  the  statute  book  ever  since. 
It  is  as  obsolete  as  its  cotemporary  measures  of  National  Bank  and  Protective* 
Tariff;  and  was  buried  still-born  by  the  very  statesmen  who  are  now  appealed 
to  as  its  authors. 

But  mark  the  disingenuousness  of  this  effort  of  the  latter  day  Know  Noth- 
ings to  array  this  resolution  against  the  doctrine  of  equal  rights  and  equal  laws, 
and  to  set  the  illustrious  statesmen  of  '98  and  '99  at  war  with  themselves. 
The  resolutions  of  the  Massachusetts  Know  Nothing  Legislature  of  '99,  to 
which  this  Virginia  resolution  responded,  had  invited  those  statesmen  to  do  a  mean 


327 

thing,  an  unjust  thing,  an  infamous  thing — had  invited  them  to  exclude  foreign 
bora  citizens,  already  naturalized,  and  already  entitled  under  the  Constitution 
as  it  was,  and  the  laws  as  they  stood  upon  the  statute  book,  from  an  equal  par- 
ticipation in  the  offices,  privileges  and  franchises  of  the  country.  In  short,  the 
Massachusetts  Legislature  of  that  day  recommended  the  proscriptive  principle 
which  is  incorporated  in  the  following  article  of  the  Know  Nothing  creed  : 

"  You,  of  your  own  free  will  and  accord,  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God 
and  these  witnessess,  your  right  hand  resting  on  this  Holy  Bible  and  Cross, 
and  your  left  hand  raised  toward  Heaven,  in  token  of  sincerity,  do  solemnly 
promise  and  swear  that  you  will  not  vote,  nor  give  your  influence,  for  any  man 
for  any  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people  unless  he  be  an  American  born  citizen, 
in  favor  of  Americans  ruling  America/'  f 

— an  oath  which  cuts  at  the  very  roots  of  those  solemn  guarantees  of  the  Con- 
stitution which  have  already  given  to  the  alien  born  citizen  heretofore  natural- 
ized, the  free,  unrestricted  benetit  of  the  same  equal  laws  and  equal  rights 
which  is  enjoyed  by  the  native  citizen — an  oath  retrospective  in  its  operation, 
ex  post  facto  in  its  enfranchisements,  violative  of  vested  rights,  and  repudiatory 
of  the  long  sfanding  compact  between  our  country  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
domiciliated  emigrant  on  the  other,  who  has  sought  its  shores  under  the  allure- 
ment of  those  guarantees  of  equality  and  hospitality  which  shone  forth  from 
the  Constitution  in  letters  of  gold,  so  refulgent  as  to  have  tempted  him  to  for- 
sake home  and  kindred,  to  have  forsworn  sovereign  and  allegiance,  and  to  have 
sought  a  country  then  offering  citizenship  and  equality,  but  now  proposing  to 
degrade  him  into  an  exile  and  a  Helot. 

That  was  the  proposition  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  to  the  illustrious 
Virginians  of  '99  ;  and  now  mark  the  noble  language  in  which  they  replied, 
and  ponder  the  resolution  which  it  has  suited  the  Know  Nothings  to  suppress, 
and  which  precedes  the  one  printed  above,  on  which  they  rely  to  sustain  their 
measures  of  proscription  and  intolerance  : 

"  The  general  assembly  of  Virginia,  considering  that  the  privation  of  perso- 
nal rights  solemnly  sanctioned  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  is 
arbitrary  and  unjust;  that  the  right  of  election  to  office,  is  one  of  the  most 
important  secured  thereby  to  the  citizen  ;  and  that  it  ought  not  to  be  destroyed 
or  impaired,  especially  by  regulations  having  a  retrospective  operation  : 

Therefore,  Resolved,  That  the  proposition  from  the  legislature  of  the  State 
of  Massachusetts,  having  for  its  object  the  exclusion  of  certain  citizens  from 
their  eligibility  to  offices,  which  [eligibility]  they  now  actually  possess,  and  the 
exclusion  of  other  persons  who  may  become  possessed  thereof  upon  the  perfor- 
mance of  certain  conditions  held  out  to  them  by  existing  laws;  [meaning  the 
naturalization  laws] — thus,  by  a  retrospective  regulation,  improper  in  itself,  and 
inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  all  our  civil  institutions,  infringing  the  rights  of 
persons  solemnly  guaranteed  by  the  constitution  and  laws — is  arbitrary  and 
unjust;  and,  that  it  ought  not  to  receive  the  approbation  of  the  general  as- 
sembly." 

Then  follow  the  resolutions  already  quoted.  Let  the  Know  Nothings  read 
these  passages  and  hang  their  heads  for  shame,  that  they  ever  appealed  to  the 
authority  of  the  Virginia  statesmen  of  1799  to  sustain  their  schemes  of  pro- 
scription. 


328 


From  the  Washington  Union, 


VIOLENCE  THE  NATURAL  CONSEQUENCE  OF  THE  KNOW 
NOTHING  ORGANIZATION  AND  DOCTRINES. 

The  public  press  has  recently  been  filled  with  the  gross  and  sickening  details 
of  riot  and  crime  in  our  cities  and  towns,  growing  out  of  the  new  Know  Noth- 
ing organization  and  the  spirit  its  movements  have  provoked.  It  has  been  found 
that  even  in  this  country,  which  proudly  boasts  that  the  law  of  the  land  is  su- 
preme and  acquiesced  in  by  all,  the  constituted  authorities  are  found  incompe- 
tent or  unwilling  to  repress  disorder  and  protect  from  violence  the  lives  and  pro- 
perty of  the'  citizens.  We  question  much  whether,  during  the  last  year,  under 
the  autrocrat  of  Russia,  or  him  of  France,  more  frequent  or  more  flagrant  out- 
rages upon  the  rights  of  personal  liberty  and  property  have  taken  place  than 
those  who  have  brought  the  blush  of  shame  to  the  cheek  of  every  true  Ameri- 
can citizen.  Private  houses  are  given  to  the  flames,  churches  are  destroyed, 
murder  stalks  boldly  forth,  unrepressed  and  unpunished ;  whilst  the  authors' of 
these  outrages,  not  satisfied  with  such  achievements,  find  ample  time  for  attack- 
ing the  peaceful  assemblages  of  their  opponents,  and  for  even  blackening  the 
character  of  those  native  Americans  who  will  not  join  with  them  in  the  cry, 
that  every  Catholic  woman  who  goes  to  confession  is  lewd,  every  priest  a  sworn 
foe  to  our  liberties,  and  every  Roman  Catholic  an  incipient  traitor  to  the  con- 
stitution. 

There  is  at  least  one  fortunate  feature  in  all  this  spectacle  of  calumny  and 
crime.  It  is  leading  men  everywhere  to  reflect  upon  the  causes  and  progress  of 
these  moral  heresies,  and  to  bestir  themselves  to  the  task  of  their  removal. 
The  calm  and  reflecting  of  all  parties  are  beginning  to  appreciate  the  fact  that 
our  free  institutions,  won  by  the  blood  of  our  fathers,  are  only  to  be  preserved 
by  our  own  constancy,  zeal,  and  vigilance.  It  is  not  enough  to  chant  pasans  to 
the  names  of  Washington,  Patrick  Henry,  and  Jefferson,  but  we  must  bring 
home  their  teachings  to  the  popular  heart,  and  by  the  example  of  their  tolerant 
and  liberal  doctrines  shame  those  to  silence  who  have  either  forgotten  or  re- 
pudiated the  principles  ingrafted  upon  our  constitution  by  those  illustrious  pa- 
triots. 

The  connexion  between  the  doctrines  of  the  Know  Nothing  or  native  Ameri- 
can party,  and  the  recent  developments  of  crime  and  outrage,  is  too  obvious  to 
be  overlooked.  What  is  "  Know  Nothingism"  but  the  turning  of  the  bad  pas- 
sions of  our  fallen  nature  into  a  particular  direction  ?  The  evil  feelings  of 
malice  and  hate,  and  intolerance  to  our  opponents,  to  which  humanity  is  but 
too  prone,  have  been  industriously  stimulated  and  concentrated  upon  the  adhe- 
rents of  a  particular  faith,  and  upon  the  helpless  and  unfortunate  emigrant, 
who,  fleeing  from  tyranny  and  thanking  God  that  his  feet  have  at  last  touched 
the  soil  of  freedom,  finds  to  his  dismay  that  the  spirit  of  persecution  is  before 
as  well  as  behind  him,  and  meets  with  a  scourge  where  he  hoped  for  an  asylum. 
And  this  is  republican  hospitality  !  A  constitution  and  laws  which  offer  heart 
and  hand  to  the  emigrant  and  the  Roman  Catholic,  but  a  secret  organization  as- 
piring to  override  both  constitution  and  laws,  which  substitutes  for  the  olive 
branch  of  peace  the  sword  and  dagger  of  relentless  bigotry  !  When  men,  in- 
stead of  being  taught  to  feel  their  own  sins,  to  amend  their  own  lives  and  purify 
their  own  conduct,  are,  on  the  contrary,  daily  and  hourly  admonished  by  their 
leaders  that  there  is  a  class  of  their  neighbors  whose  faith  is  so  full  of  pernicious 
error,  and  yet  so  rapidly  increasing,  and  that  it  must  be  put  down,  not  by  argu- 
ment, by  the  light  of  holy  example,  or  by  the  generous  rivalry  of  deeds  of 
charity  and  mercy,  but  by  denying  to  the  adherents  of  these  presumed  heresies 
all  posts  of  trust  and  honorable  preferment — thus  making  them  the  only  pariahs, 


329 

or  outcasts,  in  a  land  of  equality — is  it  strange  that  the  growth  of  malice  and 
hate  should  be  rapid,  and  quickly  bring  forth  its  appropriate  fruit  of  riot,  sedi- 
tion, calumny,  and  murder  ?  This  lesson,  which  all  history  teaches  us,  was  fa- 
miliar to  our  forefathers,  who  wisely  ingrafted  its  consequence  of  religious 
toleration  upon  the  constitution;  but  we  have  among  us,  it  seems,  a  class  for 
whom  history  affords  no  warnings  for  toleration,  but  only  precedent  for  revenge 
and  persecution,  and  who  use  daily  for  their  purposes  the  names  of  our  revolu- 
tionary patriots  whilst  they  studiously  disregard  their  precepts. 

There  is  another  reason  why  these  consequences  should  ensue.  The  Know 
Nothing  organization  is  a  secret  one.  It  repudiates  any  appeal  to  argument  or 
public  discussion,  but  aims  to  obtain  its  proselytes  by  private  appeals  and 
cajolery,  and  to  compass  its  objects  by  secret  and  irresponsible  machinery.  Is 
it  wonderful,  therefore,  that  these  men,  when  met  with  the  calm  voice  of  reason, 
should  fly  to  passionate  invective  to  drown  the  voice  of  conscience,  that  they 
should  interrupt  by  violence  those  public  meetings  and  discussions,  whose  effects 
they  so  justly  fear  as  entirely  to  discard  them  from  their  plan  of  operations,  or 
that  they  should  finally,  when  all  other  means  have  failed,  resort  to  the  pistol 
and  the  knife  ? 

It  will  be  obvious,  too,  that  the  weapons  of  violence  are  much  more  readily 
and  conveniently  handled  by  them  than  those  of  logic  and  argument.  It  may 
take  a  man  a  month  or  more  to  familiarize  himself  with  the  writings  of  our 
fathers  and  the  principles  of  the  constitution,  and  his  studies  may  even  then 
add  but  little  to  his  Know  Nothing  zeal;  but  the  sorriest  and  simplest  of  the 
"order"  can  readily  handle  a  pistol  or  a  bludgeon.  A  Know  Nothing  may 
argue  with  an  Irish  Catholic  by  the  hour,  and  fail  to  convince  him  that  he  is  an 
idolater  or  a  traitor,  and  therefore  a  fit  subject  for  proscription ;  but  a  resort  to 
the  knife  settles  the  question  speedily  for  all  practical  purposes,  and  your  dead 
Irishman  will  hardly  disturb  by  his  replies  the  convictions  of  his  antagonist,  so 
pointedly  and  eloquently  expressed.  Five  hundred  pistols  may  be  fired,  and  as 
many  Irishmen  made  to  bite  the  dust  in  less  time  than  it  will  take  to  produce 
a  good  argument  in  favor  of  religious  proscription.  The  midnight  lamp  wasted 
in  the  vain  and  fruitless  attempt  to  find  in  the  writings  of  Washington  and 
Jefferson  a  sanction  for  the  establishment  of  a  "  religious  test"  for  office,  may 
be  conveniently  and  fitly  employed  in  firing  the  Irishman's  house,  where  his 
wife  and  children  find  a  miserable  shelter  from  the  elements,  or  in  burning  the 
edifice  in  which  he  offers  that  sacrifice  of  prayer,  and  penitence  which  the  Know 
Nothing  bigot,  kindly  assuming  the  province  of  Deity,  unhesitatingly  rejects  as 
hypocritical  or  idolatrous.  It  may  cost  them  some  pains  to  read  the  constitu- 
tion or  the  Gospel  of  Peace  ?  and  is  it  singular  that  they  shirk  the  disagreeable 
task  for  the  easier  one  by  far,  to  them,  of  reading  the  heart  of  man  and  pro- 
nouncing upon  his  motives  and  his  integrity  ? 

Men,  too,  are  beginning  to  ask,  where  is  all  this  violence  and  crime  to  end  ? 
If  the  Catholic  is  to  be  attacked,  who,  indeed,  will  be  safe  ?  Murder  does  not 
always  draw  nice  dictinctions,  and  the  demon  of  hate  and  religious  bigotry, 
when  one  object  is  exhausted,  readily  conjures  up  another.  The  man  or  villain 
who,  by  setting  fire  to  the  houses  of  Irishmen,  acquires  a  fondness  for  such 
glowing  spectacles,  will  not  always  be  content  with  such  narrow  limits  for 
taste,  but  will  apply  his  principles  and  his  torch  to  those  who  are  guiltless  of 
one  drop  of  Milesian  blood.  It  is,  we  doubt  not,  susceptible  of  demonstration 
that  the  house  of  an  Episcopalian  or  a  Methodist  will  burn  as  readily  as  that  of 
an  Irish  Romanist,  and  we  suspect  that  his  blood  will  in  the  end  be  fully  as  ac- 
ceptable and  sweet  to  many  of  those  who  are  prominent  in  this  work  of  hate. 
We  will  not  inquire  whether  it  is  better  to  be  a  drunkard,  or  rowdy,  or  Know 
Nothing  assassin,  than  an  Irishman,  or  whether  the  man  who  rejects  the  Saviour 
and  spurns  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ  (but  who,  despite  his  deism  or  atheism, 
finds  a  ready  welcome  in  their  "order")  is  more  worthy  of  trust  and  con- 


330 

fidence  than  the  Roman  Catholic ;  but  surely  we  may  be  excused  for  turning  to 
the  Presbyterian,  the  Methodist,  the  Baptist,  the  Unitarian,  and  indeed  every 
sectarian  who  may  encourage  this  movement,  and  asking  them  this  question  :  Is 
it  so  short  a  time  since  your  faith  has  felt  the  iron  heel  of  persecution  that  you 
are  ready  and  eager  to  apply  to  others  those  practices  of  persecution  ani  pros- 
cription of  which  your  fathers  in  England  and  elsewhere  so  justly  complained  ? 
and  if  so,  in  what  sense  can  you  call  yourselves  followers  of  Him  who  said  to 
you  and  to  all  men,  "  Do  unto  others  as  you  would  that  they  should  do  unto  you — 
this  the  second  and  great  commandment  ?" 

A  NATIVE  PROTESTANT. 


From  the  Richmond  Examiner,  April  24,  1855. 
DUPLICITY  BETTER  THAN  NATIONALITY. 

Honesty  is  not  the  better  policy  in  these  days,  if  we  take  the  successes  of 
Know  Nothingism  as  testing  the  rule.  Ingenious  Sam  has  adopted  the  tactics 
of  the  horse  gangs,  and  as  these  wonderful  travellers  (on  other  men's  animals) 
have  a  different  name  for  every  county  they  traverse,  so  Sam  has  a  different 
schedule  of  policy  for  every  State  in  the  Union.  Already  are  seven  programmes 
of  his  Basis  Principles  extant;  and  as  not  half  of  Sam's  tactics  and  principles 
are  yet  dragged  out  to  light,  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  the  number  of  his  Bases 
of  Principles  is  at  least  thirty,  the  number  of  the  States,  and  probably  as  many 
more  as  there  are  unorganized  territories  in  the  Union. 

In  respect  to  Catholics,  the  policy  of  the  "  Traveller"  is  peculiarly  charac- 
teristic. Beginning  in  Massachusetts,  where  Puritan  bigotry  is  not  relaxed  in 
tension  since  the  expulsion  of  Roger  Williams,  and  the  hanging  of  defenceless 
and  toothless  old  maidens  for  "witchcraft,"  he  carries  on  his  persecutions  for 
opinion's  sake,  openly  and  avowedly,  by  sending  special  committees,  attended  by 
courtezans  and  prostitutes,  to  spy  out  the  secrets  of  private  female  schools,  con- 
ducted by  Catholic  ladies.  There  is  no  nice  distinction  there  between  Catho- 
lic religion  and  Catholic  politics.  It  is  the  genuine  spirit  of  persecution  of  the 
old,  cruel,  shameless/  barbaric  type,  of  the  Praise  God  Barebones  era.  It  is 
not  merely  Catholic  voters,  Catholic  officers,  and  Catholic  politicians,  that  are 
the  objects  of  Know  Nothing  hostility  in  Massachusetts,  but  Catholic  women 
and  children,  old  men  and  old  ladies,  old  maids  and  young  virgins. 

The  whole  American  public  have  heard  what  Know  Nothing  legislators  have 
done  in  the  way  of  persecution  in  Massachusetts.  Fancy  the  feelings  of  our 
countrymen  abroad  when  the  accounts  from  Boston  shall  reach  them  in  Europe. 
But  here  is  what  a  Boston  Know  Nothing  editor  says,  and  such  is  the  language 
of  the  whole  New  England  Know  Nothing  press : 

"  The  Nunnery,  the  Convent,  and  other  monastic  systems  have  had  full  swing 
in  Sardinia.  And  this  for  generations — for  ages.  What  has  been  the  result  ? 
These  things  :  corrupt  morals;  debased  public  sentiment;  violation  of  the  most 
sacred  laws ;  destruction  of  virtue ;  pollution  of  female  virtue ;  general  decay 
of  noble  and  refined  sentiments ;  sensuality ;  profligacy  ;  vitiation  of  the  social 
fabric.  Much  else.  But  these  in  chief.  The  people  of  Sardinia  see  this. 
They  look  back  on  centuries  and  see  it.  It  is  met  with  everywhere.  The 
church  is  corrupt.  Society  is  corrupt.  Religion,  morality,  virtue,  the  true,  the 
hallowed,  the  beautiful  is  corrupt.  Hence  the  passage  of  a  law  of  reform ;  a 
law  of  suppression.  It  has  come  to  this  :  'Either  these  places  must  be  abolished 
or  corruption  stalk  unfettered  over  the  land.  The  better  cause  has  prevailed. 
Hitherto  we  have  seen  little  to  admire  in  Sardinia.  It  has  little  in  history  but 


331 

to  blush  and  weep  over.     But  an  act  has  now  risen  which  looms  up  like  a  Bunk- 
er Hill  Monument." 

Catholic  schools  "must  be  abolished."  The  convent-burning  scenes  of 
Charlestown  must  be  re-enacted,  and  women  and  children  must  become  again 
the  victims  of  outrage  from  heroic,  brutal,  profane  Sam,  Apostle  of  Protestant- 
ism and  Pharisee  of  1855.  Not  Catholic  schools  only,  but  Catholic  churches 
too  must  come  down  in  New  England ;  for  the  few  that  were  sacked  and  de- 
stroyed by  Sam  in  1851,  under  the  instigation  of  Gavazzi,  the  foreigner,  and 
the  "  Angel  Gabriel,"  the  other  foreigner,  will  not  appease  the  ferocity  of  the 
unwashed  felon  against  Catholic  martyrs  of  obstinate  consciences. 

Yes,  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  witnessing  a  renewal  of  the 
persecutions  of  the  dark  ages ;  and  this  "  free"  land  of  ours,  consecrated  so 
solemnly  to  liberty,  is  witnessing  already  the  public  violation  by  political  par- 
ties and  loud-mouthed  partizans,  of  the  sacred  liberty  of  conscience. 

As  the  demon  of  intoleranca  processes  Southward,  however,  thanks  to  the 
good  genius  of  Southern  institutions,  he  is  compelled  to  disguise,  by  every  pos- 
sible artifico  of  duplicity,  the  loathsomeness  of  his  purposes.  In  Virginia,  he 
professes  not  to  touch  the  conscience  of  the  Catholic,  but  only  his  franchises. 
He  does  not  play  Paul  Pry  in  Catholic  schools,  or  burn  to  the  ground  Catholic 
churches;  but  he  simply  utters  the  exclamation,  "Lord  I  thank  thee  that  I 
am  not  as  wicked  as  these  bigoted  Catholics ;"  and  appropriates  the  spoils  of  of- 
fice to  himself.  The  Massachusetts  basis  principle  is  to  burn  Catholic  churches 
and  corporeally  examine  Catholic  female  teachers  and  pupils.  The  Virginia 
Basis  Principle  is  to  denounce  Catholics  as  great  political  knaves,  rifle  them, 
in  a  sort  of  pick-pocket  patriotism,  of  all  the  offices  they  hold,  and  sing  psalms 
of  hallelujah  to  the  Act  of  Toleration  and  the  names  of  Washington  and  Jef- 
ferson. Occasionally,  but  very  rarely,  and  that  only  in  remote  districts,  where 
^wholesale  lying  is  not  apt  to  be  found  out  in  time  to  be  exposed,  they  put  forth 
such  monstrous  falsehood  as  the  following,  wjiich  we  take  from  a  Know  Nothing 
document  sent  us  from  the  county  of  Patrick.  Munchausen  the  Second  addresses 
his  "  fellow  citizens  of  the  county  of  Patrick,  and  all  lovers  of  their  country," 
in  the  following  amusingly  mendacious  strain.  We  italicise  the  gems  in  this 
Cabinet  of 

SAM'S    SPECIMEN  LIES,  DESIGNED  TO   SHOW  HIS    VENERATION    FOR  TUE  VIRGI- 
NIA  ACT   OF   RELIGIOUS   TOLERATION. 

"  It  is  often  the  case,  fellow  citizens,  that  these  ruffianly  Priests  go  to  common 
free  schools,  taught  by  the  charity  of  some  good  Protestant  ladies  for  the  pur- 
pose of  educating  the  poor,  and  break  it  up  by  cowhidiny  all  its  pupils.  The 
daughter  of  an  old  magistrate,  near  a  town  called  Ballinrobo,  collected  a  school 
in  which  she  taught  the  children  of  the  poor.  In  the  goodness  of  her  heart, 
she  took  pity  upon  the  podV  ignorant  children  of  the  neighborhood,  and  desired 
to  learn  them  to  read,  that  they  might  peruse  the  word  of  God.  The  Priest, 
of  the  Parish  entered  the  school  house  one  day,  aad  asked  if  the  children  were 
taught  to  read  with  the  view  of  reading  the  Bible.  On  being  informed  that 
they  were,  he  whipped  every  child  out  of  the  house.  He  denounced  from  the 
altar  a  school  house  under  the  care  of  the  wife  of  the  sheriff  of  Galway,  and 
whipped  a  respectable  old  man  for  permitting  his  children  to  go  it.  Now,  fel- 
low citizens,  is  all  this  sober  truth,  or  is  it  enormous  fiction  ?  It  is  possible 
that  such  outrages  can  be  suffered  to  exist  in  a  civilized  community  ?  Yes,  fel- 
low citizens,  they  do  exist  in  their  startling  and  hideous  reality,  and  were  it  not 
for  fear  of  spinning  this  address  out  to  a  too  great  length,  I  could  tell  you  of 
wrongs  that  these  Bible-hating  Priests  do,  of  crimes  they  commit,  and  of  mise- 
ry they  entail  upon  every  people  over  whom  they  have  control,  that  would  make 


332 

your  hair  rise  on  your  head.  And  the  alarming  fact  stares  us  in  the  face,  that 
the  despots  and  tyrants  of  Europe  are  in  league  with  the  Roman  Catholics 
annually  to  send  over  to  this  country  hundreds  and  thousands  of  their  pau- 
pers, criminals  and  persons  of  abandoned  characters,  that  our  country  may 
be  overrun  by  foreigners  and  Roman  Catholics,  that  the  government  may  be 
overthrown,  and  that  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  may  become  the  established 
religion  of  the  United  States.  When  these  things  shall  come  to  pass, 
(and  may  God  in  his  mercy  forever  forbid  it,)  then  all  Baptists,  Presbyte- 
rians, Methodists,  and  all  other  Protestant  denominations  will  be  persecuted 
and  hunted  down  like  the  beasts  of  the  forest,  for  every  Roman  Catholic  Priest 
and  Bishop  regards  them  as  heretics,  and  they  take  an  oath  to  persecute  by  fire 
and  sword  all  heretics  and  enemies  of  their  church." 

Beautiful  language  is  this  for  the  latitude  of  Virginia,  and  for  the  latter  half 
of  the  XlXth  century  ! 

Such  is  the  spirit  of  Know  Nothingism  towards  Catholics  where  those  people 
are  few  and  weak ;  and  it  would  naturally  be  inferred,  from  the  intemperate 
hostility  to  Catholics  of  these  suddenly  enlisted  champions  of  Protestantism, 
that  where  their  party  did  come  in  contact  with  the  hated  church,  in  States 
where  it  was  really  formidable  by  its  numbers  and  political  influence,  and 
where,  if  all  they  charge  in  Massachusetts  and  Virginia  be  true,  they  could 
carry  on  their  system  of  persecution  and  intolerance  to  some  good  purpose,  the 
order  would  be  especially  savage  and  bloody  minded  with  the  Catholics.  For, 
if  the  country  does  really  need  to  be  cleared  of  the  Catholic  faith,  and  if  the 
safety  of  the  country  really  requires  that  its  offices  should  be  taken  out  of  the  hands 
of  Catholics,  the  work  of  reformation  should  go  on  hottest  where  Catholics  are 
most  formidable,  and  where  they  participate  most  largely  in  the  administration 
of  public  aftairs.  Yet,  in  Louisiana,  where  the  Catholics  do  muster  in  force, 
and  where  there  is  important  work  for  the  Know  Nothings,  that  valiant  Order* 
turn  up  advocates  in  fact  of  religious  toleration,  and  are  even  more  tolerant  of 
the  proscribed  religion  than  the  Democratic  party  itself.  In  the  Basis  Princi- 
ples of  the  Order  for  the  southern  and  much  the  larger  portion  of  that  State, 
there  is  no  article  denouncing  the  Catholic  Church,  and  the  councils  are  actual- 
ly talking  of  nominating  a  Roman  Catholic  gentleman  for  the  office  of  Gover- 
nor. 

Under  that  convenient  article  in  their  secret  ritual,  authorizing  them  to  so  con- 
struct their  constitutions  as  to  exempt  Catholic  men,  WIVP]S  and  MOTHERS 
from  their  brutal  system  of  proscription,  where  the  INTEREST  of  the  Order 
demands  such  exemption,  they  have  consulted  discretion  rather  than  valor,  and 
resolved  to  embrace  Catholics  as  brethren  in  the  bonds  of  patriotism  and  equals 
in  the  qualifications  for  office.  Here  is  the  constitutional  provision  of  the  Or- 
der on  this  subject  of  which  they  have  availed  themselves  in  Louisiana : 

"  He  (a  member)  must  be  a  native  born  citizen ;  a  Protestant  born  of  Pro- 
testant parents;  reared  under  Protestant  influence,  and  not  united  in  marriage 
with  a  Roman  Catholic :  Provided,  nevertheless,  that,  in  this  last  respect,  the 
State,  District  or  Territorial  Council  shall  be  authorized  to  so  construct  their 
respective  constitutions  as  shall  best  promote  the  American  cause  in  their  seve- 
ral jurisdictions  ;  and  provided,  moreover,  that  no  member  who  may  have  a  Ro- 
man Catholic  wife  shall  be  eligible  to  any  office  in  the  Order." 

We  have  received  the  following  letter  from  the  editor  of  one  of  the  most  in- 
fluential, able  and  respectable  journals  of  the  Southern  country,  which  shows 
how  the  double  faced  party  has  profited,  in  the  State  of  Louisiana,  by  this  con- 
venient article  in  their  constitution  : 


333 


THE   KNOW    NOTHINGS  HOIST  THE  WHITE  FLAG   WHERE    THE    CATHOLICS    MUS- 
TER  IN    FORCE. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  April  16th,  1854. 
Dear  Sir : — 

Your  letter  of  the  7th  instant,  addressed  to  Mr. ,  was 

handed  by  him  to  me,  with  a  request  that  I  would  endeavor  to  procure  such  re- 
liable information  as  would  enable  me  to  answer  it  for  him. 

There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that,  in  the  lower  portion  of  the  State  of 
Louisiana,  including  this  city  and  the  Parishes  which  are  mostly  peopled  by 
the  so-called  Creoles,  there  is  no  clause  in  the  obligations  of  the  members  of 
the  Know  Nothing  Order  proscribing  the  Catholic  religion  or  its  followers  on 
account  of  their  religious  belief.  I  knew  this  for  months  past,  having  received 
positive  assurances  from  acquaintances  who  avowed  their  connection  with  the 
Order. 

But,  in  order  to  "  make  assurance  double  sure,"  I  resolved  that  I  would  ap- 
peal to  some  of  the  recognized  leaders  of  the  Order  among  us,  and  obtain 
from  them  such  confirmatory  information  as  they  might  be  willing  to  afford 
me 

One  gentleman,  who  is  widely  known  throughout  the  State  for  his  former  zeal 
in  Native  Americanism  and  his  present  activity  in  the  Know  Nothing  cause, 
and  whose  name  has  been  brought  forward  prominently  as  the  candidate  for 
Governor  of  the  State,  on  their  ticket,  told  me,  in  answer  to  my  question  as  to  the 
religious  test,  that  here  the  members  did  not  take  any  such  obligation  ;  that,  in 
order  to  obtain  the  support  of  the  Whig  Creoles,  who  were  generally  Catholics, 
it  had  been  from  the  first  excluded,  except  in  so  far  that  a  "  confessing  Catho- 
lic" was  not  admitted  to  the  Order ;  but  that,  for  some  months  past,  even  that 
question  had  not  been  put  to  the  applicant;  all  that  was  required  being  that  he 
should  be  in  favor  of  the  policy  of  the  Order  as  to  foreigners  and  the  Naturali- 
zation laws.  When  I  stated  to  him  that  some  of  the  presses  in  the  northern 
portion  of  the  State  which  advocated  the  Order,  had  permitted  attacks  on  the 
Catholic  religion  and  the  rights  of  its  professors,  he  replied  that  some  of  the 
country  lodges  had  gone  to  work  and  organized  themselves  without  having  first 
properly  informed  themselves  of  the  true  objects  of  the  movement  in  regard  to 
religion;  but  that  at  present,  means  were  being  taken  to  procure  uniformity  and 
harmony  in  the  work  and  aims  of  the  lodges  throughout  the  State,  and  that  it 
would  be  required  of  the  country  lodges  to  give  up  all  pretensions  to  introduce 
any  religious  test  into  the  obligations  of  their  members. 

Another  gentleman,  who  I  had  reason  to  know  was  one  of  the  first  to  intro- 
duce the  Order  into  this  State,  and  who  informed  me  that  the  lodge  over  which 
he  presided  contained  over  fifteen  hundred  members,  confirmed  fully  what  the 
other  had  said  as  to  the  absence  of  any  religious  test,  especially  against  the 
Catholics,  and  said  that  on  one  occasion  he  had  compelled  a  judge,  in  this  city, 
who,  in  addressing  his  lodge,  had  attacked  the  Catholic  religion,  to  resume  his 
seat,  as  he  would  not  permit  any  such  violation  of  the  real  objects  of  their  as- 
sociation as  an  attack  on  any  man's  religion. 

Both  the  gentlemen  to  whom  I  have  referred,  emphatically  stated  that  if  the 
Order  in  the  North  and  West  did  not  yield  to  the  demand  of  the  Louisiana 
members,  to  give  up  the  obligation  proscribing  the  followers  of  the  Catholic  or 
any  other  religion,  the  latter  would  be  compelled  to  break  off  from  them,  and 
act  independently.  And  both  stated  that  this  demand  would  be  made  at  the 
first  National  Council  of  the  Order. 

I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  extend  my  inquires  farther,  as  the  highly 
respectable  character  of  the  gentleman  who  told  me  what  I  have  above  related, 


834 

and  the  feeling  of  absolute  certainty  which  I  felt  as  to  the  entire  truth  of  wbat 
they  stated,  disposed  me  to  think  that  I  could  gain  no  additional  information, 
on  the  points  you  mentioned,  from  others. 

I  am,  sir,  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

JNO.  H.   CLAIBORNE. 
R.  W.  HUGHES,  ESQ.,  Editor  of  the  Examiner,  Richmond,  Va. 


From  the  Richmond  Examiner,  April  17,  1855. 
FOREIGNERS  AND  THE  SOUTH. 

We  should  fear  the  Greeks  though  bearing  gifts.  We  should  beware  of  the 
North,  though  approaching  us  in  the  name  of  nationality  and  friendship.  We 
should  distrust  the  wooden  horse  of  Know  Nothingism,  with  insidious  Northern 
fanatics  in  its  belly,  though  offered  as  a  holocaust  to  restored  peace  and  harmo,- 
ny.  We  should  eschew  this  Yankee  scheme  of  politics,  though  proffering 
safety  and  protection  to  the  South.  We  should  neither  touch  nor  handle  the 
viper,  though  counterfeiting  venomous  hostility  to  its  mother — though  pretend- 
ing to  bite  and  snap  at  Abolitionism. 

Why  should  the  South  join  her  bitter  revilers  in  a  hue  and  cry  against  fo- 
reigners ?  Fifty  of  the  very  New  England  clergymen  who  denounced  her  in- 
stitutions to  Heaven  and  threatened  Congress  with  the  vengeance  of  Almighty 
God  for  meditating  a  constitutional  law  of  justice  to  the  South,  are  leaders  of 
the  infamous  Massachusetts  Legislature  in  visiting  persecution  and  outrage  upon 
foreigners.  Is  it  from  such  Know  Nothings  as  these  that  slaveholders  expect  an 
effective  warfare  upon  Abolitionism  ?  Are  these  a  new  spawn  of  "  Northern 
men  with  Southern  principles  V 

Not  long  ago  all  Boston  was  up  in  arms  against  the  federal  authorities  in  an 
attempt  to  rescue  a  slave  from  his  master.  An  Irish  regiment  of  volunteer 
soldiers  and  Catholics  were  chiefly  instrumental  in  vindicating  the  majesty  of 
the  law  and  restoring  the  slave  to  his  Southern  owner.  A  "  whole  souled  and 
gallant"  Irish  lad  bared  his  breast  to  the  native  American  mob  and  poured  out 
his  life's  blood  in  defence  of  the  rights  of  the  South.  The  Know  Nothing  Le- 
gislature of  Abolition  Massachusetts,  with  a  malignity  of  vengeance  which 
history  cannot  parallel,  has  disbanded  that  Irish  regiment  and  denied  the  privi- 
lege of  citizenship  to  all  foreigners,  for  the  part  they  acted  in  the  rescue  of 
Burns.  Is  the  South  to  lick  the  hand  that  smites  her  ?•  Is  she  to  ally  herself 
in  a  league  of  persecution  and  extermination  with  her  enemies  and  revilers, 
against  the  little  handful  of  persecuted  strangers  who  dared  to  take  her  part  at 
the  expense  of  life  and  disfranchisement  ?  Shame !  eternal  shame  upon  the 
craven  men  of  the  South  who  shall  do  so  mean  a  thing  !  Let  us  not  take  our 
politics  from  Massachusetts  and  the  Know  Nothing  anathematizing  clergy  of 
her  Legislature.  Let  us  rather  take  it  from  the  Bible,  and  treat  the  foreigner 
kindly  and  hospitably,  obeying  the  command  of  that  Book — "  Be  not  forgetful 
to  entertain  strangers,  (foreigners,)  for  thereby  some  have  entertained  angels 
unawares." 

Why  are  Northern  Abolitionists  and  Know  Nothings  persecuting  and  pro- 
scribing foreigners  and  Catholics  ?  It  is  because  they  have  always  refused  to 
join  with  them  in  their  outcry  against  slavery  and  the  South.  Of  all  the  mobs 
that  have  hounded  and  howled  at  the  heels  of  Southern  men  that  have  gone  to 
the  North  for  their  property,  who  has  ever  heard  of  a  mob  of  foreigners  ?  How 
many  instances  have  there  been,  like  the  memorable  one  of  Burns,  at  Boston, 


335 

where  Irishmen  have  vindicated  the  Constitution  and  law  against  the  fiendish 
clamor  of  raging  and  gnashing  hell-hound  mobs  of  native  Abolitionists.  Call 
the  Northern  Know  Nothing  the  American  party  ?  It  is  American  in  but  one 
sense  of  the  word,  and  that  the  meanest,  shabbiest  and  most  sneaking.  It  is 
the  Yankee  party.  To  persecute  and  proscribe  foreigners  is  not  an  American 
policy,  because  it  is  not  a  Southern  policy ;  and  nothing  can  be  truly  American 
which  is  not  heartily  Southern.  To  persecute  and  proscribe  foreigners  is  only 
a  Yankee  policy.  Yankees  at  the  South  join  in  it.  Yankees  at  the  North  join 
in  it.  The  Know  Nothing  is  a  Yankee  policy.  The  Know  Nothing  is  "  THE 
YANKEE  PARTY." 

The  foreigners  and  Catholics  at  the  North  have  never  joined  in  the  Abolition 
crusade  against  us.     Three  thousand  and  fifty  Yankee  pulpits,  filled — we  will 
not  say  by  Protestants,  but  filled  by  Infidels — are  constantly  belching  forth  fire 
and  brimstone,  hell  and  damnation  against  the  South.      Theodore  Parkers,  An- 
toinette Browns  and  Horace  Greeleys,  too  pious  to  take  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  from  disgust  at  the  intoxicating  wine  in  use  at  the  Holy  Table, 
fulminate  anathemas  upon  the  South  and  slavery,  day  and  night,  in  season  and 
out  of  season,  from  the  pulpit,  from  the  hustings,  and  from  the  press,  until  our 
Southern  people  can  no  longer  travel  at  the  North  without  encountering  insult 
;at  every  step  and  hour.     But  who  has  ever  known  the  Catholic  pulpit  to  court 
jpopular  favor  by  such  incendiary  means ;  and  who  has  ever  known  Irishmen  to 
n'oin  in  this  crusade  of  insult  and  aggression  upon  the  South  ?     These  two  per- 
psecuted  classes  have  made  themselves  obnoxious  to  the  Northern  populace,  and 
'hateful  as  Mordecai  the  Jew  in  the  sight  of  Haman,  to  their  incendiary  preach- 
ers and  politicians,  by  sternly  and  nobly  standing  aloof  from  the  fanaticism, 
and  interfering,  when  they  interfere  at  all,  only  to  defend   the  integrity  of  the 
Constitution  and  to  assert  the  might  of  the  violated  law.     Who  ever  heard  of 
an  itinerant  Irish  lecturer  against  slavery  ?      Who  ever  heard  of  a  political  ser- 
mon against  this  constitutional  institution  from  a  Catholic  pulpit  ?     How  conso- 
nant with  the  whole  tenor  of  Irish  conduct  on  this  question  was  the  prompt, 
the  gallant,  the  unselfish  and  the  peer.uiarily  suicidal  denunciations  of  John 
Mitchell,  against  the  revilers  of  the  slaveholders  !     Well  might  Lord  Carlisle 
iu  his  leave-taking  lecture  at  Boston,  after  a  thorough  tour  of  this  country,  de- 
jlare   that  "the  worst  enemy  of  the  Abolitionist  was  the  Irishman,  and  the 
lost  staunch  defender  of  slavery  was  the   Irishman."     The  party  which  de- 
lounces,  disfranchises,   persecutes  and  proscribes  the  Irish  Catholic,  whatever 
jlse  it  may  be,  is  not  a  Southern  party.     If  it  take  root  at  the  South,  the  fact 
will  only  confirm  the  slander  that  republics  of  self-governing  people  are  un- 
grateful ;  it  will  be  a  Southern  party  with  Northern  principles ;  it  will  be  a 
YANKEE  PARTY  on  Southern  soil. 

Look  to  those  States  of  the  North  where  the  foreign  population  holds  a  lar- 
ger ratio  than  elsewhere,  and  where  they  exercise  the  greatest  degree  of  politi- 
cal influence— look  to  the  vigorous  young  States  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  Wisconsin, 
Iowa,  and  Michigan,  as  contrasted  with  Ohio,  New  York,  and  the  States  of 
New  England  ;  and,  until  this  new  crusade  arose  to  temporarily  unite  the  pop- 
ular masses  with  Abolition  natives,  in  a  common  crusade  against  the  Democratic 
party  and  the  foreign  voters  usually  acting  with  them,  those  States  which  had 
the  largest  infusion  of  the  foreign  element  in  their  populations,  are  found  to 
have  been  the  stauuchest  defenders  of  constitutional  politics  and  Southern  rights. 
We  speak,  of  course,  of  the  ratio  of  foreign  population  actually  and  permanent- 
ly settled  down  iu  homes  of  their  own,  as  distinguished  from  foreigners  living 
from  hand  to  mouth  by  working  on  railroads  and  laboring  in  other  migratory 
employments. 

What  though  the  increase  of  this  element  be  indeed  rapid,  as  asserted  by 
Ex-(rovernor  Smith,  and,  second-hand,  by  Mr.  Flournoy ;  will  the  Virginia 
politician  object  to  a  gradual  and  healthful  augmentation  of  our  natural  friends 


336 

in  the  Northwest  ?  The  fact  is  notorious,  that  foreigners  at  the  North  stand 
aloof  from  the  Abolition  movement,  and  that  the  staunchest  Democratic  and- Abo- 
lition States  of  that  section  of  the  Union  are  chiefly  those  in  which  foreigners, 
who  have  found  permanent  homes,  constitute  a  larger  proportion  than  elsewhere 
of  the  whole  population. 

We  are  agitating  in  the  South  against  foreignism  as  an  evil,  although  foreign- 
ers are  our  staunchest  friends  at  the  North,  where  they  number  2,201,118  in 
the  census  of  1850,  and  although  the  evil  at  the  South  is  so  small  and  trifling 
as  to  constitute  less  than  two  per  cent,  of  our  population,  and  numbers  a  grand 
total  in  all  the  South  of  but  43,530  souls  !  We  have  never  known  a  more 
monstrous  piece  of  folly  and  blindness  than  this  enlistment  of  Southern  men 
in  a  Yankee  crusade  against  foreigners.  We  can  only  imagine  a  single  ground 
on  which  it  can  be  plausibly  excused ;  and  that  is,  that  the  evil  of  foreignism 
is  so  entirely  Northern  and  so  microscopically  Southern,  as  to  induce  the  notion 
that  immigrants  seek  the  North  from  a  natural  repugnance  to  our  people  and 
institutions.  But  who  can  believe  such  a  charge  ?  An  Irishman  prejudiced 
against  a  Virginian  or  a  Kentuckian  !  The  thought  is  as  monstrous  as  the  no- 
tion itself  is  false  and  unnatural.  Immigrants  go  to  the  North  because  emi- 
grant ships  land  them  at  Boston,  New  York  and  Philadelphia;  and  because, 
the  North  being  engaged  most  largely  in  manufactures,  mines,  internal  improve- 
ments, and  the  mechanic  arts,  all  requiring  cheap  white  labor,  they  find  em- 
ployment in  that  quarter  of  the  Union  more  promptly  and  surely  than  in  the 
agricultural  South.  When  they  can  find  work  at  the  South,  they  never  hesi- 
tate to  migrate  hither ;  and  no  Southern  man  has  ever  yet  heard  of  a  foreigner 
leaving  the  South  from  preference  for  the  North.  No  man  has  ever  yet  heard 
of  foreigners,  like  Yankees,  coming  in  sheep's  clothing  to  sympathize  with  our 
slaves,  and  clandestinely  shipping  them  off  from  their  owners  by  underground 
railroads. 


DYING  WAILS  FROM  THE  CULVERT. 

Some  unknown  friend — probably  a  repentant  Know  Nothing  about  to  bolt 
the  Order  and  come  over  to  the  Democracy — has  contrived  into  our  possession  a 
curious  budget  of  documents,  yet  damp  from  the  press,  intended,  no  doubt,  to 
be  poured  out  in  deluges  over  the  State  of  Virginia,  upon  the  eve  of  the  elec- 
tion. To  be  forewarned  is  to  be  forearmed — and  on  that  principle  we  lay  the 
precious  batch  before  our  readers,  in  order  that  the  Democracy  may  have  a 
knowledge  of  the  weapons  with  which  they  are  to  be  assailed  in  the  dark,  before 
yet  the  blows  are  dealt. 

The  documents  breathe  a  savage  and  truculent  spirit  enough ;  but  we  are 
very  sure  that  though  venomous  as  serpents  they  are  harmless  as  doves.  We 
have  rarely  seen  a  paper  so  overflowing  of  gall  and  bitterness  and  worm- 
wood, and  yet  so  imbecile  and  impotent  to  subserve  any  effective  purpose,  as 
SAM'S  First  Epistle  to  the  Hindoos. 

It  is  as  unlike  Paul  to  Timothy  as  could  be  conceived,  through  it  breathes 
out  fire  and  slaughter  as  fiercely  as  SAUL  of  Tarsus  on  his  way  to  Damascus. 
How  awfully  savage  is  it  on  that  mythical  body,  "  the  Anti-American  Junto" 
of  Richmond.  We  have  heard  a  great  deal  of  the  JUNTO.  It  is  said  that  we  have 
had  something  to  do  with  the  killing  of  the  old  iniquity.  That  fact  was  an- 
nounced in  the  New  York  Herald  five  month  ago,  and  seeing  that  the  Herald 
is  chief  organ  of  the  Know  Nothings  in  North  America,,  the  fact  of  the  Junto's 
demise  is  undeniable.  The  Junto  is  a  myth — a  ghost,  beyond  doubt  or  cavil; 
and  yet  it  is  amusing  to  see  how  it  still  haunts  the  imagination  of  SAM.  He 
can't  divest  himself  of  the  idea  that  the  monster  is  still  alive,  and  protests  to 


337 

his  people  that  it  is  "  daily  and  nightly  manufacturing  and  sending  into  all 
parts  of  the  State  secret  ROORBACKS — outrageous  villifications — shameless  mis- 
representations— unmitigated  falsehoods — miserable  resorts — shameless  tricks — 
total  fabrications — men  of  straw" — and  legions  of  similar  hobgoblins.  To  say 
that  SAM  is  frightened  and  in  despair,  would  be  telling  but  half  the  story. 
SAM  is  frantic.  See  how  he  raves.  The  italics,  SMALL  CAPS,  and  CAPITALS 
are  all  las'  own  : 

SAM'S   FIRST   EPISTLE   TO   THE    HINDOOS. 

Richmond,  May  12,  1855. 

DEAR  SIR  :  We  have  just  learned  from  authority  of  the  most  undoubted 
character,  that  the  Anti-American  Junto  of  this  city  are  daily  and  NIGHTLY 
manufacturing  and  sending  into  all  parts  of  the  State  SECRET  ROORBACKS, 
containing  the  most  outrageous  villifications  of  our  Order,  the  most  shameless 
misrepresentations  of  its  objects  and  aims,  and  the  most  UNMITIGATED  false- 
hoods, in  relation  to  its  present  standing  and  position.  The  object  of  this  letter 
is  to  warn  you,  and  through  you,  every  member  of  your  Council,  and  every 
friend  of  the  American  cause,  to  beware  of  the  legion  of  Roorbacks  which 
they  will  start,  in  the  desperation  of  what  they  fear,  and  we  believe,  to  be  their 
LAST  expiring  effort  ! 

One  of  their  miserable  resorts  has  been  exposed  to  us  this  morning.  They 
have  already  issued  a  large  number  of  secret  circulars,  setting  forth  that  there 
have  been  several  thousand  withdrawals  from  the  American  Councils,  and  that 
a  few  days  before  the  election,  a  list,  of  these  withdrawal*  will  be  furnished  to 
the  under  strappers  of  the  'Junto.  The  object  of  this  cannot  be  doubted.  It 
is  to  spread  dismay  through  the  ranks  of  Americans,  and  discourage  and  unnerve 
the  efforts  of  our  leading  men.  Now,  without  any  hesitation,  \§e  pronounce 
the  whole  thing  as  miserable  and  shameless  a  trick  as  ever  issued  even  from  the 
corrupt  source  from  which  it  emanates.  We  know  what  we  say,  and  speak 
from  the  record  when  we  declare,  that  they  cannot  parade  the  names  of  a  thou- 
sand members  in  the  whole  State  of  Virginia,  (out  of  75,000,)  who  ha^re  with- 
drawn from  the  Order.  We  know  it  to  be  a  total  fabrication,  a  shameless 
Roorback,  and  ARRANTT  FALSEHOOD  !  They  may  parade  the  names  of  thou- 
sands, but  we  declare  most  positively  and  EMPHATICALLY,  that  if  so,  four-fifths 
will  prove  MEN  OF  STRAW — men  who  were  never  men  of  our  Order — who  have 
not  withdrawn,  or  who  never  fead  existence  anywhere  except  in  the  very  fertile 
imaginations  of  our  most  reckless  and  UNSCRUPULOUS  adversaries  ! 

But  here  we  will  ask,  even  if  they  could  parade  the  names  of  5,000  who 
had  withdrawn  from  the  Order,  what  would  that  amount  to  ?  Would  not  even, 
that  number  leave  us  70,000  good  and  true  men  in  the  Order,  which,  with 
30,000  outsiders,  whom  we  know  will  go  with  us,  will  make  a  total  of  100,000, 
or  enoutjh  to  bury  this  miserable  Junto,  with  its  myriad  corruptions,  too  deep  to 
be  even  smelt  again  f 

But,  sir,  we  tell  you  again,  that  they  cannot  parade  one  thousand  actual  with- 
drawals, if  their  earthly  existence  depended  on  it. 

We  beg  to  call  your  attention  to  a  circumstance  which  alone  should  establish 
the  villainy  of  this  transaction.  If  this  report — this  list  of  names^-is  honest, 
CORRECT,  TRUE — why,  WHY  have  they  not  published  them  in  their  papers  ia 
time  to  have  their  genuineness  examined,  and  TRUTH  or  FALSITY  TESTED. 
Both  the  Daily  Post  and  Whig  of  this  city,  have  repeatedly  called  on  the  Junto 
papers  to  publish  the  names  and  localities  of  the  "  WITHDRAWALS"  which  by 
scores  and  fifties  they  were  heralding  through  their  papers,  but  without  giving 
either  names  or  LOCALITIES.  These,  they  were  not  only  CALLED  UPON,  but 
DARED  to  give.  They  were  finally  goaded  into  making  positive  declarations  in 
the  following  instances,  which  were  the  only  positive  ones  now  recollected  : 
22 


338 

(Here  follow  the  alleged  charges,  followed  by  most  ferocious  refutations.) 

Here,  then,  sir,  we  have  at  much  length  taken  pains  to  dissect  the  four 
Roorbacks  which  the  enemy  have  dared  to  locate — read  them  attentively,  and 
judge  for  yourself.  Falsus  in  uno,  fahus  in  omnibus.  [Bad  Latin,  SAM.] 
False  in  one,  false  in  all. 

Finding  it  would  never  do  to  present  the  names  and  localities  of  their  sham 
defection,  followed  as  they  were  by  such  immediate  and  complete  exposures, 
they  have,  it  seems,  concluded  to  issue  an  advance  circular,  CLAIMING  several 
thousand  withdrawals,  and  promising  to  give  the  names  in  a  SECRET  CIRCULAR 
just  before  the  election,  when  it  would  BE  TOO  LATE  TO  EXPOSE  THEIR  FALSITY. 

Then  again,  sir,  we  repeat,  sound  the  news  in  advance  through  your  Coun- 
cils. Watch  for  Roorbacks  of  every  possible  description,  and  BELIEVE  NONE 
YOURSELF,  nor  allow  any  others  to  be  imposed  upon  by  such  base  means.  Re- 
collect that  with  our  opponents  it  is  a  death  struggle,  and  as  drowning  men 
catch  at  straws,  they  will  endeavor  to  seize  hold  of  every  imaginable  pretext 
and  falsehood  which  promises  to  give  them  even  a  single  vote. 

Gird  on  your  armour  then— return  blow  for  blow,  like  brave  soldiers,  confi- 
dent of  Victory.  Remember  that  while  you  are  fighting,  your  brothers  here 
and  elsewhere  are  battling  manfully  in  a  common  cause — a  cause  which  involves 
the  fate  of  our  Union,  our  Bible,  and  our  Faith.  Let  this,  then,  animate  your 
hearts,  and  nerve  your  arms,  in  what  we  sincerely  believe  to  be  a  contest  invol- 
ving mightier  interests  than  any  before  tested  since  "  the  days  that  tried  men's 
souls. "  Remember  !  that 

To  fight 

In  a  just  cause,  and  for  our  country's  glory, 
Is  the  best  office  for  THE  BEST  OF  MEN  ; 
And  to  decline  when  these  motives  urge, 
Is  infamy  beneath  a  coward's  baseness. 

Respectfully  and  fraternally, 

.  C.  A,  ROSE, 

P.  POINDEXTER. 
RO.  D.  WARD. 

SAM'S  second  epistle  is  not  so  savage  as  the  first,  but  far  more  pithy,  effec- 
tive, and  to  the  point.  It  is  evidently  the  composition  of  higher  grade  of  Je- 
suits than  the  boquet  above.  We  have  not  the  pleasure  of  a  personal  acquain- 
tance with  Mr.  17-:-3.21.12.2.7 ;  or  with  Mr.  J-I-6. 12.13.2.7.1. 8  ;  or  even 
with  Mr.  &C.-17-26.12.  Tt.  They  are  in  a  terrible  state  of  alarm  at  the  fan- 
cied thorough  organization  of  the  Democracy,  and  have  taken  measures  suited 
to  such  an  emergency.  We  publish  the  document  entire,  and  as  it  is  always 
lawful  to  fight  the  Devil  with  his  own  weapons,  we  trust  the  suggestions  of  the 
"  undersigned,"  Messrs.  17-:-3.21.12.2.7,  J-I-6.12.13.2.7.1.8,  and  &C.-17- 
26.12.Tt;  will  not  be  lost  on  the  Democracy  : 


RICHMOND,  May  9th,  1855. 

Dear  Sir : — The  undersigned,  claiming  no  other  excuse  than  the  general  good 

of  the  American  party,  have  taken  the  liberty  to  request  you  and 

of  your  county,  to  act  as  a  special  county  committee,  for  the  purpose  of  effecting 
an  immediate  and,  if  possible,  a  thorough  organization  in  your  county,  unless 
you  have  already  done  so.  We  respectfully  ask  your  earnest  attention  to  the 
following : 


339 

We  have  as  glorious  a  cause  as  ever  moved  the  American  people  since  the 
days  of  '76 — a  cause  which  must  commend  itself  to  the  American  people,  and 
which  must,  as  a  matter  of  palpable  necessity,  become  the  dominant  party  in. 
the  land.  The  present  struggle  is  one  which  more  completely  involves  the  fate 
cf  our  Union,  our  Bible,  and  our  Faith,  and  all  else  that  we  hold  near  and  dear, 
than  any  other  that  has  occurred  since  the  United  States  became  a  nation  :  for 
it  is  a  struggle  which  is  to  foreshadow  the  end — of  which  this  is  but  the  be- 
ginning. 

But,  strong  as  is  our  position,  high  and  holy  as  our  mission  is,  and  as  much 
as  it  commends  itself  to  the  people,  we  beg  our  friends  not  to  rely  too  confidently 
to  its  inherent  strength  alone.  We  have  an  enemy  ever  watchful,  ever  vigilant, 
ever  untiring,  and  ever,  as  now,  utterly  unscrupulous.  They  are  old  tacticians, 
who  having  long  succeeded  by  "  management,"  will  now,  in  their  hour  of  peril, 
resort  to  every  means  that  unscrupulous  knavery  can  suggest,  or  the  most  un- 
tiring energy  carry  out. 

The  enemy,  too,  are  completely  organized,  and  that  in  the  most  thorough 
and  efficient  manner.  Their  "  modus  operandi"  is  secret  and  effective — is  con- 
fided to  a  few  and  proper  hands.  They  first  have  a  State  Central  Committee, 
who  appoint  sub-committees  in  every  county,  who  in  turn  appoint  sub-commit- 
tees in  every  precinct.  These  precinct  committees'  first  business  is,  to  ascer- 
tain the  number  of  Whigs  outside  the  order,  and  the  number  of  Democrat's  in. 
Each  man  on  this  list  is  put  under  the  special  care  of  one,  two  or  three  men 
best  calculated  to  exert  an  influence  upon  him,  who  are  instructed  to  use  the 
argument  best  calculated  to  influence  him  against  the  American  party.  These 
committee-men,  on  some  plausible  excuse  visit  the  persons  under  their  particu- 
lar charge.  To  the  Whigs  outside,  they  will  urge  the  folly,  the  madness  and 
impolicy  of  sacrificing  their  cherished  principles — the  principles  of  that  "  noble 
old  party,"  "the  brave  party  of  principle,"  &c.,  to  a  new  party,  whose  aims 
are  mysterious,  and  whose  designs  they  know  not  of.  To  the  Democrats  inside, 
the  American  party  will  be  denounced  as  a  Whig  trick,  the  same  miserable  old 
blue  light,  Hartford  Convention,  Federal  and  Bank  Whig  party.  They  will 
denounce  it  as  unchristian,  unpatriotic  and  unconstitutional.  They  will  declare 
it  abolitionism  in  disguise,  and  importation  from  the  North,  from  England,  &c., 
&c.  They  will  misrepresent  its  principles,  its  aims  and  its  acts.  They  will  swear 
it  has  driven  every  national  man  from  the  United  States  Senate — that  it  elected 
Seward  and  Wilson,  and  probably  Sumner,  and  Trumbull,  and  Durkee,  and 
Chase,  and  Hale,  and  Wade,  and  Fessenden,  ajid  a  host  of  other  abolitionists, 
who,  so  far  from  being  Know  Nothings,  are  among  their  most  intensely  bitter 
opponents.  They  will  beseech  them  to  come  out  from  among  a  set  of  "lousy, 
Ckn'stlcss,  Godless  plotters,  conspirators,  traitors,  midnight  assassins  and  pros- 
titutes of  the  pot-houses. 

In  this  manner,  and  in  this  style,  they  will  visit,  and  are  now  daily  visit- 
ing, every  inside  Democrat,  and  outside  Whig  in  the  State.  Every  device  will 
be  resorted  to,  to  "  wean  those  weak  in  the  faith."  They  will  not  only  visit  our 
members,  but  will  stay  with  them,  eat  with  them,  drink  with  them,  and  sleep 
with  them.  Sometimes  they  will  double  or  triple  teams,  and  bring  double  and 
triple  batteries  to  bear  on  the  more  obstinate  and  difficult — will  seek  to  frighten 
the  timid,  seduce  the  fishy,  and  "fatigue"  and  worry  the  true  and  honest  ones 
out  of  the  party. 

Thus  will  the  most  powerful  political  machinery  that  political  tacticians  ever 
did  invent,  or  ever  can  invent — that  of  direct  personal  appeal,  entreaty  and 
compulsion — be  brought  to  bear,  with  concentrated  force,  upon  the  members  of 
our  organization  in  every  section  of  the  State.  It  is  idle  to  say  that  such  means, 
so  constantly  and  so  perseveringly  applied,  will  be  without  effect,  unless  they 
are  promptly  and  effectively  met  by  the  vigilance  of  our  friends  in  every  coun- 
ty of  the  State. 


340 

The  only  way  to  check  this  influence  is  to  meet  it  promptly,  and  in  that 
view  we  most  earnestly  and  respectfully  request  your  attention  to  the  follow- 
ing 

SUGGESTIONS. 

That  on  the  reception  of  this  you  will  hold  an  immediate  conference  with 
of  your  county  ;  and  that  you  together  shall  appoint  a  com- 


mittee of active,  intelligent  and  efficient  men  in  each   precinct  of  the 

county,  who  will  act  as  a  precinct  committee,  and  who  will  fully  and  efficiently 
carry  out  the  following  suggestions  by  all  honorable  means : 

1st.  To  make  a  perfect  list  of  every  man  who  will  vote  the  American 
ticket. 

2nd.  A  similar  list  of  every  man  who  will  vote  the  Anti-American  ticket. 

3rd.  A  doubtful  list,  embracing  every  man,  whether  now  with  or  against  us, 
who  can  be  swerved  or  induced  in  any  manner ;  to  place  each  man  on  this  list 
under  the  care  of  some  one,  two,  or  more  men,  who  will  make  it  their  special 
business  to  see,  talk  and  even  labor  with  every  man  or  men  placed  under  their 
charge,  with  a  view  to  the  following  results : 

1st.  If  an  American,  to  protect  him  from  the  arts  of  the  enemy,  and  to  keep 
the  wavering  firm  in  the  faith. 

2nd.  To  influence  as  many  of  the  Anti-Americans  to  vote  with  us  as  possi- 
ble. 

3rd.  To  induce  as  many  as  will  not  vote  with  us  not  to  vote  against  us — if 
they  will  do  us  no  good,  at  least  to  do  us  no  harm. 

4th.  And  finally,  to  see  that  every  American  vote  is  brought  out  and  polled 
on  the  day  of  election. 


Please  instruct  the  committee  of  each  precinct,  immediately  after  elec- 
tion, to  send  full  returns  of  their  precincts,  addressed  to  the  Editors  Daily 
Whig,  Richmond,  and  all  will  thus  know  by  extras  issued  from  that  office  the 
result  in  a  few  days  after  election. 

17-:-3.21.12.2.7  ) 

J-I-6.12.13.2.7.1.8        f  Committee. 
&c.-17-26.12.Tt.     &c.  j 

What  a  pity  to  take  away  these  young  men's  Bibles !  To  steal  their  purses 
is  to  steal  trash;  but  to  take  away  their  Bibles — what  a  cruelty  ! 

Epistle  third  is  an  eloquent  dissertation  from  Sam  on  the  importance  of  a 
single  vote.  He  has  been  boasting  of  his  fifty  and  eighty  thousands  for  months 
past,  and  professing  a  generous  willingness  in  his  bets  with  the  Democracy  to 
give  odds  of  fives  and  tens  of  thousands  against  himself;  but  since  the  late 
terrible  reaction  commenced,  and  his  men  have  forsaken  him  by  entire  lodges 
and  councils,  Sam  is  firmly  convinced  that  he  cannot  spare  a  single  vote ;  and 
vouchsafes  a  special  epistle  to  the  faithful,  on  the  necessity  of  getting  out  every 
vote  he  can  call  his  own.  Democrats  of  Virginia,  learn  a  lesson  for  yourselves 
while  reading 

SAM'S  THIRD  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HINDOOS. 

RICHMOND,  May  14th,  1855. 

Dear  Sir : — The  object  of  this  communication  is  to  call  your  especial  attention 
to  the  possible  importance  of  every  single  vote  in  your,  and  every  other  pre- 
cinet  in  the  State,  accompanied  by  such  illustrations  as  occur  to  us  at  the  mo- 
ment : 


341 

In  1797,  the  President  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  three  in  the  electoral 
college — in  1801,  by  seven.  Virginia  was  carried  in  1840  by  500  votes.  In 
1844,  5,000  votes  in  New  York,  out  of  550,000,  or  one  in  55,  made  Mr.  Polk 
President ;  hence,  had  this  vote  been  cast  for  Clay,  he  would  have  been  elected 
by  five  votes. 

Some  ten  years  ago,  Mafcus  Morton  was  elected  Governor  of  Massachusetts 
by  a  majority  of  one.  In  many  other  instances,  ten  votes  have  decided  the 
fate  of  the  gubernatorial  election. 

Mr.  Benton  was  made  Senator  by  one  vote.  Many  other  Senators  have  been 
elected  by  majorities  of  from  one  to  ten. 

In  1846,  the  candidates  for  Congress  tied  each  other  in  two  instances  in  a  sin- 
gle State,  and  two  were  elected  by  one  majority,  and  three  more  were  elected  by 
majorities  of  from  three  to  twenty.  In  the  same  State,  in  1848,  there  was  one 
tie,  three  were  elected  by  one  majority,  and  several  others  by  majorities  of  from 
five  to  fifty.  On  one  occasion,  a  distinguished  Virginian  was  elected  to  Con- 
gress by  five  majority,  and  at  the  next  term  defeated  by  seven.  A  hundred 
instances  could  be  given  of  members  of  Congress  elected  by  majorities  of  from 
one  to  five  votes,  and  a  thousand  where  majorities  of  one  to  five  have  carried 
State  Senators,  and  members  of  the  different  Legislatures. 

In  the  coming  election,  we  expect  to  see  several  of  our  candidates  for  Con- 
gress, Senate  and  House,  elected  by  very  small  majorities,  perhaps  by  a  single 
vote.  Remember  then,  sir,  that  the  failure  to  vote  in  a  single  instance,  in 
your  precinct,  may  lose  us  a  Delegate,  Senator,  Congressman,  and  even  U.  S. 
Senator.  The  election  of  Flournoy,  however,  if  our  strength  is  polled,  is  as 
certain  as  the  rising  of  to-morrow's  sun. 

Probably,  in  Virginia,  an  average  of  five  of  our  voters  in  each  precinct  will 
Rsolve  to  stay  at  home,  each  thinking  his  own  vote  can  make  no  great  diffe- 
rence; but  remember  that  there  are  1,000  precincts  in  the  State,  and  that  a  loss 
of  five  votes  in  each  precinct  would  be  5,000  in  the  State,  or  more  votes  than 
made  Mr.  Polk  President  in  1844. 

Then,  sir,  we  call  on  you  and  your  friends,  and  the  friends  of  the  cause,  to 
work,  Y»ORK,  WORK  !  See  that  every  vote,  in  every  precinct  in  your  county, 
is  brought  out.  Your  brothers  call  on  you  to  work  for  us  as  we  work  for  you  ! 

The  Junto  is  setting  day  and  NIGHT.  The  lights  in  their  culvert  are  never 
suffered  to  go  out.  They  set  us  an  example.  Let  us  improve  it. 

Confident  of  Victory,  we  arc  yours,  &c., 

C.  A.  ROSE,  ^ 

P.  POINDEXTER,    I  Committee. 

RO.  D.  WARD,         \ 

Call  the  Council  together  the  night  before  election. 


LETTER  FROM    THE    HON.   DANIEL  S.   DICKINSON  ON  KNOW 

NOTHINGISM. 

The  following  letter,  first  published  in  the  Tallahasse  Floridian  and  Journal 
of  August  4th,  was  written  in  June  1855. — Ed.  JV".  Y.  Daily  News. 

My  Dear  Sir :  On  my  return  to  my  residence  a  few  days  since,  from  a  pro- 
fessional engagement  abroad,  I  found  your  favor  of  a  late  date  inquiring  for 
my  views  touching  the  principles  of  the  "  American"  or  "  Know  Nothing" 
organization.  Before  I  found  time  to  answer,  I  was  hurried  to  this  place  to 
attend  the  Court  of  Appeals  now  in  session,  where  the  business  in  which  I  am 


342 

engaged  affords  little  time  or  opportunity  for  correspondence.  I  will,  however, 
as  I  have  no  concealments  upon  public  questions,  borrow  a  moment  from  my 
pressing  duties  to  say  quite  nastily,  that  I  have  no  knowledge  concerning  the 
Order  to  which  you  allude,  except  such  as  is  acquired  from  publications  pur- 
porting to  give  information  upon  the  subject,  and  must  therefore  confine  myself 
to  such  points  as  are  embraced  within  this  range."  It  is  generally  understood 
and  conceded  to  be  a  secret  society  or  organization,  designed  to  act  politically 
in  the  contests  of  the  day.  Of  this  secret  feature  I  entirely  disapprove,  and 
am  unable  to  understand  by  what  necessity,  real  or  supposed,  it  was  dictated, 
or  upon  what  principle  it  can  be  justified.  Free  public  discussion  and  open 
action  upon  all  public  affairs,  are  essential  to  the  health — nay,  to  the  very  exis- 
tence— of  popular  liberty;  and  the  day  which  finds  the  public  mind  reconciled 
to  the  secret  movements  of  political  parties,  will  find  us  far  on  our  way  to  the 
-slavery  of  despotism.  If  good  men  may  meet  in  secret  for  good  purposes,  we 
can  have  no  assurance  that  bad  men,  under  the  same  plausible  exterior,  will 
not  secretly  sap  the  foundations  of  public  virtue. 

Whether  I  am  in  favor  of  their  platform  upon  the  question  of  domestic  sla- 
very, must  depend  upon  what  it  is ;  or  rather,  whether  they  are  in  favor  of 
mine.  If  their  platform  is  to  be  regarded  as  including,  upholding  or  justifying 
such  political  monstrosities  as  the  "  personal  liberty  bill,"  recently  passed  into 
a  law  by  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  over  the  veto  of  Governor  Gardner,  then 
I  pronounce  it  treason  of  the  deepest  dye — treason,  rank,  unblushing  and  bra- 
zen— deserving  of  public  reprehension  and  condign  punishment.  If  upon  this 
subject  tlieir  platform  conforms  to  resolutions  recently  published,  purporting  to 
be  the  voice  of  a  majority  of  the  Convention  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  it  is  in 
substance  the  same  upon  which  I  have  stood  for  years — upon  which  I  did  not 
enter  without  counting  the  consequences,  and  which  I  intend  to  relinquish  only 
with  life.  1  have  not  now  these  resolutions  before  me,  but  as  I  recollect  them, 
I  approve  them  in  substance  as  sound  national  doctrine.  I  ignore  no  part  of 
the  Federal  Constitution,  either  in  theory  or  in  practice,  to  court  the  popular 
caprices  of  the  moment,  to  gain  public  station,  or  to  minister  to  the  necessities 
or  infirmities  of  those  in  power.  Nor  can  I  distrust  the  soundness  of  principles 
approved  upon  full  consideration  under  a  high  sense  of  duty,  because  others 
may  choose  to  adopt  and  embrace  them. 

I  cannot  believe  that  any  good  can  be  accomplished  by  making  the  birthplace 
a  test  of  fidelity  or  merit.  It  does  not  accord  with,  but  is  at  war  with  the 
genius  of  our  institutions.  That  abuses  have  been  practiced  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  foreigners  to  places  of  trust,  before  sufficiently  familiar  with  our  Con- 
stitution, laws,  and  social  system,  or  to  which,  from  circumstances,  they  were 
unsuited,  is  probable.  This,  however,  is,  in  some  respects,  common  to  native 
as  well  as  naturalized  citizens,  and  arises  not  from  a  defective  system,  but  from 
its  erroneous  administration.  It  is  in  both  respects  the  natural  result  of  placing 
in  the  hands  of  the  incompetent  the  distribution  of  public  patronage. 

Upon  the  subject  of  naturalized  citizens,  I  have  been  governed  by  considera- 
tions of  justice  and  duty,  and  have  designed  to  observe  the  spirit  of  my  coun- 
try's Constitution.  When  members  of  Congress  engage  in  a  steeple  chase,  to 
see  who  should  propose  earliest,  give  most,  and  vote  loudest,  to  feed  suffering 
Ireland  from  the  federal  treasury  a  few  years  since,  not  finding  any  warrant  for 
such  proceedings  I  voted  against  it,  and  let  public  clamor  exhaust  itself  upon 
my  head  in  denunciations.  When  I  learned  that  the  foreigner  who  had  in  good 
faith  declared  his  intentions  of  citizenship,  by  setting  his  foot  upon  a  foreign 
shore  in  case  of  shipwreck,  without  any  intention  of  remaining  abroad,  lost  the 
benefit  of  his  proceedings,  I  introduced  and  procured  the  passage  of  a  bill  to 
redress  the  grievance.  These  principles  have  governed  my  public  conduct,  and 
now  guide  my  opinions.  The  Constitution,  administered  in  its  true  spirit,  is, 
in  my  judgment,  sufficient  for  the  protection  of  all,  whether  native  or  natural- 


343 

ized,  and  for  the  redress  of  all  political  evils  which  can  be  reached  by  human 
government. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Your  friend  and  servant, 

D.  S.  DICKINSON. 


A  MONSTROUS  FRAUD. 

The  following  article  from  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer  will  throw  a  new  light 
upon  the  Know  Nothing  villainy  practiced  in  the  circulation  of  the  Cincinnati 
Times,  through  Virginia,  designed  to  operate  on  the  election  of  next  Thursday. 
The  Times  is  an  abolition  paper,  and,  in  its  issues  "  circulated  at  home,  and 
through  the  free  States,  asserts  that  the  Secret  Order  is  anti-slavery."  The 
Cincinnati  Enquirer,  in  a  previous  article,  said  that  "  the  greatest  care  is  taken 
at  the  office  of  the  Times,  not  to  allow  a  copy  of  the  issue,  intended  for  the 
Virginia  market,  to  be  seen  in  Cincinnati,  where  its  sentiments  would  be  inju- 
rious to  the  Know  Nothing  cause  and  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the  paper." 
This  Times  Roorback,  sent  to  Virginia,  is  one  of  the  most  infamous  frauds  ever 
resorted  to  by  a  party,  and  the  following  exposure  should  arouse  every  honest 
Virginian  to  an  indignant  reprobration  of  an  organization,  based  upon  trickery 
and  deception  : — Richmond  Enquirer. 

Virginia  Election — The  Spurious  Edition  of  the  Times  sent  to  that  State. — 

Infamous  fraud. 

We  have  received  a  letter  from  Wheeling  in  relation  to  the  Weekly  Times  of 
this  city,  with  which  the  Know  Nothings  are  flooding  the  State  of  Virginia. 
This  issue  of  the  Times  is  filled  with  articles  endeavoring  to  prove  that  the 
Know  Nothings  of  the  North  are  pro-slavery.  The  Times,  however,  which  is 
circulated,  at  home  and  throughout  the  free  States,  asserts  that  the  order  is 
anti-slavery.  A  gross  fraud  is,  therefore,  being  practised  upon  the  Virginians, 
which,  if  they  are  true  to  themselves,  they  will  resent.  Like  "  orator  Puff"  the 
Times  has  two  tones  to  its  voice,  and  puts  on  two  faces — one  for  the  North,  the 
other  for  the  South.  The  Times  which  is  sent  to  Indiana  contradicts  the  Times 
which  is  sent  to  Virginia.  It  would  be  a  terrible  thing  for*that  journal  if,  by 
some  mistake  of  its  mailing  clerks,  the  editions  should  get  transposed — the 
slavery  Times  finds  its  way  to  Indiana  and  the  anti-slavery  times  to  Virginia. 

We  shall  endeavor  to  procure  a  copy  of  the  Virginia  edition,  and  make  some 
extracts  from  it  for  the  benefit  of  its  Northern  Freesoil  readers,  who  will  start 
in  amazement  at  finding  such  sentiments  advocated  in  that  sheet.  The  Virgi- 
nians, by  the  time  of  the  election,  will  be  pretty  well  informed  of  this  dirty 
Abolition  trick  to  wheedle  them  out  of  their  votes,  and  we  are  confident  it  will 
react  upon  its  perpetrators.  Our  friends  in  Virginia  are  making  a  most  gallant 
struggle  to  preserve  that  State  from  the  enemy  and  we  have  every  assurance  of 
their  success.  Our  Wheeling  correspondent  says  that  "  the  prospects  for  carry- 
ing the  State  in  favor  of  Wise  are  very  flattering.  I  think  his  election  is  cer- 
tain, beyond  doubt.  The  only  question  is,  how  large  will  his  majority  be?" 
The  Richmond  Enquirer,  the  central  democratic  organ,  whose  conductors  are 
always  excellently  informed  in  Virginia  politics,  estimates  Mr.  Wise's  majority 
at  fifteen  thousand  over  his  Know  Nothing  competitor.  Mr.  Wise  himself, 
after  travelling  most  of  the  State,  is  sanguine  of  twenty  thousand.  The  recent 
municipal  election  at  Harper's  Ferry,  which  resulted  in  favor  of  the  Democrats, 
is  a  significant  indication,  and  shows  that  the  popular  current  is  running  in  the 
right  direction. — [Cincinnati  Enquirer. 


344 


CONGRESSIONAL  CANVASS. 

The  Congressional  Districts  of  Virginia,  in  1855,  were  the  theatre  of  great 
political  excitement,  and  in  nearly  all  of  them  the  Know  Nothings  brought  for- 
ward candidates  of  their  own  party,  and  boldly  predicted  the  defeat  of  at  least 
eight  of  the  Democratic  candidates  for  Congress. 

I.  Judge  THOMAS  H.  BAYLY,  of  the  county  of  Accomac,  the  representive 
of  that  district  in  Congress  for  the  last  ten  years,  was  a  candidate  for  re-election 
in  the  first  district  without  regular  opposition,  although   Messrs.  GARNETT  and 
MONTAGUE  received  handsome  complimentary  votes  in  portions  of  the  district 
where  Judge  BAYLY'S  views  upon  the  principles  of  the  Know  Nothing  party 
were  not  popular  with  the  Democratic  party.     It  was  a  source  of  deep  regret, 
with    many  of  Judge   BAYLY'S   political   friends,   that  he  avoided    making  a 
direct  issue  with  the  Know  Nothing  party,   and  actually  expressed  himself 
favorably  to  some  of  their  doctrines.     The  result  of  his  course  during  the  can- 
vass, was  eminently  favorable  to  his  individual  interests,  and  he  was  elected  to 
Congress  without,  as  we  have  said,  any  regular  opposition. 

The  congressional  elector  in  this  district  was  ROBERT  L.  MONTAGUE,  one  of 
the  most  fearless,  able  and  energetic  Democrats  in  the  State.  He  was,  some 
years  ago,  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Legislature  from  the  counties  of  Mid- 
dlesex and  Matthews ;  and  is  a  lawyer  of  extensive  practice  and  great  popu- 
larity. During  the  last  canvass,  his  services  as  a  speaker  were  of  great  advan- 
tage to  the  Democratic  party  of  the  first  district. 

II.  In  the  second  district,  Gen.  MILLSON,  of  the  City  of  Norfolk,  was  the 
nominee  of  the  Democratic  party  for  Congress.     In  this   district  the  Know 
Nothings  were  confident  of  success,  and  nominated  Mr.  WATTS,  of  Norfolk,  as 
their  candidate,  a  gentleman  of  considerable  talent,  who  was  a  prominent  mem- 
ber of  the  Reform  Convention  of  1850.     It  was  supposed  that  Gen.  MILLSON'S 
vote  as  a  member  of  Congress,  against  the  Kansas  Nebraska  bill,  would  mate- 
rially diminish  his  prospects  of  success,  as  it  had  excited  a  strong  prejudice 
against  him  with  many  leading  members  of  his  party.     But  the  Democratic 
party  of  his  district,  feeling  assured  that  Gen.    MILLSON'S  course  upon  that 
question  was  the  result  of  his  ultra  and  impracticable  pro-slavery  views,  rather 
than  of  sympathy  with  the  Freesoil  party,  re-elected  him  to  Congress  by  a  large 
majority.     The  result  in  this  district  was  as  unexpected  as  it  was  gratifying  to 
the  Democratic  party. 

MORDECAI  COOKE,  of  Norfolk  city,  a  lawyer  of  distinction,  and  an  efficient 
elector  during  the  presidential  canvass  of  1852,  was  the  elector  in  this  district; 
"but  was  prevented  by  ill  health  from  taking  any  part  in  the  canvass. 

III.  In  the  third  district,  Hon.  JOHN  S.  CASKIE,  so  widely  known  as  an 
eloquent,  chivalrous  and  able  champion  of  Democracy,  was  a  candidate  for  re- 
election, his  course  as  a  member  of  Congress  having  given  universal  satisfaction 
to  the  Democratic  party  of  the  Metropolitan  District.     The   Know  Nothings 
were,  in  this  district,  confident  of  defeating  Judge  CASKIE,  and  this  anticipation 
of  a  long  and  certain  victory,  afflicted  the  Know  Nothing  councils  with  a  num- 


345 

ber  of  aspirants,  whose  claims  were  urged  with  great  zeal  by  their  respective 
friends.  * 

The  most  prominent  of  these  gentlemen  were  A.  J.  CRANE,  Hon.  J.  M. 
BOTTS,  and  WAI.  C.  SCOTT,  of  the  City  of  Richmond.  The  latter  gentleman 
had  been,  for  a  short  time,  a  citizen  of  Richmond,  and  formerly  represented 
the  county  of  Powhatan  for  many  years  in  the  Legislature  with  considerable 
ability.  He  was  also  the  Know  Nothing  elector  for  the  district,  and  was  ac- 
tively engaged  in  the  canvass  for  several  weeks  before  he  received  the  nomina- 
tion of  his  party  for  Congress.  Mr.  SCOTT  is  a  gentleman  of  good  education, 
unblemished  private  character,  and  remarkable  for  the  accuracy  of  his  political 
information.  He  was  the  most  available  of  all  the  prominent  Know  Nothing 
politicians  of  the  district,  and  received  the  full  vote  of  his  party.  The  discus- 
sions of  Messrs.  CASKIE  and  SCOTT  were  conducted  with  great  courtesy  and 
good  feeling,  and  in  no  previous  canvass  were  the  speeches  of  Judge  CASKIE 
more  eloquent  and  effective  than  in  that  of  1855.  He  was  re-elected  to  Con- 
gress by  a  handsome  majority. 

The  elector  in  this  district  was  Mr.  P.  H.  AYLETT.  His  labors  were  arduous 
and  incessant  during  the  entire  campaign,  and  were  as  effective  as  his  brilliant 
talents,  united  with  such  untiring  service,  was  calculated  to  be.  Nor  did  Mr. 
AYLETT  confine  his  exertions  to  his  own  field  of  labor,  but  accepted  many  invi- 
tations from  different  quarters  of  the  State,  everywhere  vindicating  his  high 
reputation  for  talents  and  powers  of  oratory. 

IV.  In  the  fourth  district,  Hon.  WILLIAM  0.  GOODE,  a  gentleman  of  great 
political  experience,  ripe  years,  and  of  State  reputation,  was  the  Democratic  can- 
didate for  Congress.  Mr.  GOODE  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  1829  '30, 
and  of  1850,  and  was  for  many  years  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Legislature, 
and  had  served  in  Congress  two  sessions  with  distinction.  He  was  opposed  by 
Mr.  TAZEWELL  of  Mecklenburg,  a  young  gentlemen  of  great  facetiousness,  whose 
anecdotes  during  the  canvass,  were  exceedingly  entertaining,  and  pleasing  to 
his  auditors.  The  district  was  regularly  canvassed  by  the  candidates,  and  Mr. 
TAZEWELL  was  beaten  by  about  two  thousand  majority.  "  Alas  poor  Yorick." 

The  elector  in  this  district  was  Hon.  RICHARD  KIDDER  MEADE  of  Petersburg, 
formerly  a  prominent  member  of  Congress,  and  distinguished  leader  of  the 
States  Right  party.  lie  canvassed  the  district  with  great  activity,  and  contri- 
buted largely  to  the  extraordinary  triumph  of  the  Democratic  party  on  the 
Southside. 

The  Southside  Democrat,  published  in  Petersburg,-  was  edited  with  signal 
ability  during  the  canvass,  and  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  campaign  papers 
in  the  State.  It  was  edited  by  Messrs.  BANKS  and  KEILY. 

Y.  Hon.  THOS.  S.  BOCOCK,  for  six  years  the  able  and  efficient  representative 
of  a  large  portion  of  the  fifth  district,  was  a  candidate  for  re-election.  The 
candidate  of  the  Know  Nothing  party,  was  Mr.  N.  C.  CLAIBORNE,  of  Franklin, 
once  a  prominent  and  popular  member  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  for  many 
years  a  member  of  the  Legislature ;  he  was  also  a  member  of  the  Reform  Con- 
vention of  1850.  At  a  weak  and  unlucky  moment,  Mr.  CLAIBORNE  yielded  to 
the  blandishments  of  the  Know  Nothing  party,  and  fell  from  the  respectable 


346 

position  which  he  once  occupied  in  our  party.  He  received  the  nomination  of 
the  Know  Nothing  party,  beating,  it  is  said,  a  talented  young  Whig  lawyer  of 
Pittsylvania,  Mr.  CARRINGTON.  Mr.  CLAIBORNE  occupied  an  awkward  posi- 
tion during  the  can^ss,  in  consequence  of  his  having  attended  the  Democratic 
Convention  at  Staunton ;  although,  it  was  said,  at  that  very  time  a  member  of 
the  secret  order.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in  that  convention  for  Mr.  LEAKE. 
After  the  nomination  of  Mr.  WISE,  it  is  said  that  Mr.  CLAIBORNE  publicly 
declared  his  willingness  to  support  that  gentleman,  and  declared  himself  ready  to 
"  scour"  the  mountains  of  Franklin  for  the  nominee  of  the  Staunton  Convention. 
The  unfortunate  position  of  Mr.  CLAIBORNE  rendered  it  necessary  for  Mr.  BO- 
COCK  and  the  Democratic  press  of  the  State  to  handle  that  gentleman  with  gloves 
off.  The  following  editorial  from  the  Lynchburg  Republican,  will  afford  our 
readers  some  idea  of  the  scathing  and  merciless  manner  in  which  Mr.  CLAI- 
BORNE was  dealt  with. 

POLITICAL  PURIFICATION — N.  C.  CLAIBORNE. 

The  particular  attention  of  our  readers  is  invited  to  the  following  graphic 
sketch  of  the  political  career  of  Mr.  Claiborne,  the  Know  Nothing  candidate 
for  Congress  in  this  district. 

"  The  scripture  moveth  us  in  sundry  places"  to  deal  gently  with  the  frailties 
of  our  fellow  men.  We  confess  and  claim  much  of  this  milk  of  human  kind- 
ness, and  extend  a  scriptural  toleration  to  their  short  comings.  But  there  are 
some  things  which  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  leave  unexposed. 

The  Know  Nothings  set  up  to  purify  the  politics  of  the  country,  and  to  con- 
summate this  purification  have  nominated  as  their  candidate  for  Congress  in 
this  district,  N.  C.  Claiborne,  Esq.  An  examination  of  the  record  of  Mr. 
Claiborne  presents  some  rare  developments,  and  shows  that  he  is  perhaps  about 
the  only  man  now  running  for  office  in  Virginia  whose  past  conduct  and  present 
position  exhibit  an  entire  unconsciousness  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  political 
principle.  The  honesty  of  most  politicians  situated  as  he  is  would  be  seriously 
impeached.  But  the  application  of  such  a  standard  to  Mr.  Claiborne  would 
not  in  our  judgment  be  just.  We  do 'not  believe  that  Mr.  Claiborne  has  good 
political  principles.  We  do  not  believe  that  Mr.  Claiborne  has  bad  political 
principles.  In  fact  from  an  intimate  knowledge  of  his  character  we  are  satisfied 
that  he  has  none  at  all,  and  never  did  have  any.  He  was  once  elected  to  the 
Legislature  pledged  to  oppose  the  Virginia  and  Tennessee  Railroad.  He  went 
to  the  Legislature — voted  for  the  road — and  ran  again  for  the  Legislature  as  its 
peculiar  champion,  never  once  exhibiting  a  consciousness  of  his  change.  He 
came  out  a  candidate  for  the  late  reform  Convention  upon  the  White  Basis  at 
one  court  and  a  speech  against  the  White  Basis  at  the  next  court — he  advocated 
Mr.  Wise  in  1851  and  opposed  him  in  1854— connected  himself  with  the  Know 
Nothing  organization  before  the  Staunton  Convention— avows  the  fact  in  his 
public  speeches — avows  at  the  same  time  that  he  announced  in  that  body  his 
intention  to  support  its  nominees — and  seemed  utterly  unconscious  of  the  con- 
flict of  obligations  thus  voluntarity  assumed.  He  sent  Mr.  Bocock  word  that 
he  approved  cordially  his  representative  conduct  from  Staunton,  and  at  that 
same  time  and  place,  Mr.  Bocock  charges  him  with  having  declared  that  he  in- 
tended opposing  him  and  he  does  not  seem  conscious  that  here  is  a  question 
worth  explanation.  He  seems  to  look  upon  political  honor  in  the  same  light 
in  which  Falstaff  regarded  personal  honor.  "  Can  Honor  set  a  leg  ?  No.  Or 
an  arm  ?  No.  Or  take  away  the  grief  of  a  wound  ?  No.  Honor  hath  no 
skill  in  surgery  then  ?  No.  What  is  Honor  ?  A  word.  What  is  that  Ho- 


347 

nor  ?  Air.  A  trim  reckoning.  Who  hath  it  ?  He  that  died  on  Wednesday. 
Doth  he  feel  it  ?  No.  Doth  he  hear  it  ?  No.  Is  it  insensible  then  ?  Yea 
to  the  dead.  But  will  it  not  live  with  the  living  ?  No.  Why  ?  Detraction 
will  not  suffer  it — therefore  I'LL  NONE  OF  IT.  Honor  is  a  mere  escutcheon, 
and  so  ends  my  catechism." 

Thus  soliloquized  Falstaff,  and  thus  we  should  judge  thinks  N.  C.  Claiborne 
of  the  honor  of  politics.  And  this  man  is  put  up  for  Congress  to  purify  poli- 
tics.— Lynclibury  Republican. 

Mr.  BOCOCK  was  re-elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  and  since  the  elec- 
tion, Mr.  Claiborne  has  disappeared  from  public  view.  Mr.  Bocock's  majority 
was  upwards  of  1800  over  Mr.  Claiborne. 

Mr.  HUGHES  DILLARD,  of  Henry  County,  a  lawyer  of  distinction  and  a 
Democratic  elector  in  1852,  was  the  elector  in  this  district,  and  delivered  several 
addresses  of  marked  ability.  He  is  at  this  time  a  distinguished  member  of  the 
Legislature  of  Virginia. 

VI.  In  the  sixth  district,  Hon.  PAULUS  POWELL,  than  whom  there  is  not  a 
more  faithful  and  fearless  representative  in  Congress,  was  a  candidate  for  re-elec- 
tion, having  redeemed  that  district  again  and  again  by  his  energy  and  popularity. 
POWELL  like  BOCOCK  was  opposed  by  a  gentleman  who  was  for  many  years  a 
highly  respectable  member  of  the  Democratic  party.  Dr.  L.  N.  LIGON,  of 
Nelson  County,  was  the  candidate  of  the  Know  Nothing  party.  Like  Mr. 
CLAIBORNE,  Dr.  LIGON  was  a  member  of  the  Staunton  Convention,  and  was 
friendly  to  Mr.  WISE  in  the  early  part  of  the  canvass. 

He  was  nominated  by  the  Know  Nothings,  and  at  once  accepted  the  nomina- 
tion and  entered  upon  the  canvass.  He  was  defeated  by  Mr.  Powell,  who  was 
re-elected  to  Congress  by  a  large  majority. 

The  following  articles  appeared  during  the  canvass  in  the  LyncJiburg  Repub- 
lican and  Charlottesville  Jeffersonian  relative  to  Dr.  Ligon. 

MR.  LTGON. — Mr.  Ligon  wanted  to  be  one  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works. 
There  seemed  no  prospect  for  him  in  the  Democratic  ranks.  There  was  just  as 
little  prospect  for  him  in  the  Know  Nothing  order.  But  the  Know  Nothings 
did  have  a  "  forlorn  hope,"  which  they  were  willing  to  give  him,  and  Mr.  Ligon, 
like  the  old  maid  of  fifty  praying  for  a  husband,  being  willing  to  take  "  Any 
body,  Good  Lord,"  agreed  to  it.  That  place  was  a  candidacy  for  Congress. 
Let  us  look  at  Mr.  Ligon's  claims  upon  the  Know  Nothings : 

1st.  Mr.  Ligon  was  a  member  of  the  Staunton  Convention.  A  motion  was 
made  in  that  body  to  make^the  nomination  of  Mr.  Wise  unanimous.  Mr.  Li- 
gon did  not  oppose  it.  Unless  he  intended  to  sustain  it,  he  was  bound  as  an 
honorable  man  to  have  made  known  his  opposition. 

2d.  He  was  appointed  Elector  for  the  county  of  Nelson  by  the  Democratic 
Executive  Committee.  Unless  he  declined  it,  the  failure  to  decline  was  equiva- 
lent to  an  acceptance.  He  did  not  decline,  so  far  as  we  Can  learn,  unless  it  has 
been  very  lately. 

3d.  He  met  Mr.  Wise  at  Lovingston — toadied  him  no  little— applauded  his 
speech — and  bore  himself  as  one  of  his  best  friends. 

4th.  Until  within  the  last  six  weeks  he  has  been  notoriously  supporting  Mr. 
Wise,  and  equally  notoriously  denouncing  the  Know  Nothings. 

5th.  We  have  heard  that  so  venomous  was  his  opposition  to  Know  Nothing- 


348 

ism,  that  lie  declared  he  would  as  soon  see  a  son  of  his  a  horse-thief  as  a  Know 
Nothing. 

6th.  He  re6eived  for  circulation  documents  against  the  Know  Nothings,  and 
did  circulate  them. 

This  is  a  portion  of  Mr.  Ligon's  record.  Is  it  such  a  one  as  even  a  Know 
Nothing  can  stand  ?  We  know  many  of  the  Know  Nothings  in  the  Red  Land 
District,  and  unless  we  are  mistaken,  they  will  |corn  to  vote  for  so  late  a  con- 
vert. Mr.  Ligon  has  been  false  to  Mr.  Wise.  What  assurance  have  they  that 
he  will  not  be  false  to  Mr.  Flournoy  ?  He  has  betrayed  Democracy.  Where 
is  the  guarantee  that  he  will  not  betray  Know  Nothingism  ?  W^  shall  have 
more  to  say  on  this  subject. — Lyncliburg  Republican. 

From  the  Charlottesville  Jeffersonian. 
DR.   LIGON  VERSUS  THE  KNOW  NOTHINGS. 

The  following  certificates  of  gentlemen  of  unimpeachable  standing  in  Nelson 
county,  one  of  whom  is  an  old  line  Whig,  will  speak  for  themselves.  Dr.  Li- 
gon has  certainly  placed  himself  in  a  very  unenviable  position  before  the  peo- 
ple of  the  district.  In  the  face  of  the  facts  revealed  by  these  certificates,  we 
cannot  perceive  how  any  man  who  values  political  honesty  in  a  candidate  can 
give  his  support  to  Dr.  Ligon  : 

I  hereby  certify,  that  in  repeated  conversations  with  Dr.  Littleberry  N.  Li- 
gon, about  the  Know  Nothing  party,  the  last  of  which  was  on  the  fourth  Sun- 
day in  March  last,  he  repeated  to  me,  in  substance,  as  follows :  That  his  son, 
Joseph  Ligon,  had  been  accused  of  belonging  to  this  KQOW  Nothing  party,  and 
that  he  (Dr.  L.  N.  Ligon)  said  he  would  as  soon  be  accused  of  being  a  horse- 
thief,  as  to  be  accused  of  belonging  to  this  Know  Nothing  party. 

JAMES  H.  BKENT. 

Nelson  County,  April  24th,  1855. 

This  is  to  certify,  that  in  half  dozen  or  more  conversations  with  Dr.  L.  N. 
Ligon,  respecting  the  objects  of  the  Know  Nothing  party,  he  remarked,  that 
he  believed  that  party  to  be  composed  of  Whigs  principally,  and  that  their  prin- 
cipal object  was  to  break  down  the  Democratic  party ;  he  also  stated  that  he 
would  sooner  be  a  horse-thief  than  belong  to  such  a  party.  I  mentioned  seve- 
ral Democrats  that  I  believed  belonged  to  the  Know  Nothing  party ;  his  son 
Joseph  was  one  of  the  number,  to  which  the  Doctor  replied  that  he  did  not 
think  his  son  belonged  to  that  party,  for  he  had  observed  that  he  had  rather  be 
a  horse-thief  than  to  belong  to  such  a  party,  and  that  he  saw  no  change  in  his 
son's  countenance,  when  he;  the  Doctor  made  that  remark. 

WM.  N.  BRYANT. 
Nelson  County,  April  24th,  1855. 

I  hereby  certify,  that  in  a  conversation,  with  Dr.  L.  N.  Ligon,  he  spoke  in 
very  bitter  terms  of  the  Know  Nothings;  one  remark  which  I  distinctly  recol- 
lect, was,  that  he  did  not  consider  them  any  better  than  a  pack  of  darned  horse 
thieves. 

NATHAN  BRYANT. 

Nelson  County,  April  24th,  1855. 

I  certify  that  in  frequent  conversations  with  Dr.  L.  N.  Ligon,  he,  in  every 
conversation,  denounced  the  Know  Nothing  party  in  the  harshest  terms,  and  in 
our  conversation,  I  told  him  that  it  was  suspected  that  his  son  Joseph  belonged 


349 

to  the  Know  Nothing  Order ;  he,  the  Doctor,  said  he  had  heard  the  same 
thing — did  not  know  that  it  was  so — but  that  he  had  said  in  his  son's  presence, 
that  he  had  rather  see  a  son  of  his  a  horse  thief  than  a  Know  Nothing. 

Dr.  Ligon  was  an  open  advocate  of  Mr.  Wise's  election,  up  to  Saturday  be- 
fore Nelson  March  Court  last. 

FLOYD  L.  WHITEHEAD. 

Nelson  County,  April  24th,  1855. 

I  certify  that  in  a  conversation  with  Dr.  L.  N.  Ligon,  at  Nelson  February 
Court  last,  that  I  asked  him  if  his  son  Joseph  belonged  to  the  Know  Nothing 
party ;  he  replied  that  he  did  not  know,  but  that  he  had  as  soon  his  son  was 
caught  in  a  pack  of  horse  thieves  as  among  the  Know  Nothings ;  that  he  be- 
lieved it  was  a  plot  to  take  in  Democrats,  who  did  not  understand  the  meaning 
of  it. 

WM.  GILES. 

Nelson  County,  April  24th,  1855. 

I  do  hereby  certify,  that  on  my  return  home  from  February  Court,  I  fell  in 
with  Dr.  L.  N.  Ligon.  I  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  the  Know  Nothings, 
and  how  he  liked  their  platform.  He  replied  that  he  did  not  like  them  }  that 
if  they  should  get  a  majority,  the  country  would  be  ruined  ;  that  it  was  a 
scheme  of  the  Northern  Abolitionists  to  deceive  the  South  ;  that  if  they  could 
obtain  a  majority  in  both  houses  of  Congress,  and  obtain  a  President,  they 
would  dissolve  this  Union,  and  involve  the  country  in  all  the  horrors  and  calam- 
ities of  a  civil  war ;  that  to  prevent  such  a  state  of  things,  h^  thought  all  the 
Whigs  who  were  Whigs  from  principle,  and  the  Democrats,  ought  to  unite,  and 
use  all  the  means  in  their  power  to  put  down  that  abominable  party.  He  also 
advocated  the  election  of  Mr.  Wise,  and  said  that  the  foreigners  and  the  Catho- 
lics were  only  a  hobby  to  take  in  and  deceive  the  ignorant. 

Given  under  my  hand  this  25th  of  April,  1855. 

OBADIAH  HENDERSON. 

In  this  district,  Mr.  WM.  J.  ROBERTSON  was  appointed  elector ;  but  resign- 
ing in  consequence  of  the  pressure  of  professional  engagements.  JSIr.  William 
F.  Gordon,  Jr.  of  Albemarle  was  substituted,  and  greatly  distinguished  himself 
by  his  speeches  against  the  secret  foe. 

VII.  In  the  seventh  district,  Hon.  WHliam  Smith  was  an  independent  can- 
didate for  re-election.     He  was  elected  by  a  large  majority,  although  his  ad- 
vocacy of  several  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Know  Nothing  party  alienated  many 
of  his  oldest  party  friends,  and  induced  many  to  regard  him  as  the  candidate 
of  the  Know  Nothing  rather  than  of  the  Democratic  party.     Messrs.  LEE  of 
Orange,  FUNSTEN  of  Alexandria,  and  MARYE  of  Fredericksburg,  openly  op- 
posed his  re-election,  and  opposed  him  on  the  stump.     Many  Democratic  votes 
were  given  for  gentlemen  who  were  not  candidates  for  Congress,  in  consequence 
of  Gov.   Smith's  course.     During  the  present  session  of  Congress,  however, 
Gov.  Smith  has  voted  with  the  Democratic  party,  and  appears  anxious  to  return 
to  its  bosom. 

Mr.  B.  H.  BERRY,  of  the  town  of  Alexandria,  was  the  elector  in  this  dis- 
trict, and  addressed  the  people  of  nearly  every  county  in  the  district. 

VIII.  In  the  eighth  district,  Hon.  CHARLES  JAMES  FAULKNER  was  the  De- 
mocratic candidate  for  Congress.     He  was  opposed  by  Mr.  ALEXANDER  BOTE- 


350 

LER,  a  member  of  the  Know  Nothing  party,  and  a  gentleman  of  considerable 
ability  as  a  popular  speaker.  The  district  was  canvassed  with  great  energy  by 
the  candidates.  In  this  district  the  Know  Nothings  relied  confidently  upon  the 
success  of  their  candidate,  but  the  sleepless  industry  and  ability  displayed  by 
Mr.  FAULKNER  secured  his  election  by  a  respectable  majority.  Personal  diffi- 
culties between  the  candidates,  it  was  feared,  would  at  one  time  result  in  a  hos- 
tile meeting  between  Messrs.  Faulkner  and  Boteler,  but  an  honorable  and  sat- 
isfactory adjustment  was  accomplished  by  the  friends  of  the  parties. 

Mr.  THOMAS  M.  ISBELL,  of  Jefferson,  at  one  time  a  distinguished  member 
of  the  State  Senate  from  the  Appomattox  district,  was  the  elector  in  this  dis- 
trict, and  delivered  several  very  able  and  eloquent  addresses  during  the  canvass. 

IX.  Hon.  JOHN  LETCHER,  of  Lexington,  was  a  candidate  for  re  election  in 
the  ninth  district,  and  met  with  no  opposition.     Mr.  LETCHER  is  everywhere 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  laborious  and  useful  public  men  in  the  State, 
and  his  course  as  a  member  of  Congress   had   won   for   him   the   esteem  of 
his  political  adversaries,  and  the  admiration  of  his  own  party.     He  is  the 
representative  of   that   famous    "  Tenth   Legion,"    which,   since  the   days  of 
Jefferson,  has  never  failed  to  present  an  unbroken  front  to  the  enemies  of 
Democracy.     Again  and  again,  in  times  of  extreme  peril,   have  Buckingham 
and  Shenandoah  saved  the  State  from  the  curse  of  federal  misrule.     In  the  last 
election,  the  patriotic  voters  of  those  two  famous  counties  rolled  up  a  majority 
so  overwhelming  as  to  leave  doubts  respecting  the  existence  of  Know  Nothing- 
ism  in  that  section  of  the  State. 

GEO.  E.  DENEALE,  Esq.,  for  many  years  the  representative  of  Buckingham 
in  the  Senate,  was  the  elector. 

Mr.  WM.  H.  HARMAN,  of  Augusta,  one  of  the  most  talented  and  promising 
lawyers  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  was  the  senatorial  elector  for  Augusta,  and 
contributed  as  much  as  any  man  in  the  State,  by  his  frequent  and  powerful 
speeches,  to  the  success  of  our  party.  This  gentleman  received  a  very  large 
vote  at  the  Staunton  Convention  for  the  office  of  Lieutenant  Governor. 

X.  Hon.  Z.  KIDWELL  was  the  Democratic   candidate  for  Congress  in  the 
tenth  district,  and  was  opposed  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  PENDLETON  of  Bethany  Col. 
lege,  the  nominee  of  the  Know  Nothing  party.     In  this  district  the   Know 
Nothings  resorted  to  every  conceivable  expedient  to  defeat  the  Democratic  can- 
didate.    Secret  instructions  and  circulars  were  brought  to  light  which  revealed 
a  system  of  fraud  and  trickery  unworthy  of  respectable  men,  and  which   ef- 
fectually destroyed  the  prospects  of  the  Know  Nothing  party  in  that  district. 
Mr.  Kidwell  was  re-elected  by  a  very  large  majority. 

Hon.  SIIERRARD  CLEMENS,  an  ex-member  of  Congress,  and  the  author  of 
an  excellent  campaign  document  published  elsewhere  in  this  volume,  was  the 
elector  for  the  eighth  district. 

'  XI.  In  the  eleventh  district,  Mr.  CHARLES  S.  LEWIS  was  the  Democratic 
candidate  for  Congress.  He  was  opposed  and  defeated  by  Mr.  CARLISLE,  the 
Know  Nothing  candidate,  who  was  some  years  ago  a  Democratic  member  of  the 
Senate  of  Virginia. 


351 

BENJAMIN  W.  JACKSOD,  Esq.  of  Wood  County,  a  young  and  talented  Dem- 
ocrat was  the  elector.  Mr.  Jackson  was  a  few  years  ago  a  prominent  member 
of  the  house  of  delegates. 

XII.  In  the  twelfth  district,  Hon.  HENRY  A.  EDMONDSON  was  the  Demo- 
cratic nominee  for  Congress.     Mr.  Edmondson  has  been  for  many  years  in  Con- 
gress and  has  the  entire  confidence  of  his  constituents.    He  was  opposed  by  Mr. 
WALLER  STAPLES,  of  Montgomery,  a  former  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Vir- 
ginia,  and  a  leading  member  of  his  party  in  that  district.     The  candidates 
canvassed  the  district  most  actively,  and  Mr.  Edmondson's  speeches  were  marked 
by  great  force  and  eloquence.     He  was  elected  by  a  large  majority. 

Hon.  A.  A.  CHAPMAN,  for  many  years  a  member  of  Congress,  and  one  of 
our  most  distinguished  men,  was  the  elector  in  this  district. 

XIII.  Hon.  FAYETTE  McMuLLiN,  for  several  years  past  a  member  of  Con- 
gress, was  a  candidate  for  re-election  in  the  thirteenth  district.     He  was  elected 
by  an  overwhelming  majority.     Mr.  CONNELLY  F.  TRIGG  was  the  Know  Noth- 
ing candidate. 

This  district  was  the  theatre  of  the  most  animated  and  exciting  canvass  in 
Virginia.  In  the  early  part  of  the  campaign  the  secret  order  foretold  that  they 
would  sweep  the  ABINGDON  district  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  The  reite- 
rated declarations  of  the  secret  order  of  their  certain  and  easy  victory  aroused  to 
activity  the  most  distinguished  Democrats  of  that  section  of  the  State.  Yield- 
ing to  the  solicitations  of  his  friends,  EX-GOVERNOR  FLOYD  of  Washington 
County,  the  elector  for  that  district  declared  himself  a  candidate  for  the  Legis- 
lature. He  was  bitterly  opposed  by  the  most  eloquent  and  popular  Know  Nothing 
in  that  section  of  the  State.  A  fierce  and  relentless  war  was  waged  upon  the 
Know  Nothing  party  by  such  men  as  Ex-GovERNOR  FLOYD,  THOMAS  L.  PRES- 
TON, BENJAMIN  RUSH  FLOYD  and  WILLIAM  H.  COOK.  The  Know  Nothings 
upon  their  side  spared  nothing  to  win  that  victory  of  which  they  had  so  fre- 
quently and  so  confidently  boasted.  But  from  the  accounts  which  have  reached 
us  there  never  were  delivered  in  Virginia  more  eloquent  and  able  speeches  than 
were  those  of  the  champions  of  our  party  in  Little  Tennessee.  Addressing 
themselves  to  the  good  sense  and  patriotism  of  the  intelligent  yeomanry  of  that 
section  of  the  State, -they  crushed  an  organization  which  at  one  time  threat- 
ened the  overthrow  of  our  party.  The  overwhelming  majority  given  by  our 
party  for  the  Democratic  ticket  in  southwest  Virginia,  was  the  result  of  the  in- 
defatigable exertions  of  those  eloquent  champions  to  whom  we  have  referred. 
Contrary  to  the  expectations  of  both  parties,  in  other  portions  of  the  State, 
Governor  Floyd  and  Mr.  Thomas  L.  Preston  were  elected  to  the  Legislature 
by  large  majorities. 


THE  SIGNAL  GUN  FROM  THE  RICHMOND  EXAMINER. 

At  the  Staunton  Gubernatorial  Convention,  the  two  leading  Democratic  jour- 
nals of  the  State  differed  as  to  which  was  the  most  suitable  man  to  receive  the 
nomination,  Mr.  Wise  or  Mr.  Leake.  The  Enquirer  took  sides  with  the  former, 


352 

t 

the  Examiner  with  the  latter.  The  Enquirer  went  immediately  into  the  fight? 
but  the  Examiner,  although  declaring  promptly  after  the  convention,  as  we  have 
seen,  its  purpose,  to  support  Mr.  Wise,  yet  from  certain  local  reasons  did  not 
choose  to  open  its  battery  until  about  the  first  of  February.  After  this  time 
no  journal  could  have  rendered  more  effective  service  tp  any  party.  We  have 
drawn  freely  from  that  able  and  independent  journal  in  this  compilation,  and  in 
doing  so  we  thought  we  could  do  nothing  to  answer  our  purpose  better.  On 
the*eve  of  the  election  the  following  editorial,  which  we  designate  as  the  Signal 
Gun,  appeared  in  the  Examiner  : 

TO    THE   INVINCIBLE   DEMOCRACY    OF    VIRGINIA. 

% 

This  is  the  last  time  our  words  can  reach  the  great  body  of  our  readers  before  the 
election.  We  are  glad  that  these  last  words  are  words  of  encouragement,  con- 
fidence and  assurance.  We  use  no  electioneering  artifice — we  express  no  hesi- 
tating opinion,  when  we  tell  the  Democracy  of  Virginia,  that,  if  they  do  their 
duty,  the  victory  is  theirs.  On  no  former  occasion  in  the  history  of  their  bat- 
tles and  victories  have  the  party  been  so  universally  aroused  and  fiercelv  indig- 
nant as  now.  Hesitating  somewhat  in  the  early  part  of  the  canvass — doubtful 
for  a  moment  as  to  the  true  line  of  duty — they  have  been  thoroughly  aroused 
during  the  latter  months  .of  the  contest,  and — outraged,  disgusted  and  incensed 
at  the  intrusion  of  so  foul  a  thing  as  Know  Nothingism  in  a  Southern  commu- 
nity, and  in  virtuous  Virginia — they  have  risen  up  as  one  man  to  break  its  head 
and  cast  its  loathsome  carcass  from  the  presence  of  decency  and  virtue. 

The  frogs  and  locusts  and  vermin  which  infested  Egypt,  did  not  produce  a 
more  profound  antipathy  or  universal  loathing  and  retching  among  her 
people,  than  our  honest  Democracy  of  Virginia  feel  towards  the  polluting  filth 
and  nauseating  slime  which  is  denoted  by  the  vulgarism — Sam.  And  they 
mean  to  deal  with  the  intrusion  in  a  summary  way.  They  have  a  herculean  task 
before  them  more  formidable  than  the  cleansing  of  the  Augean  stables ;  but, 
considering  that  great  emergencies  require  great  exertions,  every  man  is  resolved 
to  make  thorough  work  of  his  task,  and  to  do  it  with  an  energy  and  complete- 
ness which  will  .leave  nothing  to  be  done  over  again  hereafter.  The  spirit  of 
the  Democracy  everywhere — in  every  grand  division  and  section,  as  well  as  in 
every  county  and  precinct  in  the  State, — is  the  same.  One  instinctive  resolve 
and  one  common  purpose  actuates  the  whole  mass.  It  is  not  any  artificial  or- 
ganization, the  result  of  political  machinery  and  thorough  party  drill,  that  has 
produced  this  intense  unity  of  sentiment  and  of  resolve ;  but  it  is  the  intuitive 
loathing  of  what  is  mean,  low,  and  vile,  which  actuates  the  heart  of  Virginia, 
and  bands  her  democracy  together  in  serried  phalanx.  The  old  party  lines  fade 
and  vanish  in  this  contest.  The  impure  ingredients  that  before  had  an  accidental 
place  in  the  Democratic  mass  fall  off  under  the  attraction  of  the  foreign  sub- 
stance that  is  brought  in  contact,  leaving  the  pure  lump  of  genuine  Democracy 
cleansed  and  refined.  The  old  opposing  party  also  falls  to  pieces,  giving  up  its 
dross  and  impurity  to  the  newly  imported  foreignism,  and  leaving  the  pure  Vir- 
ginianism  to  seek  its  natural  affinity  in  the  mother  element  of  unadulterated 
Virginia  Democracy. 

No,  this  is  no  contest  about  men  that  our  Democracy  are  waging  now.  It  is 
not  that  we  want  to  elect  this  man  or  to  beat  that  man.  It  is  not  that  our  at- 
tachments to  these  candidates  as  men,  or  hostilities  to  those  candidates  as  men, 
lead  us  to  vote  so  and  so.  But  the  sentiment  of  the  Virginia  Democracy  is  : 
This  is  a  foul,  demoralizing,  debasing,  filthy  thing,  that  has  got  into  Virginia 
pastures  from  the  Northern  pig-sly,  and  is  turning  our  land  of  honesty,  truthful- 
ness, good  manners,  and  manly  frankness,  into  a  very  Yankee's  slough  of 


353 

falsehood,  slander,  deceit,  cunning,  detraction,  meanness  and  vileness.  For  the 
love  we  lear  our  Commonwealth,  and  for  the  hatred  she  inspires  in  her  sons  for 
all  that  is  mean,  yrovelliny  and  despicable,  we  must  beat  down  this  foul  least 
and  smite  it  unto  death. 

Who  so  craven  arid  false  of  heart  as  to  believe  we  shall  fail  in  the  righteous, 
noble  work  ?  Who  can  divest  hims  If  so  far  of  the  generous  confidence  that  a 
brave  man  feels  in  the  triumph  of  the  right,  as  to  entertain  one  thought  of  fail- 
ure ?  The  man  deserves  to  be  pilloried  who  allows  the  belief  to  possess  him, 
that  SAM,  the  bastard  of  a  Five  Points  jail-bird,  is  going  to  triumph  in  Virgi- 
nia. He  is  no  Democrat — no  Virginian — no  man,  that  can  harbor  the  thought. 

It  cannot  be,  and  will  not  be.  Virginia  Democracy  will  carry  Virginia  as 
sure  as  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun.  Angered,  aroused,  indignant  and  fe- 
rocious beyond  all  former  precedent,  our  glorious,  invincible  Democracy  long 
for  the  onset  and  thirst  for  the  battle.  As  the  hind  pants  for  the  water  brooks, 
so  they  pant  for  the  day  of  vengeance. 

And  woe,  woe  unto  those  who  have  provoked  their  holy  wrath.  Woe  unto 
the  men  who  have  brought  deceit,  cunning,  duplicity,  midnight  and  dark  lantern 
plottings  into  Virginia.  The  day  of  retribution  is  at  hand.  The  vengeance  of 
the  Lord  is  upon  the  heels  of  the  false  Egyptians,  Phillistines,  Moabites, 
Edomites,  Ishmaelites.  The  Lord  has  brought  sharp  swords  upon  them,  to  make 
them  food  for  the  fowls  of  heaven  and  the  beasts  of  the  field.  See  how  the 
clouds  roll  and  mutter  and  the  fire  flashes  before  them.  The  anger  of  the 
righteous  cometh  fast  upon  them  with  the  noise  and  fury  of  the  storm,  which 
shall  surely  overtake  them. 

Well  is  it  for  that  man  of  Virginia,  this  day,  who  shall  barter  his  house  for 
an  helmet,  and  sell  his  garment  for  a  sword,  and  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  children 
of  Democracy.  But  woe,  woe,  unto  him  who,  for  carnal  ends  and  self  seeking, 
has  withheld  himself  from  the  great  work,  and  joined  his  hand  with  the  enemy — 
for  the  curse  shall  abide  upon  him — even  the  bitter  curse  of  MEROZ — forever 
and  ever  more. 


TEIE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  CANVASS.     MR.  WISE'S  LETTER. 

Mr.  Wise  concluded  the  campaign  at  Leesburg,  the  county  seat  of  Loudon, 
in  one  of  his  masterly  efforts.  He  had  'been  regularly  in  the  field  from  the 
first  of  January  to  the  seventh  of  May.  In  that  time  he  had  traveled  more 
than  three  thousand  miles,  had  been  upon  the  stump  fifty  times,  and  had  con- 
sumed two  hundred  hours  in  public  speaking.  When  he  concluded,  he  was 
much  enfeebled  and  exhausted  from  the  excessive  labors  he  had  undergone.  In 
all  probability,  nothing  saved  his  life  but  his  indomitable  and  patriotic  spirit. 
He  went  from  Leesburg  to  Washington  city,  and  there  awaited  the  decision  of 
the  people  of  Virginia.  He  wrote  the  following  letter  on  his  arrival  in  that 
city.  In  this  letter  can  be  seen  the  true  and  fervid  patriotism  beaming  and 
flashing  in  every  sentence. 

To  THE  PEOPLE  OF  VIRGINIA. 

Fellow  Citizens  : — I  have  now  finished  the  canvass  of  the  State.     On  the  7th 
inst.,  at  Leesburg,  I  met  my  last  appointment.     Incessant  and  excessive  labors, 
for  127  days,  have  so  impaired  my  health  and  strength,  that  I  must  desist  from 
23 


354 

further  effort  and  seek  rest.  '  I  retire  from  the  "  stump"  the  less  reluctantly' 
because  I  may  now  justly  claim  that  I  have  faithfully  tried  to  do  my  part,  and 
I  can  confidently  leave  the  rest  to  the  unsubdued  and  unterrified  Democracy  and 
its  loyal  hosts. 

Never  were  the  sound;  conservative,  conscientious,  and  stake-holding  Repub- 
licans in  Virginia,  better  organized  and  more  aroused  than  they  are  at  the  pre- 
sent time.  It  has  been  deserted  by  a  few  who  left  their  party  for  its  good ; 
but,  in  turn,  the  very  flower  of  the  old  opposition  of  Whiggery,  respectable  in 
times  past  for  its  profession  of  conservatism  and  its  love  of  law  and  order 
have  (jhosen'to  elect  Democracy  with  all  the  ills  they  complain  iof  it,  rather  than 
to  fly  to  those  they  "  knoio  not  of" 

The  personnel  of  the  party  was  never  more  purified,  and  the  numerical  majo- 
rity was  never  larger  than  it  promises  to  be  at  the  coming  election.  As  in  1801, 
the  Democracy  stood  "like  a  wall,"  and  rolled  back  the  tide  of  federalism,  so 
now  it  stands  and  will  roll  back  the  tide  of  fanaticism  !  It  will  prove  itself  to 
be  the  visible  invincible  !  It  is  roused,  and  will  rally  to  the  polls  10,000  voters 
more  than  ever  gave  the  viva  voce  before  !  And  the  viva  voce  will  rend  the 
veil  from  the  li  invisible,"  and  defend  the  freedom  and 'independence  of  the 
elective  franchise  and  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  against  the  conspiracy  of 
the  dark  lantern. 

It  will  forbid  any  power  in  Virginia  to  interpose  between  our  conscience  and 
our  God. 

It  will  save  the  Protestant  Churches  from  the  pollution  of  party  politics,  and 
conserve  its  powers  of  truth  for  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds,  free  from  the 
taint  and  violence  of  persecution.  It  will  trust  in  God,  and  defend  the  Chris- 
tian faith  from  Intolerance,  and  allow  poor  humanity  to  indulge  in  the  virtues  of 
charity  and  peace  on  earth,  and  good  will  to  all  men. 

It  will  only  oppose  any  "  legislative  enactment"  to  interfere  with  the  rights 
of  the  members  of  any  Church  as  citizens  ;  but  it  will  deny  the  power  of  the 
Legislature  to  annul  the  new  Constitution,  which  has  made  the  act  of  religious 
freedom  irrepealable.  That  act  is  now  organic  law.  And  the  Democratic  con- 
servatism will  allow  no  party  nor  power  to  set  up  a  higher  law,  and  say  that  a 
man  shall  be  burtheued,  when  the  Constitution  says  he  shall  not  be  burthened, 
for  reason  of  his  religious  opinion,  by  being  excluded  from  eligibility  to  office, 
or  by  removal  from  office  because  of  his  religion  or  the  place  of  his  birth. 

It  will  prevent  the  repudiation  of  the  right  of  Naturalization,  for  which  the 
nation  poured  out  its  blood  and  treasure,  for  three  years  in  the  second  war  of 
Independence  with  Great'Britain. 

It  will  defend  the  State  right  to  regulate  citizenship. 

It  will  not  deny  to  the  oppressed  a  home,  nor  prevent  the  population  "  of 
these  States"  still  requiring  hundreds  of  millions  of  immigrants,  who  bring 
with  them  hundreds  of  millions  of  money. 

It  will  allow  the  poor,  as  well  as  the  rich,  to  come  and  "  drink  of  the  waters" 
of  liberty  freely.  And  it  will  remember  that  all  are  not  criminals  whom  Euro- 
pean despots  call  such,  and  send  away  from  troubling  their  dominion.  It  will 
take  by  the  hands  other  criminals  besides  John  Mitchell,  and  feel  for  others  in 
the  prison-houses  and  dungeons  of  the  Old  World  besides  him  who  once  was 
tenant  of  Olmutz  ! 

It  will  jealously  guard  against  the  Foreign  influence  which  is  insidiously  sent 
from  Exeter  Hall  in  Old  England  to  Williams'  Hall  in  New  England,  to  invade 
America  in  the  name  of  an  "  American"  party ;  and  it  will  watch  the  oppressor, 
not  the  oppressed,  abroad,  as  did  "  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison  and  Jack- 
son !" 

It  will  defend  the  freedom  and  independence  of  the  elective  franchise  against 
the  conspiracy  which  would  bind  voters  by  test  oaths  to  reject  men  of  a  parti- 
cular religious  faith,  marked  for  proscription ;  and  which  would  not  leave  suf- 


355 

fragc  as  free  to  elect  as  to  reject  those  whom  the  constitution  and  the  laws  have 
made  eligible  to  office. 

It  will  especially  guard  the  office  of  Governor  from  the  avowed  intent  to 
wield  the  appointing  power  so  as  not  to  obey  the  limitations  of  qualification  for 
office,  fixed  by  the  constitution,  but  to  obey  rules  of  appointment  established 
by  an  irresponsible  and  unauthorized  Secret  Oligarchy,  formed  to  set  up  the 
Higher  Law  of  its  own  proscription  for  its  own  exclusive  and  selfish  ends. 

It  will  see  that  the  oath  itself  of  the  Governor's  office  is  not  prevented  by 
sectarian  bigotry  to  set  up  a  religious  test  as  a  qualification  for  office. 

It  will  defend  the  General  Government  from  the  consolidation  which  would 
establish  itself  on  what  is  called  the  independence  of  Congress. 

It  will  defend  public  policy  from  the  faith  of  the  American  system,  Harbors, 
Rivers,  and  Pacific  Railroads,  and  Protective  Tariffs,  and  Internal  Improve- 
ments by  the  General  Government,  now  again  advanced  by  a  Winchester  Coun- 
cil of  the  American  party. 

It  will  defend  the  State  against  agrarianism,  freesoilism  and  abolitionism,  now 
threatening  to  invade  the  South  from  Northern  and  non-slaveholding  Councils 
of  Know  Nothingism.  It  will  defend  society  against  the  demoralization  of  a 
cabal  sworn  to  practice  dissimulation  and  perfidy  between  man  and  man.  And 
it  will  defend  religion  against,  the  demons  of  anti-Christ ! 

With  perfect  and  abiding  confidence  in  the  power  of  Truth  and  Democracy — 
of  a  purified,  exalted  and  triumphant  majority  for  these  impregnable  positions, 
I  go  home  to  Accomac,  and  await  the  polls  of  the  people.  I  canfnot  do  so  with- 
out thanking  thousands,  of  the  sections  of  the  State  through  which  I  have 
passed,  for  their  uniform  hospitality,  kindness  and  respect,  and  without  saying 
that  the  chief  gratification  with  which  I  part  from  a  daily  intercourse  with  the 
masses  of  the  people  is  that  I  have  endeavored  to  sow  the  seeds  of  truth  only 
in  the  popular  mind,  and  I  trust  that  they  will  be  fruitful  of  blessings  to  indi- 
viduals, to  the  State  and  to  the  country. 

I  am,  very  truly  and  respectfully, 

Your*  fellow-citizen, 

HENRY  A.  WISE. 
WASHINGTON  CITY,  May  10th,  1855. 


OFFICIAL  VOTE  OF  VIRGINIA. 

Below  we  give  the  official  vote  of  the  election  in  Virginia  on  the  24th  of  May 
1855,  for  Governor,  Lieutenant  Governor  and  Attorney  General.  The  returns 
we  derive  from  the  office  qf  the  Secretary  of  State;  therefore,  they  may  be 
relied  on  as  nearly  correct.  The  vote  of  the  State  for  Governor,  is  83,4*24*  for 
Mr.  Wise;  73/244  for  Mr.  Flournoy — total,  156,668— majority  for  Mr.  Wise, 
10,180.  This  result  vindicates  the  correctness  of  our  estimate,  calculated  from 
the  unofficial  returns.  Our  table  always  exhibited  Mr.  Wise's  majority  a  little 
over  10,000,  while  estimates  from  other  sources  made  the  majority  fall  conside- 
rably below  that  amount.  The  average  Democratic  majority  in  the  State,  exhi- 
bited by  this  election,  is  11,12:2") — Mr.  Bocock  having  received  the  highest,  and 
Mr.  Patton  the  lowest  vote  : — Enquirer. 


Accomnc, 

Albemarle, 

Alexandria, 

Alleghany, 

Amelia, 

Amherst, 

Appomattox, 

Augusta, 

harbour, 

Bath, 

Bedford, 

Berkeley, 

Boone, 

Botetourt, 

Braxton, 

Brooke, 

Brunswick, 

Buckingham, 

Cabell, 

Campbell, 

Caroline, 

Carroll, 

Charles  City, 

Charlotte, 

Chesterfield, 

Clarke, 

Craig, 

Culpeper, 

Cumberland, 

Dinwiddie, 

Doddridge, 

Elizabeth  City, 

Essex, 

Fairfax, 

Fauquier, 

Fayette, 

Floyd, 

Fluvanna, 

Franklin, 

Frederick, 

Giles, 

Gilmer, 

Gloucester, 

Goochland, 

Grayeon, 

Greenbrier, 

Greene, 

Greenesville, 


356 

GOVERNOR.      LT.  GOVERNOR. 

ATT.  GENERAL. 

/-  *N- 

-s 

HI 

/—  — 

s 

/-  * 

^ 

F 

F° 

•3 

p 

»4 

p 

2 

L 

M 

tt 

^t 

1 

| 

0 

o 

0 

w 

0 

§ 

o 

P 

§ 

1 

JtT" 

m 

816 

932 

748 

926 

737 

924 

1069 

1220 

1096 

1197 

1095 

1202 

399 

820 

395 

818 

397 

818 

337 

206 

338 

205 

340 

203 

309 

234 

321 

203 

331 

214 

688 

680 

692 

666 

698 

678 

513 

247 

528 

231 

559 

216 

1336 

2426 

1361 

2404 

1360 

2409 

753 

331 

746 

328 

747 

329 

222 

276 

220 

274 

220 

273 

1067 

1328 

1105 

1310 

1107 

1308 

923 

905 

920 

905 

923 

904 

280 

138 

298 

113 

229 

119 

960 

537 

968 

530 

971 

527 

119 

571 

107 

581 

107 

579 

333 

432 

332 

429 

328 

440 

556 

224 

556 

206 

554 

214 

496 

551 

505 

536 

526 

521 

501 

383 

578 

296 

471 

360 

979 

1535 

1000 

1517 

1018 

1510 

643 

615 

664 

608 

664 

612 

657 

311 

639 

299 

646 

304 

124 

175 

116 

149 

116 

158 

443 

398 

429 

384 

444 

381 

975 

503 

1003 

506 

999 

507 

361 

320 

359 

309 

358 

313 

304 

120 

305 

116 

304 

113 

443 

528 

438 

514 

425 

543 

277 

306 

281 

295 

286 

296 

421 

234 

415 

225 

429 

227 

349 

226 

345 

219 

352 

218 

187 

175 

181 

172 

181 

172 

266 

316 

272 

305 

275 

308 

512 

631 

500 

612 

500 

608 

920 

1040 

922 

1032 

920 

1035 

271 

301 

245 

299 

235 

297 

566 

447 

569 

437 

565 

436 

443 

458 

472 

436 

465 

452 

1253 

906 

1265 

893 

1268 

890 

1335 

1203 

1343 

1196 

1344 

1199 

418 

405 

426 

391 

417 

393 

411 

242 

407 

248 

407 

256 

381 

317 

301 

224 

401 

316 

385 

262 

409 

250 

409 

253 

553 

266 

547 

262 

547 

262 

533 

870 

513 

873 

522 

864 

532 

42 

528 

41 

528 

43 

206 

73 

210 

67 

213 

70 

357 


Halifax, 

1163 

587 

1183 

550 

1191 

550 

Hampshire, 

1118 

845 

1126 

835 

1121 

841 

Hanover, 

706 

553 

718 

548 

722 

541 

Hancock, 

221 

291 

220 

290 

218 

282 

Hardy, 

651 

708 

649 

693 

648 

692 

Harrison, 

1017 

921 

1014 

916 

1011 

917 

Henrico, 

765 

983 

781 

963 

780 

974 

Henry, 

507 

430 

519 

399 

527 

403 

Highland. 

444 

342 

447 

343 

445 

344 

Isle  of  Wight, 

669 

173 

670 

165 

"675 

162 

Jackson, 

592 

637 

595 

634 

593 

635 

Jarnes  City, 

44 

126 

39 

130 

39 

129 

Jefferson, 

962 

934 

865 

923 

859 

924 

Kariawha, 

571 

1537 

579 

1517 

570 

1529 

King  George, 

189 

191 

197 

189 

197 

190 

Kiug  William, 

333 

111 

344 

104 

336 

110 

King  &,  Queen, 

397 

307 

318 

308 

399 

301 

Lancaster, 

143 

175 

149 

154 

152 

168 

Lee, 

1113 

377 

1073 

375 

1073 

374 

Lewis, 

572 

426 

578 

422 

572 

424 

Logan, 

366 

76 

389 

68 

&52 

76 

Loudoun, 

690 

2015 

672 

1997 

671 

1994 

Louisa, 

613 

461 

630 

446 

632 

455 

Lunenburg, 

465 

201 

475 

195 

483 

191 

Madison, 

672 

109 

657 

104 

647 

117 

Marion, 

1135 

459 

1134 

438 

1132- 

440 

Marshall, 

608 

984 

612 

981 

613 

982 

Mason, 

348 

737 

343 

723 

*732 

*336 

Matthews, 

273 

221 

267 

215 

265 

216 

Mecklenburg, 

874 

480 

763 

463 

765 

462 

Mercer, 

417 

350 

390 

343 

375 

344 

Middlesex, 

231 

180 

234 

175 

234 

176 

Monongalia, 

1325 

662 

1325 

657 

1322 

658 

Monroe, 

577 

891 

577 

884 

576 

877 

Montgomery, 

600 

592 

657 

580 

655 

580 

Morgan, 

266 

415 

266 

411 

267 

411 

Nansemond, 

340 

556 

333 

550 

331 

551 

Nelson, 

436 

740 

446 

729 

447 

728 

New  Kent, 

175 

201 

175 

195 

175 

196 

Nicholas, 

114 

460 

114 

458 

116 

456 

Norfolk  County, 

1068 

1363 

1075 

1254 

1081 

1258 

Northampton, 

235 

288 

222 

281 

222 

282 

Northumberland, 

296 

316 

304 

309 

303 

312 

Nottoway, 

228 

187 

229 

152 

230 

160 

Ohio, 

1110 

1741 

1133 

1702 

1105 

1733 

Orange, 

395 

349 

394 

239 

393 

346 

Page, 

1033 

72 

1022 

69 

1022 

69 

Patrick, 

722 

496 

723 

468 

731 

467 

Pendleton, 

558 

408 

560 

'    402 

560 

404 

Pittsylvania, 

1335 

1352 

1364 

1313 

1385 

1312 

Pleasants, 

228 

206 

226 

207 

227 

205 

Pocahontas, 

457 

107 

448 

105 

449 

109 

Powhatan, 

287 

152 

293 

*144 

292 

149 

Preston, 

798 

737 

803 

730 

805 

729 

Princess  Anne, 

307 

325 

313 

319 

312 

321 

358 


GOVERNOR. 

W~~        """^ 

LT.  GOVERNOR. 
1              w 

o                      ?? 

ATT.  GENERAL. 

*                  g 

if          I 

C3                                      « 

§ 

1 

W- 

|r 

Prince  Edward, 

427 

355 

428 

337 

435 

334 

Prince  George,    • 

369 

131 

378 

128 

391 

128 

Prince  'William, 

659 

249 

665 

246 

664 

244 

Pulaski, 

305 

272 

306 

269 

306 

269 

Putnam, 

393 

387 

390 

380 

392 

384 

Raleigh, 

80 

259 

78 

258 

75 

258 

Randolph, 

438 

308 

430 

289 

413 

296 

Rappahannock, 

490 

485 

493 

477 

491 

481 

Richmond, 

164 

364 

166 

364 

167 

364 

Ritchie, 

488 

353 

492 

349 

485 

348 

Roanoke, 

600 

307 

605 

304 

605 

301 

Rockbridge, 

1147 

1206 

1161 

1184 

1163 

1190 

Rockingham, 

2700 

610 

2681 

584 

2681 

609 

Russell, 

989 

580 

983 

575 

982 

574 

Scott, 

797 

509 

792 

503 

794 

494 

Shenandoah, 

2031 

185 

2032 

171 

2032 

176 

Smyth, 

654 

571 

649 

564 

648   ' 

566 

Southampton, 

568 

486 

580 

488 

582 

487. 

SpotsyJvania*, 

619 

604 

630 

598 

626 

503 

Stafford, 

474 

359 

470 

359 

470 

359 

Surry, 

230 

141 

220 

136 

230 

137 

Sussex, 

381 

100 

376 

96 

379 

98 

Taylor, 

487 

465 

484 

461 

485 

460 

Tazewell, 

1102 

189 

1049 

176 

1053 

172 

Tyler, 

430 

360 

434 

355 

437 

348 

Upshur, 

496 

286 

498 

281 

495 

284 

Warren, 

500 

271 

438 

265 

499 

265 

Warwick, 

21 

57 

19 

53 

19 

53 

Washington, 

1284 

948 

1281 

949 

1281 

947 

Wayne, 

347 

319 

410 

238 

252 

221 

Westmoreland, 

83 

395 

88 

395 

91 

393 

Wetzel, 

549 

80 

532 

79 

532 

79 

Wirt, 

259 

217 

263 

213 

261 

210 

Wood, 

747 

839 

642 

885 

635 

902 

Wyoming, 

82 

116 

83 

112 

80 

113 

Wythe, 

829 

724 

838 

704 

830 

710 

York, 

109 

169 

93 

157 

94 

158 

Norfolk  City, 

552 

922 

517 

901 

478 

887 

Petersburg, 

783 

747 

790 

733 

787 

743 

Richmond  City, 

1166 

2144 

1180 

2117 

1189 

2126 

Williamsburg, 

51 

66 

47 

65 

48 

66 

83,424      73,244     83,068     71,689     83,731      71,613 


359 


RECAPITULATION. 

Wise,          .....  83,424 

Flournoy,    -                                         -                                         -  73,244 

Majority,      -  10,180 

McComas,  .....  83,068 

Beale,          -                     -                     -                     -  71,689 

Majority,      -                     -                     -                     -  11,379 

Bocock,      .....  83,731 

Patton,        .....  71,613 

Majority,      ....  12,118 


It  is  proper  to  add  here,  however,  that  the  count  of  this  vote  which  was  sub- 
sequently made  by  the  Legislature,  under  the  requirement  of  the  constitution, 
did  not  result  precisely  as  exhibited  by  the  foregoing  table.  The  Legislative 
computation  exhibited  the  following  results  : 

STATE  SENATORS  ELECTED  IN  1855. 

From  Rockingham  and  Pendleton — Geo.  E.  Deneale,  D. 

From  Sussex,  Southampton  and  Greensville — W.  W.  Cobb,  D. 

From  Dinwiddie,  Amelia  and  Brunswick — Wm.  F.  Thompson,  D. 

From  Lunenburg,  Nottoway,  and  Prince  Edward — Thos.  H.  Campbell,  D. 

From  Pittsylvania— W.  H.  Wooding,  D. 

From  Henry,  Patrick,  and  Franklin — Archibald  Stuart,  D. 

From  Hanover  and  Henrico — Chastain  White,  D. 

From  Gloucester,  Matthews,  and  Middlesex — John  W.  Catlett,  D. 

From  King  and  Queen,  King  William,  and  Essex — Beverly  B.  Douglass,  D. 

From  Stafford,  King  George,  and  Prince  William — J.  M.  Taliaferro,  D. 

From  Madison,  Culpeper,  Orange,  and  Greene — Thomas  N.  Welch,  D. 

From  Louisa,  Goochland,  and  Fluvanna — Wm.  M.  Ambler,  D. 

From  Jefferson  and  Berkeley — Francis  Yates,  D. 

From  Frederick,  Clarke,  and  Warren — Oliver  K.  Funsten,  D. 

From  Bath,  Highland,  and  Rockbridge — James  H.  Paxton,  D. 

From  Carroll,  Floyd,  Grayson,  Montgomery,  and  Pulaski — Harvey  Des- 
kins,  D. 

From  Smythe,  Wythe,  and  Washington — Thomas  M.  Tate,  D. 

From  Mason,  Jackson,  Cabell,  Wayne,  and  Wirt — Fleet  W.  Smith,  K.  N. 

From  Wetzel,  Marshall,  Marion,  and  Tyler — James  G.  West,  D. 

From  Monongalia,  Preston,  and  Taylor — J.  B.  Huddleson,  D. 

From  Accomac  and  Northampton — 0.  B.  Finney,  K.  N. 

From  Norfolk  and  Princess  Anne — P.  H.  Daughtrey,  K.  N. 

From  Campbell  and  Appomattox — Thomas  H.  Flood,  K.  N. 

From  Loudoun — Noble  S.  Braden,  K.  N. 

From  Boone,  Logan,  Kanawha,  Putnam,  and  Wyoming — Andrew  S.  Parka, 
K.N. 


360 

SENATORS  ELECTED    IN  1853. 

From  Norfolk  City— W.  N.  McKenney,  K.  N. 

From  Isle  of  Wight,  Nansemond  and  Surry — W.  J.  Arthur,  D. 

From  Petersburg  and  Prince  George — J.  A.  Jones,  D. 

From  Powhatan,  Cumberland  and  Chesterfield — Wm.  Old,  Jr.  D. 

From  Mecklenburg  and  Charlotte — L.  W.  Tazewell,  K.  N. 

From  Halifax — R.  Logan,  D. 

From  Bedford — J.  F.  Johnson,  K.  N. 

From  Williainsburg,  James  City,  Charles  City,  New  Kent,  York,  Elizabeth 
City  and  Warwick— Robert  Saunders,  K.  N. 

From  Richmond  City— 0.  P.  Baldwin,  K.  N. 

From  Richmond,  Lancaster,  Northumberland  and  Westmoreland — Elliott  M. 
Braxton,  D. 

From  Caroline  and  Spottsylvania — Wm.  A  Moncure,  D. 

From  Fairfax  and  Alexandria — Henry  W.  Thomas,  K.  N. 

From  Fauquier  and  Rappahannock — J.  K.  Marshall,  K.  N. 

From  Albemarle — B.  F.  Randolph,  D. 

From  Amherst,  Nelson  and  Buckingham — R.  K.  Irving,  K.  N. 

From  Hampshire,  Hardy  and  Morgan — J.  C.  B.  Mullen,  K.  N. 

From  Shenandoah  and  Page — T.  Buswell,  D. 

From  Augusta — C.  R.  Harris,  D. 

From  Botetourt,  Alleghany,  Roanoke  and  Craig — Douglas  B.  Layne,  D. 

From  Mercer,  Monroe,  Giles  and  Tazewell — Manlius  Chapman,  D. 

From  Scott,  Lee  and  Russell— J.  F.  McElhany,  K.  N. 

From  Nicholas,  Fayette,  Pocahontas,  Raleigh,  Braxton  and  Greenbrier — T. 
Creigh,  K.  N. 

From  Ritchie,  Doddridge,  Harrison,  Pleasants  and  Wood — U.  M.  Turner, 
K.  N. 

From  Upsher,  Barbour,  Lewis,  Gilmer  and  Randolph — Albert  G.  Reger,  D. 

From  Brooke,  Hancock  and  Ohio — L.  Steenrod,  D. 

MEMBERS   OP   THE   HOUSE    OF  DELEGATES    OF   VIRGINIA   ELECTED    MAY,  1855. 

Accomac — Arthur  Watson,  K.  N. 

Albemarle— Thomas  Wood,  K.  N.,  and  Wm.  T.  Early,  K.  N. 
Alexandria — Lawrence  B.  Taylor,  K.  N. 
Alleghany  and  Bath — Samuel  Carpenter,  D. 
Amelia  and  Nottoway — W.  F.  C.  Gregory,  D. 
Amherst — Dudley  Davies,  K.  N. 
Appomattox — C.  H.  Jones,  D. 

Augusta — Adam  McChesney,  K.  N.;  A.  Bolivar  Christian,  K.  N.;  John  D. 
Imboden,  K.  N. 

Barbour — Joseph  Daniels,  D. 

Bedford— W.  M.  Burwell,  K.  N.;  Samuel  P.  R.  Moorman,  K.  N. 

Berkeley— J.  B.  Hoge,  D.;  R.  D.  Seaman,  D. 

Botetourt  and  Craig— F.  H.  Mays,  D.;  Robert  M.  Wiley,  D. 

Braxton  and  Nicholas— Marshall  Triplett,  K.  N. 

Brooke  and  Hancock — 0.  W.  Langfitt,  K.  N. 

Brunswick — Edward  Dromgoole,  D. 

Buckingham — Thos.  M.  Bondurant,  K.  N. 

Cabell— H.  J.  Samuels,  D. 

Campbell— F.  B.  Deane,  K.  N.;  M.  B.  Nowlin,  K.  N. 

Caroline — Daniel  C.  Dejarnette,  D. 

Carroll — John  Carroll,  D. 

Charles  City,  James  City  and  New  Kent— Wm.  Bush;  K.  N. 


361 

Charlotte— Jos.  H.  Roberts,  D. 

Chesterfield— Jeremiah  Hobbs,  D. 

Clarke — Buckner  Ashby,  D. 

Culpeper — Perry  .jT^ggborn,  K.  N. 

Cumberland  and  Povvhatan — W.  P.  Dabney,  D. 

Dinwiddie — John  J.  Crawford,  D. 

Doddridge  aid  Tyler — Absy  George,  D. 

Elizabeth  City,  Warwick,  York  and  Williamsburg — Joseph  Segar,  K.  N. 

E.ssux  and  King  and  Queen — M.  H.  H.  Garnett,  D. 

Fairfax — James  Thrift,  K.  N. 

Fauquier — Bailey  Shumate,  K.  N.;  Richard  II.  Carter,  K.  N. 

Fayette  and  Raleigh — Wm.  Tyree,  K.  N. 

Floyd— Pleasant  Howell,  D. 

Fiuvanna — Gco.  P.  Holraan,  0. 

Franklin— Wm.  H.  Edwards,  D.;  Peter  Hancock,  D. 

Frederick— R.  C.  Bywaters,  D.;  G.  P.  Baker,  D. 

Giles— A.  G.  Pendleton,  D. 

Gilmer  and  Wirt— P.  Hays,  D. 

Gloucester — Warner  T.  Jones,  D. 

Goochland — John  C.  Rutherfoord,  J). 

Gray  SOD — John  Dickinson,  D. 

Greenbrier — A.  G.  Davis,  K.  N. 

Greene  and  Orange — John  H.  Lee,  D. 

Greensville  and  Sussex — Win.  T.  Lundy,  D. 

Halifax— J.  H.  Edmunds,  D.;  Chas.  Craddock,  D. 

Hampshire — Asa  Hiett,  D.;  Isaac  Parsons,  D. 

Hanover — Wm.  Nelson,  D. 

Hardy— F.  B.  Welton,  D. 

Harrison — Robert  Johnson,  D.j  A.  S.  Holden,  D. 

Henrico — Henry  Cox,  K.  N. 

Henry — A.  Hughes  Dillard,  D. 

Highland— A.  H.  Byrd,  D. 

Isle  of  Wight— Jas.  F.  Crocker,  D. 

Jackson,— W.  P.  Frost,  K.  N. 

Jefferson— Wells  J.  Hawks,  D.;  T.  Harris  To^wner,  K.  N. 

Kanawha— John  Thompson,  K.  N.,  (dead)  B.  II.  Smith,  K.  N. 

King  George  and  Stafford — .John  Seddon,  D. 

King  William — Harrison  B.  Tomlin,  D. 

Lancaster  and  Northumberland — W.  H.  Harding,  K.  N. 

Lee— Job  B.  Crabtree,  D.;  Dr.  H.  Riggs,  D. 

Lewis — John  Brannon,  D. 

Loga'n,  Boone  and  Wyoming — J.  H.  Anderson,  D. 

Louisa — Jo*.  K.  Pendleton,  D. 

Loudoun— II.  B.  Powell,  K.  N.;  R.  L.  Wright,  K.  N. 

Lunenburg — George  W.  Hardy,  D. 

Madison — James  L.  Kemper,  D. 

Marion — John  S.  Barnes,  D. ;  Ulysses  N.  Arnett,  D. 

Marshall— R.  C.  Hollady,  K.  N. 

Mason— G.  B.  Thomas,  K.  N. 

Matthews  and  Middlesex — Geo.  L.  Nicholson,  D. 

Mecklenburg — Wm.  E.  Dodson,  D. 

Mercer— N.  French,  K.  N. 

Monongalia — J.  Lantz,  D.;  R.  W.  Caruthers,  D. 

Monroe — Alexander  Clark,  K.  N.;  Alexander  D.  Ilaynes,  K.  N. 

Montgomery — C.  A.  Ronald,  D. 

Morgan — Lemuel  Vanorsdall,  K.  N. 


362 

Nansemond— Nathl.  Eiddick,  K.  N. 
Nelson— W.  M.  Cabell,  K.  N. 
Norfolk  City— W.  D.  Roberts,  K.  N. 

Norfolk  County— C.  W.  Murdaugh,  K.  N.;  Max.  Herbert,  K.  N. 
Northampton— E.  J.  Spady,  K.  N. 

Ohio— Jas.  Paul,  K.  N.;  John  Brady,  K.  N.;  G.  L.  Cranmer,  K.  N. 
Page — Mann  Spitler,  D. 
Patrick— Wm.  A.  Burwell,  D. 
Pendleton — Jas.  B.  Kee,  D. 

Petersburg — J.  H.  Claiborne,  D.  < 

Pittsylvania— Richard  M.  Kirby,  D.;  Thomas  W.  Walton,  D. 
Pleasants  and  Ritchie — John  Collins,  D. 
Pocahontas — Adam  Nottingham^  D. 
Preston— J.  A.  F.  Martin,  D.;  E.  T.  Brandon,  D. 
Prince  Edward— Thomas  T.  Tredway,  D. 
Prince  George  and  Surry — Benj.  C.  Drew,  D. 
Princess  Anne — John  Woodhouse,  K.  N. 
Prince  William — Chas.  E.  Sinclair,  D. 
Pulaski — John  S.  Draper,  D. 
Putnam— Ro.  N.  B.  Thompson,  D. 
Randolph — S.  Bosworth,  K.  N. 
Rappahannock — Edward  T.  Jones,  D. 

Richmond  City— H.   K.  Ellyson,  K.  N.;  H.  B.  Dickinson,  K.  X.j  R.  C. 
Stanard,  K.  N. 

Richmond  County  and  Westmoreland — L.  C.  Berkeley,  K.  N. 

Roanoke — Colin  Bass,  D. 

Rockbridge— R.  L.  Doyle,  K.  N.;  A.  Patterson,  K.  N. 

Eockingbam— J.  M.  R.  Sprinkle,  D.;  J.  G.  Brown,  D.;  Wm.  B.  Yancey,  D. 

Russell— G.  W.  Chandler,  D.; Kelley,  D. 

Scott— J.  T.  Mclver,  D. 

Shenandoah— J.  S.  Calvert,  D.j  P.  Pitman,  D. 

Smyth— Thos.  L.  Preston,  D. 

Southampton — J.  W.  Gurley,  D. 

Spottsylvania — Oscar  M.  Crutchfield,  D. 

Taylor— Chas.  W.  Newlon,  D. 

Tazewell— Wm.  M,  Gillespie,  D. 

Upshur Carper,  D. 

Warren— Samuel  W.  Thomas,  D. 

Washington— Win.  K.  Heiskell,  D.;  John  B.  Floyd,  D. 

Wayne— Jeremiah  Wellman,  D. 

Wetzel— David  West,  D. 

Wood— A.  J.  Bowman,  K.  N. 

Wythe — David  Graham,  D. 


THE  24TH  DAY  OF  MAY  IN  VIRGINIA,  IN  1855. 

On  the  24th  day  of  May  1855,  the  great  battle  between  the  North  and  the 
South  was  fought  on  the  soil  of  Virginia.  Virginia  was  the  battle  ground  upon 
which  that  fell-destroyer,  abolition  Know  Nothing  fanaticism,  was  "  crushed 
out"  in  pushing  its  direful  inroads  upon  the  sunny  South.  It  was  here  in  Virgi- 
nia that  the  British  lion  crouched  in  servile  obedience  beneath  the  golden  wings  of 
Washington's  eagle.  And  it  was  here  in  Virginia,  that  the  foul  and  loathsome 


363 

cockatrice,  Know  Nothingism,  crouched  (spaniel  like)  beneath  the  patriotic  tread 
of  the  sturdy  husbandman,  the  stigmatising  lash,  the  burning  invective  and 
withering  satire  of  that  champion  of  States  Rights,  and  defender  of  the  consti- 
tution and  of  civil  and  religious  liberty — Henry  A-  Wise.  And  it  is  here  in 
Virginia,  that  we  intend  to  keep  spotless  that  rich  legacy  of  political  policy, 
bequeathed  to  us  by  Thomas  Jefferson  and  James  Madison.  The  Democracy 
of  Virginia  will,  at  all  times,  and  under  all  circumstances,  fly  their  colors. 
Our  .platform  is  now,  as  it  has  ever  been,  a  strict  observance  of  the  tenets  of 
States  Rights.  We  know  no  section,  no  clique,  no  party,  no  platform,  no  man,— 
but  only  the  States  Rights  flag  left  us  by  Jefferson  and  Madison,  which  we 
expect  to  live  under,  fight  under,  and  die  under.  We  bid  defiance  to  the  wooden 
horse.  Our  banner  in  envied  grandeur  still  floats  over  the  impregnable  ramparts 
of  Truth,  Right  and  Justice,  and  will  continue  to  flaunt  its  aegis  folds  until  the 
bird  of  liberty,  with  the  stars  and  stripes  around  its  neck,  shall  wing  itself  from 
the  western  continent. 

The  4th  of  July  commemorates  the  day  on  which  the  American  people  repu- 
diated the  British  yoke;  the  24th  of  May  commemorates  the  day  on  which  the 
PEOPLE,  THE  DEMOCRACY  OF  VIRGINIA,  REPUDIATED  THAT 
WHICH  WAS  WORSE  THAN  BRITISH  BONDAGE— Know  Nothingism. 
The  24th  day  of  May  1855  is  a  second  declaration  of  the  citizens  of  Virginia, 
TO  BE  FREE  AND  INDEPENDENT.  May  the  day  ever  live  as  one  of  our 
proudest  epochs,  in  the  hearts  of  all  true  lovers  of  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty. 


From  the  Richmond  Examiner,  May  29th,  1855. 

THE  DEMOCRATIC  TRIUMPH. 

The  election  returns  which  fill  our  columns  this  morning  will  give  to  our 
readers  the  details  of  that  crushing  and  utterly  annihilating  victoryawhich  the 
Democracy  have  won  over  their  boastful,  exultant  and  secret  adversary.  We 
have  swept  the  State  like  a  mountain  torrent,  deluging  every  culvert,  and 
drowning  Know  Nothing  candidates  of  every  rank  and  degree,  from  Flournoy 
down  to  Sam's  candidates  for  the  stray  coroner's  and  constable's  places  of  the 
State.  The  Democratic  legions  are  triumphant  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea- 
shore, and  the  Democratic  shouts  of  victory  are  heard  in  every  valley  and 
mountain  of  the  State.  Our  candidate  for  Governor  is  probably  elected  by  a 
splendid  majority  of  at  least  twelve  thousand,  we  have  returned  our  unbroken 
phalanx  of  Democratic  Congressmen,  and  we  shall  have  a  larger  Democratic 
majority  than  usual  in  both  branches  of  the  Legislature. 

There  remains  not  one  peg  for  Sam  to  hang  a  hope  upon.  The  deluge  has 
left  no  dry  place  for  the  weary  feet  of  tne  conquered  ;  and  the  few  Know  No- 
things who  have  been  elected  to  the  Legislature  already  feel  their  laurels  with- 
ering upon  their  brows,  and  burning  them  like  a  hot  iron.  The  boasting,  blus- 
tering, menacing,  confident  foe,  who  but  yesterday  proclaimed  the  speedy  de- 
struction of  the  Democratic  party  of  Virginia,  has  been  routed  at  the  ballot-box 
by  that  noble  old  party  which,  in  this  State,  has  never  known  defeat.  The 
great  highway  along  which  we  have  marched  to  greatness  and  renown  is  paved 
with  the  bones  of  just  such  political  monstrosities  as  that  which  we  slew  on 
Thursday.  It  is  as  much  the  duty  and  the  mission  of  the  Virginia  Democracy 


364 

to  slay  parties  like  Sam,  as  it  was  that  of  Hercules  to  kill  giants,  dragons  hy- 
dras and  other  monsters.  We  have  done  our  duty,  and  freed  the  republic  from 
the  consequences  of  sectional  strife  and  a  fearful  war  of  races. 

We  care  not  how  Sam,  like  a  huge  decapitated  serpent,  may  squirm,  twist 
and  struggle  in  the  free  States.  He  may  lash  his  huge  tail  in  New  England, 
and  jerk  and  wriggle  his  headless  trunk  in  Pennsylvania,  but  all  the  world 
knows  that  on  Thursday  last  his  head  was  taken  off  with  a  dexterity  and  scien- 
tific precision  which  the  Virginia  Democracy  have  only  acquired  by  long  prac- 
tice. A  few  months  ago  the  late  Samuel  entered  this  State,  took  possession  of 
our  culverts,  and  hissed  forth  various  and  sundry  decrees  for  the  overthrow  of 
Democracy,  Catholicism,  and  the  annoyance  of  the  quiet,  inoffensive  foreigners 
of  this  State.  But  in  performing  a  tilt  against  the  Democracy,  he  ran  against 
a  snag,  and  expired  on  Thursday  last,  having  lived  just  long  enough  to  bury 
one  small  grave-digger,  and  extinguish  an  humble  gas-man.  The  election  has 
demonstrated  that  Know  Nothingisin,  in  its  best  days  in  this  State,  was  nothing 
but  a  mild,  small  beer  type  of  that  poor,  collapsed  old  Whig  party,  which  we 
have  beaten  with  commendable  regularity  for  many  years  past.  The  mysteries 
and  secrecy  of  Know  Nothingism  concealed  not  its  strength,  but  its  weakness 
in  numbers  and  resources. 

We  notice  the  election  and  re-election  of  many  of  the  ablest  men  of  our 
party  to  the  Legislature.  In  such  men  as  Floyd,  Crutchfield,  Edmunds,  Ruth- 
erfoord,  Garnett,  and  many  others  whom  we  might  name,  our  readers  will  recog- 
nize men  well  suited  for  the  important  duties  of  legislation  next  winter. 

We  have  but  one  regret  as  far  as  the  result  in  this  State  is  concerned,  and 
that  is  the  defeat  of  that  estimable  gentleman  and  distinguished  and  indefatiga- 
ble Democrat,  Robert  A.  Mayo,  of  Henrico.  To  that  gentleman's  energy  and 
sleepless  activity,  we  are  indebted  for  a  reduction  of  hundreds  in  what  was  at 
one  time  the  Know  Nothing  strength  in  Henrico.  His  services  will  be  long 
remembered  by  his  party. 

We  commend  the  gentlemanly  good  humor  and  philosophy  of  our  neighbor 
of  the  Whig  to  the  subordinate  journals  of  the  Know  Nothings.  The  Demo- 
crats are  not  to  be  provoked  or  annoyed  by  the  impotent  exhibitions  of  childish 
rage  and  frenzy  of  the  minor  organs  of  that  party  to  which  they  have  just  ad- 
ministered a  well-deserved  spanking.  We  tender  to  our  chivalrous  neighbor  of 
the  Whig  our  sincere  condolences,  and  venture  to  express  the  hope  that  its  trip 
to  Salt  Ri^er  may  be  both  pleasant  and  instructive.  The  season  is  a  delightful 
one  for  going  to  the  country,  and  the  thousand  beauties  of  Spring,  with  its 
flowers  and  balmy  breezes,  will  soon  assuage  the  grief  of  our  friend  and  neighbor. 
We  have  learnt  also,  from  a  most  reliable  source,  that  our  venerable,  protege, 
Botts,  bears  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Scott  with  a  degree  of  fortitude  worthy  of  a 
Christian  and  a  philosopher.  He  is,  we  learn,  busily  qualifying  himself  for  the 
ministry,  having  announced  at  the  African  Church  on  Tuesday  last,  the  scope 
and  character  of  his  recent  theological  studies. 


APPENDIX. 


SPEECH  OF  HON.  S.  A.  DOUGLAS,  OF  ILLINOIS. 

IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE,  MARCH  3,  1854;  ON  NEBRAS- 
KA AND  KANSAS. 

Mr.  Houston.  It  is  now  half-past  eleven  o'clock.  I  cannot  see  any  particu- 
lar necessity  for  going  on  to-night;  and  therefore  we  might  as  well  adjourn. 

Several  Senators.     No,  no. 

Mr.  Houston.  Then  I  give  notice  that  I  shall  take  the  floor  after  the  sena- 
tor from  Illinois  gets  through. 

Mr.  Sumner.     Before  the  debate  closes,  I  hope  to  be  heard  on  some  points. 

Mr.  Douglas.  We  shall  hear  the  senator  from  Massachusetts,  of  course, 
upon  whatever  points  he  may  desire  to  speak.  I  would  gladly  have  agreed  to 
an  arrangement  by  which  it  should  have  been  understood  that  the  vote  would 
be  taken  at  any  fixed  time ;  but  we  found  it  impossible  to  come  to  an  agree- 
ment to  fix  any  day  or  any  hour  on  which  the  vote  should,  by  common  consent, 
be  taken.  Consequently  we  have  thought  it  was  better  to  insist  upon  proceed- 
ing to  a  vote  to-night.  I  will  not  occupy  the  attention  of  the  Senate  longer 
than  I  can  possibly  help  in  doing  justice  to  myself. 

Mr.  Houston.  Objection  has  been  made  to  my  course  it  seems,  because  I 
evinced  a  disinclination  to  consent  to  fix  any  particular  day  for  the  closing  of 
the  debate.  I  did  not  see  any  necessity  for  doing  so,  and  therefore  I  could  not 
consent  to  it.  I  do  not  care  how  soon  the  debate  closes  ;  I  hope  it  will  be  con- 
cluded speedily ;  but  I  do  not  wish  to  have  it  done  informally,  nor  in  the  hur- 
ried manner  in  which  it  has  been  pressed  on  the  Senate.  I  claim  all  the  privi- 
leges of  a  senator;  but  I  arn  perfectly  willing  to  consent  to  an  adjournment,  or 
any  other  arrangement  which  the  Senate  may  make.  I  am  in  a  minority,  but  I 
shall  yield  to  the  will  of  the  Senate. 

Mr.  Douglas.  I  think  there  seems  to  be  a  pretty  good  disposition  manifested 
now,  and  we  shall  be  able  to  close  the  debate  and  proceed  to  the  vote  in  a  very 
short  time. 

Mr.  President,  before  I  proceed  to  the  general  argument  upon  the  most  im- 
portant branch  of  this  question,  I  must  say  a  few  words  in  reply  to  the  senator 
from  Tennessee,  [Mr.  Bell,]  who  has  spoken  upon  the  bill  to-day.  Heap- 
proves  of  the  principles  of  the  bill ;  he  thinks  they  have  great  merit ;  but  he 
does  not  see  his  way  entirely  clear  to  vote  for  the  bill,  because  of  the  objections 
which  he  has  stated,  most  of  which  relate  to  the  Indians. 

Upon  that  point,  I  desire  to  say  that  it  has  never  been  the  custom  in  territo- 
rial bills  to  make  regulations  concerning  the  Indians  within  the  limits  of  the 
proposed  Territories.  All  matters  relating  to  them  it  has  been  thought  wise  to 
leave  to  subsequent  legislation,  io  be  brought  forward  by  the  Committee  on  In- 
dian Affairs.  I  did  venture  originally  in  this  bill  to  put  in  one  or  two  provi- 


366 

sions  upon  that  subject;  but,  at  the  suggestion  of  many  senators  on  both  sides 
of  the  chamber,  they  were  stricken  out,  in  order  to  allow  the  appropriate  com- 
mittee of  the  Senate  to  take  charge  of  that  subject.  I  think,  therefore,  since 
we  have  stricken  from  the  bill  all  those  provisions  which  pertain  to  the  Indians, 
and  reserved  the  whole  subject  for  the  consideration  arid  action  of  the  appro- 
priate committee,  we  have  obviated  every  possible  objection  which  could  reason- 
ably be  urged  upon  that  score.  We  have  every  reason  to  hope  and  trust  that 
tlie  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs  will  propose  such  measures  as  will  do  entire 
justice  to  the  Indians,  without  contravening  the  objects  of  Congress  in  organiz- 
ing these  Territories. 

But,  sir,  allusion  has  been  made  to  certain  Indian  treaties,  and  it  has  been  inti- 
mated, if  not  charged  in  direct  terms,  that  we  were  violating  the  stipulations  of 
those  treaties  in  respect  to  the  rights  and  lands  of  the  Indians.  The  senator 
from  Texas  [Mr.  Houston]  made  a  very  long  and  interesting  speech  on  that 
subject;  but  it  so  happened,  that  most  of  the  treaties  to  which  he  referred 
were  with  Indians  not  included  within  the  limits  of  this  bill.  We  have  been 
informed,  in  the  course  of  the  debate  to-day,  by  the  chairman  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  Indian  Affairs,  [Mr.  Sebastian,]  that  there  is  but  one  treaty  in  existence 
relating  to  lands  or  Indians  within  the  limits  of  either  of  the  proposed  Territo- 
ries, and  that  is  the  treaty  with  the  Ottawa  Indians,  about  two  hundred  persons 
in  number,  owning  about  thirty-four  thousand  acres  of  land.  Thus  it  appears, 
that  the  whole  argument  of  injustice  to  the  red  man,  which  in  the  course  of 
this  debate  has  called  forth  so  much  sympathy  and  indignation,  is  confined  to 
two  hundred  Indians,  owning  less  than  two  townships  of  land.  Now,  sir,  is  it 
possible  that  a  country,  said  to  be  five  hundred  thousand  .square  miles  in  extent, 
and  large  enough  to  make  twelve  such  States  as  Ohio,  is  to  be  consigned  to  per- 
petual barbarism  merely  on  account  of  that  small  number'of  Indians,  when  the 
bill  itself  expressly  provides  that  those  Indians  and  their  lands  are  not  to  be  in- 
cluded within  the  limits  of  the  proposed  Territories,  nor  to  be  subject  to 
their  laws  or  jurisdiction  ?  I  would  not  allow  this  measure  to  invade  the  rights 
of  even  one  Indian,  and  hence  I  inserted  in  the  first  section  of  the  bill  that 
none  of  the  tribes  with  whom  we  have  treaty  stipulations  should  be  embraced 
within  either  of  the  Territories,  unless  such  Indians  shall  voluntarily  consent 
to  be  included  therein  by  treaties  hereafter  to  be  made.  If  any  senator  can 
furnish  me  with  language  more  explicit,  or  which  would  prove  more  effectual  in 
securing  the  rights  of  the  Indians,  I  will  cheerfully  adopt  it. 

Well,  sir,  the  Senator  from  Tennessee,  in  a  very  kind  spirit,  here  raises  the 
objection  for  me  to  answer,  that  this  bill  includes  Indians  within  the  limits  of 
these  Territories  with  whom  we  have  no  treaties;  and  he  desires  to  know  what 
we  are  to  do  with  them.  I  will  say  to  him,  that  that  is  not  a  matter  of  inquiry 
which  necessarily  or  properly  arises  upon  the  passage  of  this  bill ;  that  is  not 
a  proper  inquiry  to  come  before  the  Committee  on  Territories.  You  have  in  all 
your  territorial  bills  included  Indians  within  the  boundaries  of  the  Territories. 
When  you  erected  the  Territory  of  Minnesota,  you  had  not  extinguished  the 
Indian  title  to  one  foot  of  land  in  that  Territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  river, 
and  to  the  major  part  of  that  Territory  the  Indian  title  remains  unextinguished 
to  this  day.  In  addition  to  those  wild  tribes,  you  removed  Indians  from  Wis- 
consin and  located  them  within  Minnesota  since  the  Territory  was  organized. 
It  will  be  a  question  for  the  consideration  of  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs, 
and  for  the  action  of  Congress,  when,  in  settlement  and  civilization,  it  shall  be- 
come necessary  to  change  the  present  policy  in  respect  to  the  Indians.  When 
you  erected  the  territorial  government  of  Oregon,  a  few  years  ago,  you  em- 
braced within  it  all  the  Indians  living  in  the  Territory  without  their  consent, 
and  without  any  such  reservations  in  their  behalf  as  are  contained  in  this  bill. 
You  had  not  at  that  time  made  a  treaty  with  those  Indians,  nor  extinguished 
their  title  to  an  acre  of  land  in  that  Territory,  nor  indeed  have  you  done  so  to 


367 

this  day.  So  it  is  in  the  organization  of  Washington  Territory.  You  ran  the 
lines  around  the  country  which  you  thought  ought  to  be  within  the  limits  of 
the  Territory,  and  you  embraced  all  the  Indians  within  those  lines ;  but  you 
made  no  provision  in  respect  to  their  rights  or  lands ;  you  left  that  matter  to 
the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs,  to  the  Indian  laws,  and  to  the  proper  depart- 
ment, to  be  arranged  afterwards  as  the  public  interests  might  require.  The 
same  is  true  in  reference  to  Utah  and  New  Mexico. 

In  fact,  the  policy  provided  for  in  this  bill,  in  respect  to  the  Indians,  is  that 
which  is  now  in  force  in  every  one  of  the  Territories.  Therefore,  any  senator 
who  objects  to  this  bill  on  that  score  should  have  objected  to  and  vdted  against 
every  territorial  bill  which  you  have  now  in  existence.  Yet  ray  friend  from 
Texas  has  taken  occasion  to  remind  the  Senate  several  times  that  it  was  a  mat- 
ter of  pride — and  it  ought  to  be  a  matter  of  patriotic  pride  with  him — that  he 
voted  for  every  measure  of  the  compromise  of  1850,  including  the  Utah  and 
New  Mexico  territorial  bills,  embracing  all  the  Indians  within  their  limits.  My 
friend  from  Tennessee,  too,  has  been  very  liberal  in  voting  for  most  of  the  ter- 
ritorial bills ;  and  I  therefore  trust  that  the  same  patriotic  and  worthy  motives 
which  induced  him  to  vote  for  the  territorial  act  of  1850  will  enable  him  to  give 
his  support  to  the  present  bill,  especially  as  he  approves  of  the  great  principle 
of  popular  sovereignty  upon  which  it  rests. 

The  senator  from  Tennessee  remarked  further,  that  the  proposed  limits  of 
these  two  Territories  were  too  extensive,  that  they  were  large  enough  to  be 
erected  into  eight  different  States,;  and  why,  he  asked,  the  necessity  of  includ- 
ing such  a  vast  amount  of  country  within  the  limits  of  these  two  Territories  ? 
I  must  remind  the  senator  that  it  has  always  been  the  practice  to  include  a  large 
extent  of  country  within  one  territory,  and  then  to  subdivide  it  from  time  to 
time  as  the  public  interest  might  require.  Such  was  the  case  with  the  old 
Northwest  Territory.  It  was  all  originally  included  within  one  territorial  gov- 
ernment. Afterwards  Ohio  was  cut  off;  and  then  Indiana,  Michigan,  Illi- 
nois, and  Wisconsin,  were  successively  erected  into  separate  territorial  govern- 
ments, and  subsequently  admitted  into  the  Union  as  States. 

At  one  period,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin  included 
the  country  embraced  within  the  limits  of  the  States  of  Wisconsin  and  Iowa, 
and  a  part  of  the  State  of  Michigan,  and  the  Territory  of  Minnesota.  There 
is  country  enough  within  the  Territory  of  Minnesota  to  make  two  or  three  States 
of  the  size  of  New  York.  Washington  Territory  embraces  about  the  same 
area.  Oregon  is  large  enough  to  make  three  or  four  States  as  extensive  as 
Pennsylvania,  Utah  two  or  three,  and  New  Mexico  four  or  five  of  like  dimen- 
sions. Indeed,  the  whole  country  embraced  within  the  proposed  Territories 
of  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  together  with  the  States  of  Arkansas,  Missouri,  and 
Iowa,  and  the  larger  part  of  Minnesota,  and  the  whole  of  the  Indian  country 
west  of  Arkansas,  once  constituted  a  territorial  government,  under  the  name  of 
the  Missouri  Territory.  In  view  of  this  course  of  legislation  upon  the  subject 
of  territorial  organization,  commencing  before  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  and  coming  down  to  the  last  session  of  Congress,  it  surely 
cannot  be  said  that  there  is  anything  unusual  or  extraordiaary  in  the  size  of  the 
proposed  Territory,  which  should  compel  a  senator  to  vote  against  the  bill,  while 
he  approves  of  the  principles  involved  in  the  measure. 

It  has  al?o  been  urged  in  debate  that  there  is  no  necessity  for  these  territo- 
rial organizations ;  and  I  have  been  called  upon  to  point  out  any  public  and  na- 
tional considerations  which  require  action  at  this  time.  Senators  seem  to  forget 
that  our  immense  and  valuable  possessions  on  the  Pacific  are  separated  from  the 
States  and  organized  Territories,  on  this  side  of  the  Itocky  mountains  by  a  vast 
wilderness,  filled  by  hostile  savages ;  that  nearly  a  hundred  thousand  emigrants 
pass  through  this  barbarous  wilderness  every  year,  on  their  way  to  California 
and  Oregon ;  that  these  emigrants  are  American  citizens,  our  own  constituents, 


368 

who  are  entitled  to  the  protection  of  law  and  government ;  and  that  they  are 
left  to  vnake  their  way,  as  best  they  may,  without  the  protection  or  aid  of  law 
or  government. 

The  United  States  mails  for  New  Mexico  and  Utah,  and  all  official  communi- 
cations between  this  government  and  the  authorities  of  those  Territories,  are 
required  to  be  carried  over  these  wild  plains,  and  through  the  gorges  of  the 
mountains,  where  you  have  made  no  provision  for  roads,  bridges,  or  ferries  to 
facilitate  travel,  or  forts  or  other  means  of  safety  to  protect  life.  As  often  as  I 
have  brought  forward  and  urged  the  adoption  of  measures  to  remedy  these  evils, 
and  afford  security  against  the  dangers  to  which  our  people  are  constantly  ex- 
posed, they  have  been  promptly  voted  down  as  not  being  of  sufficient  impor- 
tance to  command  the  favorable  consideration  of  Congress.  Now,  when  I  pro- 
pose to  organize  the  Territories,  and  allow  the  people  to  do  for  themselves  what 
you  have  so  often  refused  to  do  for  them,  I  am  told  that  there  are  not  white  in- 
habitants enough  permanently  settled  in  the  country  to  require  and  sustain  a 
government.  True  there  is  not  a  very  large  population  there,  for  the  very  good 
reason  that  your  Indian  code  and  intercourse  laws  exclude  the  settlers,  and  for- 
bid their  remaining  there  to  cultivate  the  soil.  You  refuse  to  throw  the  country 
open  to  settlers,  and  then  object  to  the  organization  of  the  Territories  upon  the 
ground  that  there  is  not  a  sufficient  number  of  inhabitants. 

The  senator  from  Connecticut  [Mr.  SMITH]  has  made  a  long  argument  to 
prove  that  there  are  no  inhabitants  in  the  proposed  Territories,  because  nearly 
all  of  those  who  have  gone  and  settled  there  have  done  so  in  violation  of  cer- 
tain old  acts  of  Congress  which  forbid  the  people  to  take  possession  of  and 
settle  upon  the  public  lands  until  after  they  should  be  surveyed  and  brought 
into  market. 

I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the  question  whether  these  settlers  are  technically 
legal  inhabitants  or  not.  It  is  enough  for  me  that  they  are  a  part  of  our  own 
people;  that  they  are  settled  on  the  public  domain;  that  the  public  interests 
would  be  promoted  by  throwing  that  public  domain  open  to  settlement ;  and 
that  there  is  no  good  reason  why  the  protection  of  law  and  the  blessings  of 
government  should  not  be  extended  to  them.  I  must  be  permitted  to  remind 
the  senator  that  the  same  objection  existed  in  its  full  force  to  Minnesota,  to 
Oregon  and  to  Washington,  when  each  of  those  Territories  were  organized  ; 
and  that  I  have  no  recollection  that  he  deemed  it  his  duty  to  call  the  attention 
of  Congress  to  the  objection,  or  considered  it  of  sufficient  importance  to  justify 
him  in  recording  his  own  vote  against  the  organization  of  either  of  those  Ter- 
ritories. 

Mr.  President,  I  do  not  feel  called  upon  to  make  any  reply  to  the  argument 
which  the  senator  from  Connecticut  has  urged  against  the  passage  of  this  bill 
upon  the  score  of  expense  in  sustaining  these  territorial  governments,  for  the 
reason  that,  if  the  public  interests  require  the  enactment  of  the  law,  it  follows 
as  a  natural  consequence  that  all  the  expenses  necessary  to  carry  it  into  effect 
are  wise  and  proper. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  the  great  principles  involved  in  the 
bill,  without  omitting,  however,  to  notice  some  of  those  extraneous  matters 
which  have  been  brought  into  this  discussion  with  the  view  of  producing  ano- 
ther anti-slavery  agitation.  We  have  been  told  by  nearly  every  senator  who 
has  spoken  in  opposition  to  this  bill,  that  at  the  time  of  its  introduction  the 
people  were  in  a  state  of  profound  quiet  and  repose ;  that  the  anti-slavery  agi- 
tation had  entirely  ceased ;  and  that  the  whole  country  was  acquiescing  cheer- 
fully and  cordially  in  the  compromise  measures  of  1850  as  a  final  adjustment  of 
this  vexed  question. 

Sir,  it  is  truly  refreshing  to  hear  senators,  who  contested  every  inch  of  ground 
in  opposition  to  those  measures  when  they  were  under  discussion,  who  predicted 
all  manner  of  evils  and  calamities  from  their  adoption,  and  who  raised  the  cry 


369 

of  repeal,  and  even  rcsistence,  to  their  execution,  after  they  had  become  the 
laws  of  the  land — I  say  it  is  really  refreshing  to  hear  these  same  senators  now 
bear  their  united  testimony  to  the  wisdom  of  those  measures,  and  to  the  pa- 
triotic motives  which  induced  us  to  pass  them  in  defiance  of  their  threats  and 
resistance,  and  to  their  beneficial  effects  in  restoring  peace,  harmony,  and  fra- 
ternity to  a  distracted  country.  These  are  precious  confessions  from  the  lips  of 
those  who  stand  pledged  never  to  assent  to  the  propriety  of  those  measures,  and 
to  make  war  upon  them  so  long  as  they  shall  remain  upon  the  statute-book. 
I  well  understand  that  these  confessions  are  now  made,  not  with  the  view  of 
yielding  their  assent  to  the  propriety  of  carrying  those  enactments  into  faithful 
execution,  but  for  the  purpose  of  having  a  pretext  for  charging  upon  we,  as  the 
author  of  this  bill,  the  responsibility  of  an  agitation  which  they  are  striving  to 
produce.  They  say  that  I,  and  not  they,  have  revived  the  agitation.  What 
have  I  done  to  render  me  obnoxious  to  this  charge  ?  They  say  I  wrote  and  in- 
troduced this  Nebraska  bill.  That  is  true;  but  I  was  not  a  volunteer  in  the 
transaction.  The  Senate,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  appointed  me  chairman  of  the 
territorial  committee,  and  associated  five  intelligent  and  patriotic  senators  with 
me,  and  thus  made  it  our  duty  to  take  charge  of  all  territorial  business.  In 
like  manner,  and  with  the  concurrence  of  these  complaining  senators,  the  Se- 
nate referred  to  us  a  distinct  proposition  to  organize  this  Nebraska  Territory, 
and  required  us  to  report  specifically  upon  the  question.  I  repeat,  then,  we 
were  not  volunteers  in  this  business.  The  duty  was  imposed  upon  us  by  the 
Senate.  We  were  not  unmindful  of  the  delicacy  and  responsibility  of  the  posi- 
tion. We  were  aware  that  from  1820  to  1850  the  abolition  doctrine  of  con- 
gressional interference  with  slavery  in  the  Territories  and  new  States  had  so  far 
prevailed  as  to  keep  up  an  incessant  slavery  agitation  in  Congress,  and  through- 
out the  country,  whenever  any  new  Territory  was  to  be  acquired  or  organized. 
We  were  also  aware  that,  in  1850,  the  right  of  the  people  to  decide  this  ques- 
tion for  themselves,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution,  was  substituted  for  the 
doctrine  of  congressional  intervention.  The  first  question,  therefore,  which  the 
committee  were  called  upon  to  decide,  and  indeed  the  only  question  of  any  ma- 
terial importance,  in  framing  this  bill,  was  this  :  Shall  we  adhere  to  and  carry 
out  the  principle  recognized  by  the  compromise  measures  of  1850,  or  shall  we 
go  back  to  the  old  exploded  doctrine  of  congressional  interference,  as  establish- 
ed in  1820,  in  a  large  portion  of  the  country,  and  which  it  was  the  object  of 
the  Wilmot  proviso  to  give  a  universal  application,  not  only  to  all  the  territory 
which  we  then  possessed,  but  all  which  we  might  hereafter  acquire  ?  There 
were  no  other  alternatives.  We  were  compelled  to  frame  the  bill  upon  the  one 
or  the  other  of  these  two  principles.  The  doctrine  of  1820  or  the  doctrine  of 
1850  must  prevail.  In  the  discharge  of  the  duty  imposed  upon  us  by  the  Se- 
nate, the  committee  could  not  hesitate  upon  this  point,  whether  we  consulted 
our  individual  opinions  and  principles  or  those  which  were  known  to  be  enter- 
tained arid  boldly  avowed  by  a  large  majority  of  the  Senate.  The  two  great 
political  parties  of  the  country  stood  solemnly  pledge  1  before  the  world  to  ad- 
here to  the  compromise  measures  of  1850,  "  in  principle  and  substance."  A 
large  majority  of  the  Senate,  indeed  every  member  of  the  body,  I  believe,  ex- 
cept the  two  avowed  abolitionists,  [Mr.  Chase  and  Mr.  Sumner]  profess  to  be- 
long to  the  one  or  the  other  of  these  parties,  and  hence  was  supposed  to  be  un- 
der a  high  moral  obligation  to  carry  out  the  u  principle  and  substance"  of  those 
measures  in  all  new  territorial  organizations.  The  report  of  the  committee 
was  in  accordance  with  this  obligation.  I  am  arraigned,  therefore,  for  having 
endeavored  to  represent  the  opinions  and  principles  of  the  Senate  truly ;  for 
having  performed  my  duty  in  conformity  with  the  parliamentary  law ;  for  having 
been  faithful  to  the  trust  reposed  in  me  by  the  Senate.  Let  the  vote  this  night 
determine  whether  I  have  thus  faithfully  represented  your  opinions.  When  a 
majority  of  the  Senate  shall  have  passed  the  bill ;  when  a  majority  of  the 
24 


370 

States  shall  have  endorsed  it  through  their  representatives  upon  this  floor ; 
when  a  majority  of  the  South  and  a  majority  of  the  North  shall  have  sanc- 
tioned it;  when  a  majority  of  the  Whig  party  and  a  majority  of  the  Democra- 
tic party  shall  have  voted  for  it,  when  each  of  these  propositions  shall  be  de- 
monstrated by  the  vote  this  night  on  the  final  passage  of  the  bill,  I  shall  be 
willing  to  submit  the  question  to  the  country,  whether,  as  the  organ  of  the 
committee,  I  performed  my  duty  in  the  report  and  bill  which  have  called  down 
upon  my  head  so  much  denunciation  and  abuse. 

Mr.  President,  the  opponents  of  this  measure  have  had  much  to  say  about 
the  mutations  and  modifications  which  this  bill  has  undergone  since  it  was  first 
introduced  by  myself,  and  about  the  alleged  departure  of  the  bill,  in  its  present 
form,  from  the  principle  laid  down  in  the  original  report  of  the  committee  as  a 
rule  of  action  in  all  future  territorial  organizations.  Fortunately  there  is  no 
necessity,  even  if  your  patience  would  tolerate  such  a  course  of  argument  at 
this  late  hour  of  the  night,  for  me  to  examine  these  speeches  in  detail,  and  to 
reply  to  each  charge  separately.  Each  speaker  seems  to  have  followed  faith- 
fully in  the  footsteps  of  his  leader — in  the  path  marked  out  by  the  abolition 
confederates  in  their  manifesto,  which  I  exposed  on  a  former  occasion.  You 
have  seen  them  on  their  winding  way,  meandering  the  narrow  and  crooked  path 
in  Indian  file,  each  treading  close  upon  the  heels  of  the  other,  and  neither  ven- 
turing to  take  a  step  to  the  right  or  left,  or  to  occupy  one  inch  of  ground  which 
did  not  bear  the  foot-print  of  the  abolition  champion.  To  answer  one,  there- 
fore, is  to  answer  the  whole.  The  statement  to  which  they  seem  to  attach  the 
most  importance,  and  which  they  have  repeated  oftener  perhaps  than  any  other, 
is,  that,  pending  the  compromise  measures  of  1850,  no  man  in  or  out  of  Con- 
gress, ever  dreamed  of  abrogating  the  Missouri  compromise  ;  that  from  that  pe- 
riod down  to  the  present  session  nobody  supposed  that  its  validity  had  been 
impaired,  or  anything  done  which  rendered  it  obligatory  upon  us  to  make  it 
inoperative  hereafter ;  that  at  the  time  of  submitting  the  report  and  bill  to  the 
Senate,  on  the  4th  of  January  last,  neither  I  nor  any  member  of  the  commit- 
tee ever  thought  of  such  a  thing ;  and  that  we  could  never  be  brought  up  to 
the  point  of  abrogating  the  eighth  section  of  the  Missouri  act  until  after  the 
senator  from  Kentucky  introduced  his  amendment  to  my  bill. 

Mr.  President,  before  I  proceed  to  expose  the  many  misrepresentations  con- 
tained in  this  complicated  charge,  I  must  call  the  attention  of  the  Semite  to 
the  false  issue  which  these  gentlemen  are  endeavoring  to  impose  upon  the 
country,  for  the  purpose  of  diverting  public  attention  from  the  real  issue  con- 
tained in  the  bill.  They  wish  to  have  the  people  believe  that  the  abrogation  of 
what  they  call  the  Missouri  compromise  was  the  main  object  and  aim  of  the 
bill,  and  that  the  only  question  involved  is,  whether  the  prohibition  of  slavery 
north  of  36°  30'  shall  be  repealed  or  not  ?  That  which  is  a  mere  incident 
they  choose  to  consider  the  principal.  They  make  war  on  the  means  by  which 
we  propose  to  accomplish  an  object,  instead  of  openly  resisting  the  object  itself. 
The  principle  which  we  propose  to  carry  into  effect  by  the  bill  is  this  :  That 
Congress  shall  neither  legislate  slavery  into  any  Territories  or  State,  nor  out  of 
the  same;  but  the  people  shall  be  left  free  to  regulate  their  domestic  concerns  in 
their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

In  order  to  carry  this  principle  into  practical  operation,  it  becomes  necessary 
to  remove  whatever  legal  obstacles  might  be  found  in  the  way  of  its  free  exer- 
cise. It  is  only  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  this  great  fundamental  princi- 
ple of  self-government  that  the  bill  renders  the  eighth  section  of  the  Missouri 
act  inoperative  and  void. 

Now,  let  me  ask,  will  these  senators  who  have  arraigned  me,  or  any  one  of 
them,  have  the  assurance  to  rise  in  his  place' and  declare  that  this  great  princi- 
ple was  never  thought  of  or  advocated  as  applicable  to  territorial  bills,  in  1850; 
that,  fsom  that  session  until  the  present,  nobody  ever  thought  of  incorporating 


371 

this  principle  in  all  new  territorial  organizations  ;  that  the  Committee  on  Ter- 
ritories did  not  recommend  it  in  their  report ;  and  that  it  required  the  amend- 
ment of  the  senator  from  Kentucky  to  bring  us  up  to  that  point  ?  Will  any 
one  of  my  accusers  dare  to  make  this  issue,  and  let  it  be  tried  by  the  record  ? 
I  will  begin  with  the  compromises  of  1850.  Any  senator  who  will  take  the 
trouble  to  examine  our  journals  will  find  that  on  the  25th  of  March  of  that 
year,  I  reported  from  the  Committee  on  Territories  two  bills  including  the  fol- 
lowing measures  :  the  admission  of  California,  a  territorial  government  for 
Utah,  a  territorial  government  for  New  Mexico,  and  the  adjustment  of  the 
Texas  boundary.  These  bills  proposed  to  leave  the  people  of  Utah  and  New 
Mexico  free  to  decide  the  slavery  question  for  themselves,  in  the  precise  lan- 
guage of  the  Nebraska  bill  now  under  discussion.  A  few  weeks  afterwards,  the 
Committee  of  Thirteen  took  those  two  bills  and  put  a  wafer  between  them, 
and  reported  them  back  to  the  Senate  as  one  bill,  with  some  slight  amendments. 
One  of  those  amendments  was,  that  the  territorial  legislatures  should  not  legis- 
late upon  the  subject  of  African  slavery.  I  objected  to  that  provision  upon 
the  ground  that  it  subverted  the  great  principle  of  self-government  upon  which 
the  bill  had  been  originally  framed  by  the  Territorial  Committee.  On  the  first 
trial,  the  Senate  refused  to  strike  it  out,  but  subsequently  did  so,  after  full  de- 
bate, in  order  to  establish  that  principle  as  the  rule  of  action  in  territorial  or- 
ganizations. 

Mr.  Dodge,  of  Iowa.     It  was  done  on  your  own  motion. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Upon  this  point  I  trust  I  will  be  excused  for  reading  one  or 
two  sentences  from  some  remarks  I  made  in  the  Senate  on  the  3rd  of  June, 
1850: 

"  The  position  that  I  have  ever  taken  has  been  that  this  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, and  all  other  questions  relating  to  the  domestic  affairs  and  domestic  policy 
of  the  Territories,  ought  to  be  left  to  the  decision  of  the  people  themselves,  and 
that  we  ought  to  be  content  with  whatever  way  they  would  decide  the  question, 
because  they  have  a  much  deeper  interest  in  these  matters  than  we  have,  and 
know  much  better  what  institutions  will  suit  them,  than  we,  who  have  never  been 
there,  can  decide  for  them." 

Again,  in  the  same  debate,  I  said  : 

"I  do  not  see  how  those  of  us  who  have  taken  the  position  which  we  have 
taken,  (that  of  non-interference,)  and  have  afgued  in  favor  of  the  right  of  the 
people  to  legislate  for  themselves  on  this  question,  can  support  such  a  provision 
without  abandoning  all  the  arguments  which  we  urged  in  the  presidential  cam- 
paign in  the  year  1848,  and  the  principles  set  forth  by  the  honorable  senator 
from  Michigan  in  that  letter  which  is  known  as  the  'Nicholson  letter.'  "We  are 
required  to  abandon  that  platform ;  we  are  required  to  abandon  those  principles, 
and  to  stultify  ourselves,  and  to  adopt  the  opposite  doctrine ;  and  for  what  ?  In 
order  to  say  that  the  people  of  the  Territories  shall  not  have  such  institutions 
as  they  shall  deem  adapted  to  their  condition  and  their  wants.  I  do  not  see, 
sir,  how  such  a  provision  as  that  can  be  acceptable  either  to  the  people  of  the 
north  or  the  south/' 

Mr.  President,  I  could  go  on  and  multiply  extract  after  extract  from  my 
speeches  in  1850,  and  prior  to  that  date  to  show  that  this  doctrine  of  leaving 
the  people  to  decide  these  questions  for  themselves  is  not  an  "  after-thought" 
with  me,  seized  upon  this  session  for  the  first  time,  as  my  calumuiators  have  so 
frequently  and  boldly  charged  in  their  speeches  during  this  debate,  and  in  their 
manifesto  to  the  public.  I  refused  to  support  the  celebrated  omnibus  bill  in 
1850  until  the  obnoxious  provision  was  stricken  out,  and  the  principle  of  self* 
government  restored,  as  it  existed  in  my  original  bill.  No  sooner  were  the 
compromise  measures  of  1850  passed,  than  the  abolition  confederates,  who  lead 


372 

the  opposition  to  this  bill  now,  raised  the  cry  of  repeal  in  some  sections  of  the 
country,  and  in  others  forcible  resistance  to  the  execution  of  the  law.  In  order 
to  arrest  and  suppress  the  treasonable  purposes  of  these  abolition  confederates, 
and  avert  the  horrors  of  civil  war,  it  became  my  duty,  on  the  23d  of  October, 
1850,  to  address  an  excited  and  frenzied  multitude  at  Chicago,  in  defence  of 
each  and  all  of  the  compromise  measures  of  that  year.  I  will  read  one  or  two 
sentences  from  that  speech,  to  show  how  those  measures  were  then  understood 
and  explained  by  their  advocates  : 

"  These  measures  are  predicated  on  the  great  fundamental  principle  that  every 
people  ought  to  possess  (he  right  of  forming  and  regulating  their  own  internal 
concerns  and  domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way." 

Again  : 

"These  things  are  all  confided  by  the  Constitution  to  each  State  to  decide  for 
itself,  and  I  KNOW  OF  NO  REASON  WHY  THE  same  principle  should  not  be  con- 
Jided  to  the  Territories." 

In  this  speech  it  will  be  seen  that  I  lay  down  a  general  principle  of  universal 
application,  and  make  no  distinction  between  territories  north  or  south  of 
30°  30'. 

I  am  aware  that  some  of  the  abolition  confederates  have  perpetrated  a  mon- 
strous forgery  on  that  speech,  and  are  now  circulating  through  the  abolition 
newspapers  the  statement  that  I  said  that  I  would  "  cling  with  the  tenacity  of 
life  to  the  compromise  of  1820."  This  statement,  false  as  it  is — a  deliberate 
act  of  forgery,  as  it  is  known  to  be  by  all  who  have  ever  seen  or  read  the  speech 
referred  to — constitutes  the  staple  article  out  of  which  most  of  the  abolition 
orators  at. the  small  anti-Nebraska  meetings  manufacture  the  greater  part  of 
their  speeches.  I  now  declare  that  there  is  not  a  sentence,  a  line,  nor  even  a 
word  in  that  speech,  which  imposes  the  slightest  limitation  on  the  application  of 
the  great  principle  embraced  in  this  bill  in  all  new  territorial  organizations, 
without  the  least  reference  to  the  line  of  86°  30'. 

At  the  session  of  1850-'51,  a  few  weeks  after  this  speech  was  made  at  Chi- 
cago, and  when  it  had  been  published  in  pamphlet  form  and  circulated  exten- 
sively over  the  States,  the  legislature  of  Illinois  proceeded  to  revise  its  action 
upon  the  slavery  question,  and  define  its  position  on  the  compromise  of  1850. 
After  rescinding  the  resolutions  adopted  at  a  previous  session,  instructing  my 
colleague  and  myself  to  vote  for  a  proposition  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  Terri- 
tories, resolutions  were  adopted  approving  the  compromise  measures  of  1850.  I 
will  read  one  of  the  resolutions,  which  was  adopted  in  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, by  a  vote  of  61  yeas  to  4  nays  : 

"Resolved,  That  our  liberty  and  independence  are  based  upon  the  right  of 
the  people  to  form  for  themselves  such  a  government  as  they  may  choose ;  that 
this  great  privilege — the  birthright  of  freemen,  the  gift  of  Heaven,  secured  to 
us  by  the  blood  of  our  ancestors — ought  to  be  extended  to  future  generations  ; 
and  no  limitation  ought  to  be  applied  to  this  power,  in  the  organization  of  any 
Territory  of  the  United  States,  of  either  a  Territorial  government  or  a  State 
Constitution  :  Provided,  The  government  so  established  shall  be  republican, 
and  in  conformity  with  the  Constitution." 

Another  series  of  resolutions  having  passed  the  Senate  almost  unanimously, 
embracing  the  same  principle  in  different  language,  they  were  concurred  in  by 
the  House.  Thus  was  the  position  of  Illinois,  upon  the  slavery  question,  de- 
fined at  the  first  session  of  the  legislature  after  the  adoption  of  the  compromise 
of  1860. 

Now,  sir,  what  becomes  of  the  declaration  which  has  been  made  by  nearly 
every  opponent  of  this  bill,  that  nobody  in  this  whole  Union  ever  dreamed  that 


373 

the  principle  of  the  Utah  and  New  Mexican  bill  was  to  be  incorporated  into  all 
future  territorial  organizations  ?  I  have  shown  that  my  own  State  so  under- 
stood and  declared  it  at  the  time  in  the  most  implicit  and  solemn  manner.  Il- 
linois declared  that  our  "liberty  and  independence"  rest  upon  this  u  princi- 
ple ;"  that  the  principle  "  ought  to  be  extended  to  future  generations ;"  and 
that  "  no  limitation  ought  to  be  applied  to  this  power  in  the  organization  of  any 
Territory  of  the  United  States."  No  exception  is  made  in  regard  to  Nebraska. 
No  Missouri  compromise  lines;  no  reservations  of  the  country  north  of  36°  30'. 
The  principle  is  declared  to  be  the  " birthright  of  freemen;"  the  "gift  of  Hea- 
ven," to  be  applied  without  limitation,  in  Nebraska  as  well  as  Utah,  north  as 
well  as  south  of  36°  30'. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  remark  that  the  legislature  of  Illinois,  at 
its  recent  session,  has  passed  resolutions  approving  the  Nebraska  bill;  and 
*  among  the  resolutions  is  one  in  the  precise  language  of  the  resolution  of  1851, 
which  I  have  just  read  to  the  Senate. 

Thus  I  have  shown,  Mr.  President,  that  the  legislature  and  people  of  Illinois 
have  always  understood  the  compromise  measures  of  1850  as  establishing  cer- 
tain principles  as  rules  of  action  in  the  organization  of  all  new  Territories,  and 
that  no  limitation  was  to  be  made  on  either  side  of  the  geographical  line  of 
36°  30'. 

Neither  my  time  nor  your  patience  will  allow  me  to  take  up  the  resolutions  of 
the  different  States  in  detail,  and  show  what  has  been  the  common  understand- 
ing of  the  whole  country  upon  this  point.  I  am  now  vindicating  myself  and 
my  own  action  against  the  assaults  of  my  calumniators;  and,  for  that  purpose, 
it  is  sufficient  to  show  that,  in  the  report  and  bill  which  I  have  presented  to  the 
b'enate,  I  have  only  carried  out  the  known  principles  and  solemnly  declared 
will  of  the  State  whose  representative  I  am.  I  will  now  invite  the  attention  of 
the  Senate  to  the  report  of  the  committee,  in  order  that  it  may  be  known  how 
much,  or  rather  how  little,  truth  there  is  for  the  allegation  which  has  been  so 
often  made  and  repeated  on  this  floor,  that  the  idea  of  allowing  the  people  in 
Nebraska  to  decide  the  slavery  question  for  themselves  was  a  "sheer  after 
thought,"  conceived  since  the  report  was  made,  and  not  until  the  senator  from 
Kentucky  proposed  his  amendment  to  the  bill. 

I  read  from  that  portion  of  the  report  in  which  the  committee  lay  down  the 
principle  by  which  they  proposed  to  be  governed : 

"  In  the  judgment  of  your  committee,  those  measures  (compromise  of  1850) 
were  intended  to  have  a  far  more  comprehensive  and  enduring  effect  than  the 
mere  adjustment  of  the  difficulties  arisiug  out  of  the  recent  acquisition  of  Mex- 
ican territory.  They  were  designed  to  establish  certain  great  principles,  which 
would  not  only  furnish  adequate  remedies  for  existing  evils,  but  in  all  time  to 
come  avoid  the  perils  of  a  similar  agitation,  by  withdrawing  the  question  of 
slavery  from  the  halls  of  Congress  and  the  political  arena,  and  committing  it 
to  the  arbitrament  of  those  who  were  immediately  interested  in  and  alone  respon- 
sible for  its  consequences" 

After  making  a  brief  argument  in  defence  of  this  principle,  the  report  pro- 
ceeds, as  follows : 

"  From  these  provisions,  it  is  apparent  that  the  compromise  measures  of  1850 
affirm  and  rest  upon  the  following  propositions  : 

"  First.  That  all  questions  pertaining  to  slavery  in  the  Territories,  and  in  the 
new  States  to  be  formed  therefrom,  are  to  be  left  to  the  decision  of  the  people 
residing  therein,  by  their  appropriate  representatives,  to  be  chosen  by  them  for 
that  purpose." 


374 

And,  in  conclusion,  the  report  proposes  a  substitute  for  the  bill  introduced 
by  the  senator  from  Iowa,  and  concludes  as  follows  : 

tl  The  substitute  for  the  bill  which  your  committee  have  prepared,  and  which 
is  commended  to  the  favorable  action  of  the  Senate,  proposes  to  carry  these 
propositions  and  principles  into  practical  operation,  in  the  precise  language  of 
the  compromise  measures  of  1850." 

Mr.  President,  as  there  has  been  so  much  misrepresentation  upon  this  point, 
I  must  be  permitted  to  repeat  that  the  doctrine  of  the  report  of  the  committee, 
as  has  been  conclusively  proved  by  these  extracts,  is — 

First.  That  the  whole  question  of  slavery  should  be  withdrawn  from  the 
Halls  of  Congress,  and  the  political  arena,  and  committed  to  the  abitrament  of 
those  who  are  immediately  interested  in  and  alone  responsible  for  its  existence. 

Second.  The  applying  this  principle  to  the  Territories  and  the  new  States  to 
be  formed  therefrom,  all  questions  pertaining  to  slavery  were  to  be  referred  to 
the  people  residing  therein. 

Third.  That  the  committee  proposed  to  carry  these  propositions  and  princi- 
ples into  effect  in  the  precise  language  of  the  compromise  measures  of  1850. 

Are  not  these  propositions  identical  with  the  principles  and  provisions  of  the 
bill  on  your  table  ?  If  there  is  a  hair's  breadth  of  discrepancy  between  the 
two,  I  ask  any  senator  to  rise  in  his  place  and  point  it  out.  Both  rest  upon  the 
great  principle,  which  forms  the  basis  of  all  our  institutions,  that  the  people 
are  to  decide  the  question  for  themselves,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution. 

But  my  accusers  attempt  to  raise  up  a  false  issue,  and  thereby  divert  public 
attention  from  the  real  one,  by  the  cry  that  the  Missouri  compromise  is  to  be 
repealed  or  violated  by  the  passage  of  this  bill.  Well,  if  the  eighth  section  of 
the  Missouri  act,  which  attempted  to  fix  the  destinies  of  future  generations  in 
those  Territories  for  all  time  to  come,  in  utter  disregard  of  the  rights  and 
wishes  of  the  people  when  they  should  be  received  into  the  Union  as  States,  be 
inconsistent  with  the  great  principle  of  self-government  and  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  it  ought  to  be  abrogated.  The  legislation  of  1850  abrogated 
the  Missouri  compromise,  so  far  as  the  country  embraced  within  the  limits  of 
Utah  and  New  Mexico  was  covered  by  the  slavery  restriction.  It  is  true,  that 
those  acts  did  not  in  terms  and  by  name  repeal  the  act  of  1820,  as  originally 
adopted,  or  as  extended  by  the  resolutions  annexing  Texas  in  1845,  any  more 
than  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Territories  proposes  to  repeal  the  same 
acts  this  session.  But  the  acts  of  1850  did  authorize  the  people  of  those  Ter- 
ritories to  exercise  l<  all  rightful  powers  of  legislation  consistent  with  the  Con- 
stitution/' not  excepting  the  question  of  slavery ;  and  did  provide  that,  when 
those  Territories  should  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  they  should  be  received 
with  or  without  slavery  as  the  people  thereof  might  determine  at  the  date 
of  their  admission.  These  provisions  were  in  direct  conflict  with  a  clause 
in  a  former  enactment,  declaring  that  slavery  should  be  forever  prohibited 
in  any  portioa  of  said  Territories,  and  hence  rendered  such  clause  inope- 
rative and  void  to  the  extent  of  such  conflict.  This  was  an  inevitable  con- 
sequence, resulting  from  the  provisions  in  those  acts  which  gave  the  people 
the  right  to  decide  the  slavery  question  for  themselves,  in  conformity  with 
the  Constitution.  It  was  not  necessary  to  go  further  and  declare  that  cer- 
tain previous  enactments,  which  were  incompatible  with  the  exercise  of  the 
powers  conferred  in  the  bills,  "  are  hereby  repealed."  The  very  aot  of  grant- 
ing those  powers  and  rights  have  the  legal  effect  of  removing  all  obstructions  to 
the  exercise  of  them  by  the  people,  as  prescribed  in  those  territorial  bills.  Fol- 
lowing that  example,  the  Committee  on  Territories  did  not  consider  it  necessary 
to  declare  the  eighth  section  of  the  Missouri  act  repealed.  We  were  content 
to  organize  Nebraska  in  the  precise  language  of  the  Utah  and  New  Mexican 


375 

bills.  Our  object  was  to  leave  the  people  entirely  free  to  form  and  regulate 
their  domestic  institutions  and  internal  concerns  in  their  own  way,  under  the 
Constitution ;  and  we  deemed  it  wise  to  accomplish  that  object  in  the  exact 
terras  in  which  the  same  thing  had  been  done  in  Utah  and  New  Mexico  by  the 
acts  of  1850.  This  was  the  principle  upon  which  the  committee  reported  ;  and 
our  bill  was  supposed,  and  is  now  believed,  to  have  been  in  accordance  with  it. 
When  doubts  were  raised  whether  the  bill  did  fully  carry  out  the  principle  laid 
dowu  in  the  report,  amendments  were  made,  from  time  to  time,  in  order  to 
avoid  all  misconstruction,  and  make  the  true  intent  of  the  act  more  explicit. 
The  last  of  these  amendments  was  adopted  yesterday,  on  the  motion  of  the 
distingushed  senator  from  North  Carolina,  (Mr.  Badger,)  in  regard  to  the  re- 
vival of  any  laws  or  regulations  which  may  have  existed  prior  to  1820.  That 
amendment  was  not  intended  to  change  the  legal  effect  of  the  bill.  Its 
object  was  to  repel  the  slander  which  had  been  propagated  by  the  enemies  of 
the  measure  in  the  north,  that  the  southern  supporters  of  the  bill  desired  to 
legislate  slavery  into  these  Territories.  The  south  denies  the  right  of  Con- 
gress either  to  legislate  slavery  into  any  Territory  or  State,  or  out  of  any 
Territory  or  State.  Non-interventoin  by  Congress  with  slavery  in  the  States  or 
Territories  is  the  doctrine  of  the  bill,  and  all  the  amendments  which  have  been 
agreed  to  have  been  made  with  the  view  of  removing  all  doubt  and  cavil  as  to 
the  true  meaning  and  object  of  the  measure. 

Mr.  President,  I  think  I  have  succeeded  in  vindicating  myself  and  the  action 
of  the  committee  from  the  assaults  which  have  been  made  upon  us  in  conse- 
quence of  these  amendments.  It  seems  to  be  the  tactics  of  our  opponents  to 
direct  their  arguments  against  the  unimportant  points  and  incidental  questions 
which  are  to  be  affected  by  carrying  out  the  principle,  with  the  hope  of  relieving 
themselves  from  the  necessity  of  controverting  the  principle  itself.  The  senator 
from  Ohio  [Mr.  CHASE]  led  off  gallantly  in  the  charge  that  the  committee,  in 
the  report  and  bill  first  submitted,  did  not  contemplate  the  repeal  of  the  Mis- 
souri compromise,  and  could  not  be  brought  to  that  point  until  after  the  senator 
from  Kentucky  offered  his  amendment.  The  senator  from  Connecticut  [Mr. 
SMITH]  followed  his  lead,  and  repeated  the  same  statement.  Then  came  the 
other  senator  from  Ohio,  [Mr.  WADE,]  and  the  senator  from  New  York,  [Mr. 
SEWARD,]  and  the  senator  from  Massachusetts,  [Mr.  SUMNER,*]  all  singing  the 
same  song,  only  varying  the  tune. 

Let  me  ask  these  senators  what  they  mean  by  this  statement  ?  Do  they  wish 
to  be  understood  as  saying  that  the  report  and  first  form  of  the  bill  did  not 
provide  for  leaving  the  slavery  question  to  the  decision  of  the  people  in  the 
terms  of  the  Utah  bill  ?  Surely  they  will  not  dare  to  say  that,  for  I  have 
already  shown  that  the  two  measures  were  identical  in  principle  and  enactment. 
Do  they  mean  to  say  that  the  adoption  of  our  first  bill  would  not  have  had  the 
legal  effect  to  have  rendered  the  eighth  section  of  the  Missouri  act  "  inoperative 
and  void,"  to  use  the  language  of  the  present  bill  ?  If  this  be  not  their  mean- 
ing, will  they  rise  in  their  places  and  inform  the  Senate  what  their  meaning 
was  ?  They  must  have  had  some  object  in  giving  so  much  prominence  to  this 
statement,  and  in  repeating  it  so  often.  I  address  the  question  to  the  senators 
from  Ohio  and  Massachusetts,  [Mr.  CHASE  and  Mr.  SUMNER.]  I  despair  in 
extorting  a  response  from  them  ;  for,  no  matter  in  what  way  they  may  answer 
upon  this  point,  I  have  in  my  hand  the  evidence  over  their  own  signatures,  to 
disprove  the  truth  of  their  answer.  I  allude  to  their  appeal  or  manifesto  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  in  which  they  arraign  the  bill  and  report,  in  coarse 
and  savage  terms,  as  a  proposition  to  repeal  the  Missouri  compromise,  to  violate 
plighted  faith,  to  abrogate  a  solemn  compact,  &c.,  &c.  This  document  was 
signed  by  these  two  senators  in  their  official  capacity,  and  published  to  the  world 
before  any  amendments  had  been  offered  to  the  bill.  It  was  directed  against 
the  committee's  first  bill  and  report,  and  against  them  alone.  If  the  statements 


376 

in  this  document  be  true,  that  the  first  bill  did  repeal  the  eighth  section  of  the 
Missouri  act,  what  are  we  to  think  of  the  statements  ra  their  speeches  since, 
that  such  was  not  the  intention  of  the  committee,  was  not  the  recommendation 
of  the  report,  and  was  not  the  legal  efi'ect  of  the  bill  ?  On  the  contrary,  if  the 
statements  in  their  subsequent  speeches  are  true,  what  apology  do  those  senators 
propose  to  make  to  the  Senate  and  country  for  having  falsified  the  action  of  the 
committee  in  a  document  over  their  own  signatures,  and  thus  spread  a  false 
alarm  among  the  people,  and  misled  the  public  mind  in  respect  to  our  proceed- 
ings ?  These  senators  cannot  avoid  the  one  or  the  other  of  these  alternatives. 
Let  them  seize  upon  either,  and  they  stand  condemned  and  self  convicted  ;  in 
the  one  case  by  their  manifesto,  and  in  the  other  by  their  speeches. 

In  fact,  it  is  clear  that  they  have  understood  the  bill  to  mean  the  same  thing, 
and  to  have  the  same  legal  effect  in  whatever  phase  it  has  been  presented. 
When  first  introduced,  they  denounced  it  as  a  proposition  to  abrogate  the  Mis- 
souri restriction.  When  amended,  they  repeated  the  same  denunciation,  and  so 
on  each  successive  amendment.  They  now  object  to  the  passage  of  the  bill' for 
the  same  reason,  thus  proving  conclusively  that  they  have  not  the  least  faith  in 
the  correctness  of  their  own  statements  in  respect  to  the  mutation  and  changes 
in  the  bill. 

They  seem  very  unwilling  to  meet  the  real  issue.  They  do  not  like  to  discuss 
the  principle.  There  seems  to  be  something  which  strikes  them  with  terror 
when  you  invite  their  attention  to  that  great  fundamental  principle  of  popular 
sovereignty.  Hence  you  find  that  all  the  memorials  they  have  presented  are 
against  repealing  the  Missouri  compromise,  and  in  favor  of  the  sanctity  of  com- 
pacts— in  favor  of  preserving  plighted  faith.  The  senator  from  Ohio  is  cautious 
to  dedicate  his  speech  with  some  such  heading  as  "  Maintain  Plighted  Faith." 
The  object  is  to  keep  the  attention  of  the  people  as  far  as  possible  from  this 
principle  of  self-government  and  constitutional  rights. 

Well,  sir,  what  is  this  Missouri  compromise,  of  which  we  have  heard  so  much 
of  late  ?  It  has  been  read  so  often  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  occupy  the  time 
of  the  Senate  in  reading  it  again.  It  was  an  act  of  Congress,  passed  on  the  6th 
of  March,  1820,  to  authorize  the  people  of  Missouri  to  form  a  constitution  and 
a  State  government,  preparatory  to  the  admission  of  such  State  into  the  Union. 
The  first  section  provided  that  Missouri  should  be  received  into  the  Union  "  on 
an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States  in  all  respects  whatsoever."  The  last 
and  eighth  section  provided  that  slavery  should  be  "forever  prohibited"  in  all 
the  territory  which  had  been  acquired  from  France  north  of  36°  30',  and  not 
included  within  the  limits  of  the  State  of  Missouri.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
terms  of  the  law  that  purports  to  be  a  compact,  or  indicates  that  it  was  any- 
thing more  than  an  ordinary  act  of  legislation.  To  prove  that  it  was  more  than 
it  purports  to  be  on  its  face,  gentlemen  must  produce  other  evidence,  and  prove 
that  there  was  such  an  understanding  as  to  create  a  moral  obligation  in  the  na- 
ture of  a  compact.  Have  they  shown  it  ? 

I  have  heard  but  one  item  of  evidence  produced  during  this  whole  debate, 
and  that  was  a  short  paragraph  from  Niles's  Register,  published  a  few  days  af- 
ter the  passage  of  the  act.  But  gentlemen  aver  that  it  was  a  solemn  compact, 
which  could  not  be  violated  or  abrogated  without  dishonor.  According  to  their 
understanding,  the  contract  was  that,  in  consideration  of  the  admission  of  Mife- 
eouri  into  the  Union,  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States  in  all  respects 
whatsoever,  slavery  should  be  prohibited  forever  in  the  Territories  north  of  36° 
30'.  Now,  who  were  the  parties  to  this  alleged  compact  ?  They  tell  us  that  it 
was  a  stipulation  between  the  north  and  the  south.  Sir,  I  know  of  no  such 
parties  under  the  Constitution.  I  am  unwilling  that  there  shall  be  any  such 
parties  known  in  our  legislation.  If  there  is  such  a  geographical  line,  it  ought 
to  be  obliterated  forever,  and  there  should  be  no  other  parties  than  those  pro- 


377 

vided  for  in  the  Constitution,  viz  :  the  States  of  this  Union.     These  are  the  only 
parties  capable  of  contracting  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

Now,  if  this  was  a  compact,  let  us  see  how  it  was  entered  into.  The  bill 
originated  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  passed  that  body  without  a 
southern  vote  in  its  favor.  It  is  proper  to  remark,  however,  that  it  did  not  at 
that  time  contain  the  eighth  section,  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  Territories;  but 
in  lieu  of  it,  contained  a  provision  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  proposed  State  of 
Missouri.  In  the  Senate,  the  clause  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  State  was  stricken 
out,  and  the  eighth  section  added  to  the  end  of  the  bill,  by  the  terms  of  which 
slavery  was  to  be  forever  prohibited  in  the  territory  not  embraced  in  the  State 
of  Missouri  north  of  36°  30'.  The  vote  on  adding  this  section  stood,  in  the 
Senate,  34  in  the  affirmative,  and  10  in  the  negative.  Of  the  northern  sena- 
tors, 20  voted  for  it  and  2  against  it.  On  the  question  of  ordering  the  bill  to 
a  third  reading  as  amended,  which  was  the  test  vote  on  its  passage,  the  vote 
stood  24  yeas,  20  nays.  Of  the  northern  senators,  4  only  voted  in  the  affirma- 
tive, and  18  in  the  negative.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that,  if  it  was  intended  to 
be  a  com  pact,  the  north  never  agreed  to  it.  The  northern  senators  voted  to  insert 
the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  Territories ;  and  then,  in  the  proportion  of 
more  than  four  to  one,  voted  against  the  passage  of  the  bill.  The  north,  there- 
fore, never  signed  the  compact,  never  consented  to  it,  never  agreed  to  be  bound 
by  it.  This  fact  becomes  very  important  in  vindicating  the  character  of  the 
north  for  repudiating  this  alleged  compromise  a  few  months  afterwards.  The 
act  was  approved  and  became  a  law  on  the  6th  of  March,  1820.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  that  year,  the  people  of  Missouri  formed  a  constitution  and  State  gov- 
ernment preparatory  to  admission  into  the  Union,  in  conformity  with  the  act. 
At  the  next  session  of  Congress,  the  Senate  passed  a  joint  resolution  declaring 
Missouri  to  be  one  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  on  an  equal  footing  with  the 
original  States.  This  resolution  was  sent  to  the  House  of  Representatives, 
where  it  was  rejected  by  northern  votes,  and  thus  Missouri  was  voted  out  of  the 
Union,  instead  of  being  received  into  the  Union  under  the  act  of  the  6th  of 
March,  1820,  now  known  as  the  Missouri  compromise.  Now,  sir,  what  becomes 
of  our  plighted  faith,  if  the  act  of  the  6th  of  March,  1820,  was  a  solemn  com- 
pact, as  we  are  now  told?  They  have  all  rung  the  changes  upon  it,  that  it 
was  a  sacred  and  irrevocable  compact,  binding  in  honor,  in  conscience,  and  mo- 
rals, wnich  could  not  be  violated  or  repudiated  without  perfidy  and  dishonor! 
The  two  senators  from  Ohio,  (Mr.  Chase  and  Mr.  Wade,)  the  senator  from 
Massachusetts,  [Mr.  Sumner,]  the  senator  from  Connecticut,  [Mr.  Smith,]  the 
senator  from  New  York,  [Mr.  Seward,]  and  perhaps  others,  have  all  assumed 
this  position. 

Mr.  Seward.     Will  the  senator  excuse  me  for  a  moment? 

Mr.  .Douglas.     Certainly. 

Mr.  Seward.  Mr.  President,  I  have  foreseen  that  it  would  be  probable  that 
the  honorable  senator  from  Illinois  would  have  occasion  to  reply  to  many  argu- 
ments which  have  been  made  by  the  opponents  of  this  measure ;  and  it  would 
seem,  therefore,  to  create  a  necessity,  on  the  part  of  the  opponents  of  the  bill, 
to  answer  his  arguments  afterwards.  Yet,  at  the  same  time,  meaning  to  be  fair 
and  desiring  to  have  no  such  advantage  as  the  last  word,  but  to  leave  it  to  him, 
to  whom  it  rightly  belongs,  I  had  proposed,  if  agreeable  to  him,  when  he  should 
state  anything  which  controverted  my  own  position,  to  make  the  answer  during 
his  speech,  instead  of  deferring  it  until  afterwards.  To  me  the  last  word  is 
never  of  any  advantage;  but  I  know  that  it  is  to  him,  and  ought  to  be  so  re- 
garded by  him.  I  have  a  word  to  say  here,  and  I  propose  to  say  another  word 
at  another  time ;  but  if  it  be  at  all  uncomfortable  to  the  senator,  I  will  reserve 
what  I  have  to  say  until  after  he  concludes. 

Mr.  Douglas.  If  it  will  take  but  a  minute,  I  will  yield  now ;  but  if  the 
senator  is  to  take  considerable  time,  I  prefer  to  go  on  myself. 


378 

Mr,  Seward.  No,  sir,  I  make  no  long  speeches  anywhere ;  I  never  make  a 
long  speech,  and  therefore  I  would  prefer  saying  what  I  have  to  submit  now,  if 
the  honorable  senator  prefers  it. 

Mr.  Douglas.     Very  well. 

Mr.  Seward.  I  thought  he  would.  In  the  first  place,  I  find  that  the  hono- 
rable senator  is  coming  upon  my  own  ground  in  regard  to  compromises. 

Mr.  Douglas.  That  is  not  a  vindication  of  any  point  which  I  have  attacked. 
I  hope  the  honorable  senator  will  state  his  point. 

Mr.  Seward.  I  am  going  to  state  the  point,  or  I  will  state  nothing.  Who- 
ever will  refer  to  my  antecedents,  will  find  that  in  the  year  1850  1  expressed 
opinions  on  the  subject  of  legislative  compromises  between  the  north  and  south, 
which,  at  that  day,  were  rejected  and  repudiated. 

Mr.  Douglas.  If  the  object  of  the  senator  is  to  go  back,  and  go  through  all 
his  opinions,  I  cannot  yield  the  floor  to  him  ;  but  if  his  object  is  now  to  show 
that  the  north  did  not  violate  the  Missouri  compromise,  I  will  yield. 

Mr.  Seward.  If  the  honorable  senator  will  allow  me  just  one  minute  and  a 
half,  without  dictating  what  I  shall  say  within  that  minute  and  a  half,  I  shall 
be  satisfied. 

Mr.  Douglas.     Certainly,  I  will  consent  to  that. 

Mr.  Seward.  I  find  that  the  honorable  senator  from  Illinois  is  standing  upon 
the  ground  upon  which  I  stood  in  1850.  I  have  nothing  to  say  now,  in  favor 
of  that  ground.  On  this  occasion,  I  stand  upon  the  ground,  in  regard  to  com- 
promises, which  has  been  adopted  by  the  country.  Then,  when  the  senator  tells 
me  that  the  north  did  not  altogether,  willingly  and  unanimously,  consent  to  the 
compromise  of  1820,  I  agree  to  it ;  but  I  have  been  overborne  in  the  country, 
on  the  ground  that  if  one  northern  man  carried  with  him  a  majority  of  Con- 
gress he  bound  the  whole  north.  And  so  I  hold  in  regard  to  the  compromise 
of  1820,  that  it  was  carried  by  a  vote  which  has  been  held  by  the  south  and  by 
the  honorable  senator  from  Illinois  to  bind  the  north.  The  south  having  re- 
ceived their  consideration  and  equivalent,  I  only  hold  him,  upon  his  own  doc- 
trine and  the  doctrine  of  the  south,  bound  to  stand  to  it.  That  is  all  I  have  to 
say  upon  that  point. 

A  few  words  more  will  cover  all  that  I  have  to  say  about  what  the  honorable 
senator  may  say  hereafter  as  to  the  north  repudiating  this  contract.  When  I 
was  absent,  I  understood  the  senator  alluded  to  the  fact  that  my  name  appeared 
upon  an  appeal  which  was  issued  by  the  honorable  senator  from  Ohio,  and  some 
other  members  of  Congress,  to  the  people,  on  the  subject  of  this  bill.  Upon 
that  point  it  has  been  my  intention  throughout  to  leave  to  the  honorable  senator 
from  Illinois,  and  those  who  act  with  him,  whatever  there  is  of  merit,  and 
whatever  there  is  of  responsibility  for  the  present  measure,  and  for  all  the  agi- 
tation and  discussion  upon  it.  Therefore  as  soon  as  I  found,  when  I  returned 
to  the  Capitol,  that  my  name  was  on  that  paper,  I  caused  it  to  to  be  made 
known  and  published,  as  fully  and  extensively  as  I  could,  that  I  had  never 
been  consulted  in  regard  to  it ;  that  I  know  nothing  about  it  j  and  that  the 
merit  of  the  measure,  as  well  as  the  responsibility,  belonged  to  the  honorable 
senator  from  Ohio,  and  those  who  co-operated  with  him ;  and  that  I  had  never 
seen  the  paper  on  which  he  commented ;  nor  have  I  in  any  way  addressed  the 
public  upon  the  subject. 

Mr.  Douglas.  I  wish  to  ask  the  senator  from  New  York  a  question.  If  I 
understood  his  remarks  when  he  spoke,  and  if  I  understand  his  speech  as  pub- 
lished, he  averred  that  the  Missouri  compromise  was  a  compact  between  the 
north  and  the  south ;  that  the  north  performed  it  on  its  part ;  that  it  had  done 
so  faithfully  for  thirty  years  ;  that  the  south  had  received  all  its  benefits,  and 
the  moment  these  benefits  had  been  fully  realized,  the  south  disavowed  the  ob- 
ligations under  which  it  had  received  them.  Is  not  that  his  position  ? 


379 

Mr.  Seward.  I  am  not  accustomed  to  answer  questions  put  to  me,  unless 
they  are  entirely  categorical,  and  placed  in  such  a  shape  that  I  may  know  ex- 
actly, and  have  time  to  consider,  their  whole  extent.  The  honorable  senator 
from  Illinois  has  put  a  very  broad  question.  What  I  mean  to  say,  however, 
and  that  will  answer  his  purpose,  is,  that  his  position,  and  that  the  position  of 
the  south  is,  that  this  was  a  compromise ;  and  I  say  that  the  north  has  never 
repudiated  that  compromise.  Indeed,  it  has  never  had  the  power  to  do  so. 
Missouri  came  into  the  Union,  and  Arkansas  came  into  the  Union,  under  that 
compromise  ;  and  whatever  individuals  may  have  said,  whatever  individuals, 
more  or  less  humble  than  myself,  may  have  contended,  the  practical  effect  is, 
that  the  south  has  had  all  that  she  could  get  by  that  compromise,  and  that  the 
north  is  now  in  the  predicament  of  being  obliged  to  defend  what  was  left  to  her. 
I  believe  that  answers  the  question. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Now,  Mr.  President,  I  choose  to  bring  men  directly  up  to 
this  point.  The  senator  from  New  York  has  labored  in  his  whole  speech  to 
make  it  appear  that  this  was  a  compact ;  that  the  north  had  been  faithful ;  and 
that  the  south  acquiesced  until  she  got  all  its  advantages,  and  then  disavowed 
and  sought  to  annul  it.  This  he  pronounced  to  be  bad  faith  ;  and  ho  made  ap- 
peals about  dishonor.  The  senator  from  Connecticut  [Mr.  Smith]  did  the  same 
thing,  and  so  did  the  senator  from  Massachusetts,  [Mr.  Sumner,]  and  the  sena- 
tor from  Ohio,  [Mr.  Chase.]  That  is  the  great  point  to  which  the  whole  aboli- 
tion party  are  now  directing  all  their  artillery  in  this  battle.  Now,  I  propose 
to  bring  them  to  the  point.  If  this  was  a  compact,  and  if  what  they  have  said 
is  fair,*  or  just,  or  true,  who  was  it  that  repudiated  the  compact  ? 

Mr.  Sumner.  Mr.  President,  the  senator  from  Illinois,  I  know,  does  not  in- 
tend to  misstate  my  position.  That  position  as  announced  in  the  language  of 
the  speech  which  I  addressed  to  the  Senate,  and  which  I  now  hold  in  my  hand, 
is,  "  this  is  an  infraction  of  solemn  obligations,  assumed  beyond  recall  by  the 
south,  on  the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the  Union  as  a  slave  State ;  which  was 
one  year  after  the  act  of  1820. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Mr.  President,  I  shall  come  to  that;  and  I  wish  to  see  whe- 
ther this  was  an  obligation  which  was  assumed  "  beyond  recall/'  If  it  was  a 
compact  between  the  two  parties,  and  one  party  has  been  faithful,  it  is  beyond 
recall  by  the  other.  If,  however,  one  party  has  been  faithless,  what  shall  we 
think  of  them,  if,  while  faithless,  they  ask  a  performance  ? 

Mr.  Seward.     Show  it. 

Mr.  Douglas.  That  is  what  I  am  coming  to.  I  have  already  stated  that,  at 
the  next  session  of  Congress,  Missouri  presented  a  constitution  in  conformity 
with  the  act  of  1820 ;  that  the  senate  passed  a  joint  resolution  to  admit  her  ; 
and  that  the  House  refused  to  admit  Missouri  in  conformity  with  the  alleged 
compact,  and,  I  think,  on  three  distinct  votes  rejecting  her. 

Mr.  Seward.  I  beg  my  honorable  friend,  for  I  desire  to  call  him  so,  to  answer 
me  frankly  whether  he  would  rather  I  should  say  what  I  have  to  say  in  this 
desultory  way,  or  whether  he  would  prefer  that  I  should  answer  him  afterwards ; 
because  it  is  with  me  a  rule  in  the  Senate  never  to  interrupt  a  gentleman,  ex- 
cept to  help  him  in  his  argument. 

Mr.  Douglas.     I  would  rather  hear  the  senator  now. 

Mr.  Seward.  What  I  have  to  say  now,  and  I  acknowledge  the  magnanimity 
of  the  senator  from  Illinois  in  allowing  me  to  say  it,  is,  that  the  north  stood  by 
that  compact  until  Missouri  came  in  with  a  constitution,  one  article  of  which 
denied  to  colored  citizens  of  other  States  the  equality  of  privileges  which  were 
allowed  to  all  other  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  then  the  North  insisted 
on  the  right  of  colored  men  to  be  regarded  as  citizens,  and  entitled  to  the  privi- 
leges and  immunities  of  citizens.  Upon  that  a  new  compromise  was  necessary. 
I  hope  I  am  candid. 


380 

Mr.  Douglas.  The  senator  is  candid,  I  have  no  doubt,  as  he  understands 
the  facts ;  but  I  undertake  to  maintain  that  the  North  objected  to  Missouri  be- 
cause she  allowed  slavery,  and  not  because  of  the  free-negro  clause  alone. 

Mr.  Seward.     No,  sir. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Now  I  will  proceed  to  prove  that  the  North  did  not  object, 
solely  on  account  of  the  free-negro  clause  ;  but  that  in  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives at  that  time,  the  North  objected  as  well  because  of  slavery  in  regard  to 
free  negroes.  Here  is  the  evidence.  In  the  House  of  Representatives,  on  the 
12th  of  February,  1821,  Mr.  Ma'llory,  of  Vermont,  moved  to  amend  the  Senate 
joint  resolution  for  the  admission  of  Missouri,  as  follows : 

"  To  amend  the  said  amendment,  by  striking  out  all  thereof  after  the  word 
respects,  and  inserting  the  following :  '  Whenever  the  people  of  the  said  State, 
by  a  convention,  appointed  according  to  the  manner  provided  by  the  act  to  au- 
thorize the  people  of  Missouri  to  form  a  constitution  and  State  government,  and 
for  the  admission  of -such  State  into  the  Union  on  an  equal  footing  with  the 
original  States,  and  to  prohibit  slavery  in  certain  territories,  approved  March  6, 
1820,  adopt  a  constitution  conformably  to  the  provisions  of  said  act,  and  shall 
IN  ADDITION  to  said  provision,  further  provide,  in  and  by  said  constitution,  that 
neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  shall  ever  be  allowed  in  said  State  of 
Missouri,  unless  inflicted  as  a  punishment  for  crimes  committed  against  the  laws 
of  said  State,  whereof  the  party  accused  shall  be  duly  convicted  :  Provided, 
That  the  civil  condition  of  those  persons  who  now  are  held  to  service  in  Mis- 
souri shall  not  be  affected  by  this  last  provision.'  r> 

Here  I  show,  then,  that  the  proposition  was  made  that  Missouri  should  not 
come  in  unless,  in  addition  to  complying  with  the  Missouri  compromise,  so 
called,  she  would  go  further,  and  prohibit  slavery  within  the  limits  of  the  State. 

Mr.  Seward.     Now,  then,  for  the  vote. 

Mr.  Douglas.  The  vote  was  taken  by  yeas  and  nays.  I  hold  it  in  my  hand. 
Sixty-one  northern  men  voted  for  that  amendment,  and  thirty-three  against  it. 
Thus  the  North,  by  a  vote  of  nearly  two  to  one,  expressly  repudiated  a  solemn 
compact  upon  the  very  matter  in  controversy,  to  wit :  that  slavery  should  not 
be  prohibited  in  the  State  of  Missouri. 

Mr.  Weller.     Let  the  senator  from  New  York  answer  that. 

Mr.  Douglas.     I  should  like  to  hear  his  answer. 

Mr.  Seward.  I  desire,  if  I  shall  be  obtrusive  by  speaking  in  this  way,  that 
senators  will  at  once  signify,  or  that  any  senator  will  signify  that  I  am  obtru- 
sive. But  I  make  these  explantions  in  this  way,  for  the  reason  that  I  desire  to 
give  the  honorable  senator  from  Illinois  the  privilege  of  hearing  my  answer  to 
him  as  he  goes  along.  It  is  simply  this  :  That  this  doctrine  of  compromises  is, 
as  it  has  been  held,  that  if  so  many  northern  men  shall  go  with  so  many  south- 
ern men  as  to  fix  the  law,  then  it  binds  the  north  and  south  alike.  I  there- 
fore have  but  one  answer  to  make  :  that  the  vote  for  the  restriction  was  less 
than  the  northern  vote  which  was  given  against  the  whole  compromise. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Well,  now,  we  come  to  this  point :  We  have  been  told,  during 
this  debate,  that  you  must  not  judge  of  the  north  by  the  minority,  but  by  her 
majority.  You  have  been  told  that  the  minority,  who  stood  by  the  Constitution 
and  the  rights  of  the  south,  were  dough-faces.  , 

Mr.  Seward.     I  have  not  said  so.     I  will  not  say  so. 

Mr.  Douglas.  You  have  all  said  so  in  your  speeches,  and  you  have  asked  us 
to  take  the  majority  of  the  north. 

Mr.  Seward.  I  spoke  of  the  practical  fact.  I  never  said  anything  about 
dough-faces. 

Mr.  Douglas.  You  have  asked  us  to  take  the  majority  instead  of  the  mi- 
nority. 

Mr.  Seward.     The  majority  of  the  country. 


381 

Mr.  Douglas.     I  am  talking  of  the  majority  of  the  northern  vote. 

Mr.  Seward.     No,  sir. 

Mr.  Douglas.  I  hope  the  senator  will  hear  me.  I  wish  to  call  him  to  the 
issue.  I  stated  that  the  north  in  the  House  of  Representatives  voted  against 
admitting  Missouri  into  the  Union  under  the  act  of  1820,  and  caused  the  defeat 
of  that  measure ;  and  he  said  that  they  voted  against  it  on  the  ground  of  the 
free-negro  clause  in  her  constitution,  and  not  upon  the  ground  of  slavery. 
Now,  I  have  shown  by  the  evidence  that  it  was  upon  the  ground  of  Slavery,  as 
well  as  upon  the  other  ground ;  and  that  a  majority  of  the  north  required  not 
only  that  Missouri  should  comply  with  the  compact  of  1820,  so  called,  but  that 
she  should  go  further,  and  give  up  the  whole  consideration  which  the  senator 
says  the  south  received  from  the  north  for  the  Missouri  compromise.  The 
compact,  he  says,  was  that  in  consideration  of  slavery  being  permitted  in  Mis- 
souri, it  should  be  prohibited  in  the  Territories.  After  having  procured  the 
prohibition  in  the  Territories,  the  north,  by  a  majority  of  her  votes,  refused  to 
admit  Missouri  as  a  slavcholding  State,  and,  in  violation  of  the  alleged  com- 
pact, required  her  to  prohibit  slavery  as  a  further  condition  of  her  admission. 
This  repudiation  of  the  alleged  compact  by  the  north  is  recorded  by  yeas  and 
nays,  sixty-one  to  thirty-three,  and  entered  upon  the  Journal,  as  an  imperisha- 
ble evidence  of  the  fact.  With  this  evidence  before  us,  against  whom  should 
the  charge  of  perfidy  be  preferred  ? 

Sir,  if  this  was  a  compact,  what  must  be  thought  of  those  who  violated  it 
almost  immediately  after  it  was  formed  ?  I  say  it  was  a  calumny  upon  the  north 
to  say  that  it  was  a  compact.  I  should  feel  a  flush  of  shame  upon  my  cheek, 
as  a  northern  man,  if  I  were  to  say  that  it  was  a  compact,  and  that  the  section 
of  the  country  to  which  I  belong  received  the  consideration,  and  then  repudiated 
the  obligation  in  eleven  mouths  after  it  was  entered  into.  I  deny  that  it  was 
a  compact  in  any  sense  of  the  term.  But  if  it  was,  the  record  proves  that  faith 
was  not  observed  ;  that  the  contract  was  never  carried  into  effect ;  that  after  the 
north  had  procured  the  passage  of  the  act  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  Territories, 
with  a  majority  in  the  House  large  enough  to  prevent  its  repeal,  Missouri  was 
refused  admission  into  the  Union  as  a  slaveholding  State,  in  conformity  with 
the  act  of  March  6,  1820.  If  the  proposition  be  correct,  as  contended  for  by 
the  opponents  of  this  bill,  that  there  was  a  solemn  compact  between  the  north 
and  south  that,  in  consideration  of  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  Territories, 
Missouri  was  to  be  admitted  into  the  Union  in  conformity  with  the  act  of  1820, 
that  compact  was  repudiated  by  the  north  and  rescinded  by  the  joint  action  of 
the  two  parties  within  twelve  months  from  its  date.  'Missouri  was  never  ad- 
mitted under  the  act  of  the  6th  of  March,  1820.  She  was  refused  admission 
under  that  act.  She  was  voted  out  of  the  Union  by  northern  votes,  notwith- 
standing the  stipulation  that  she  should  be  received  ;  and,  in  consequence  of 
these  facts,  a  new  compromise  was  rendered  necessary,  by  the  terms  of  which 
Missouri  was  to  be  admitted  into  the  Union  conditionally — admitted  on  a  condi- 
tion not  embraced  in  the  act  of  1820,  and,  in  addition,  to  a  full  compliance  with 
all  the  provisions  of  said  act.  If,  then,  the  aot  of  1820,  by  the  eighth  section 
of  which  slavery  was  prohibited  in  the  Territories,  was  a  compact,  it  is  clear  to 
the  comprehension  of  every  fair-minded  man  that  the  refusal  of  the  north  to 
admit  Missouri,  in  compliance  with  its  stipulations,  and  without  further  condi- 
tions, imposes  upon  us  a  high  moral  obligation  to  remove  the  prohibition  of 
slavery  in  the  Territories,  since  it  has  been  shown  to  have  been  procured  upon 
a  condition  never  performed. 

Mr.  President,  inasmuch  as  the  senator  from  New  York  has  taken  great  pains 
to  impress  upon  the  public  mind  of  the  north  the  conviction  that  the  act  of 
1820  was  a  solemn  compact,  the  violation  or  repudiation  of  which  by  either 
party  involves  perfidy  and  dishonour,  I  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  that  senator 
[Mr.  SEWARD]  to  the  fact,  that  hU  own  State  was  the  first  to  repudiate  the 


382 

compact  and  to  instruct  her  senators  in  Congress  not  to  admit  Missouri  into  the 
Union  in  compliance  with  it,  nor  unless  slavery  should  be  prohibited  in  the 
State  of  Missouri. 

Mr.  Seward.     That  is  so. 

Mr.  Douglas.  I  have  the  resolutions  before  me,  in  the  printed  Journal  of 
the  Senate.  The  senator  from  New  York  is  familiar  with  the  fact,  and  frankly 
admits  it : 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  ) 

IN  ASSEMBLY,  November,  13,  1820.  j 

"Whereas  the  legislature  of  this  State,  at  the  last  session,  did  instruct  their 
senators  and  request  their  representatives  in  Congress  to  oppose  the  admission, 
as  a  State,  into  the  Union,  of  any  territory  not  comprised  within  the  original 
boundaries  of  the  United  States,  without  making  the  prohibition  of  slavery 
therein  an  indispensable  condition  of  admission;  and  whereas  this  legislature  is 
impressed  with  the  correctness  of  the  sentiments  so  communicated  to  our  sena- 
tors and  representatives  :  Therefore — 

"Resolved,  (if  the  honorable  the  Senate  concur  herein,)  That  this  legislature 
does  approve  of  the  principles  contained  in  the  resolutions  of  the  last  session ;; 
and  further,  if  the  provisions  contained  in  any  proposed  constitution  of  a  new 
State  deny  to  any  citizens  of  the  existing  States  the  privileges  and  immunities 
of  citizens  of  such  new  State,  that  such  proposed  constitution  should  not  be 
accepted  or  confirmed ;  the  same,  in  the  opinion  of  this  legislature,  being  void 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  And  that  our  senators  be  instructed, 
and  our  representatives  in  Congress  be  requested,  to  use  their  utmost  exertions 
to  prevent  the  acceptance  and  confirmation  of  any  such  constitution." 

It  will  be  seen  by  these  resolutions,  that  at  the  previous  session  the  New 
York  legislature  had  "  instructed"  the  senators  from  that  State  "  TO  OPPOSE 

THE    ADMISSION,  AS  A  STATE,  INTO  THE    UNION  OF  ANY  TERRITORY  not  COttl- 

prised  within  the  original  boundaries  of  the  United  States,  WITHOUT  MAKING 

THE  PROHIBITION  OF  SLAVERY  THEREIN  AN  INDISPENSABLE  CONDITION  OF  AD- 
MISSION." 

These  instructions  are  not  confined  to  territory  north  of  36°  30'.  They  apply, 
and  were  intended  to  apply,  to  the  whole  country  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
to  all  territory  which  might  hereafter  be  acquired.  They  deny  the  right  of 
Arkansas  to  admission  as  a  slaveholding  State,  as  well  as  Missouri.  They  lay 
down  a  general  principle  to  be  applied  and  insisted  upon  everywhere,  and  in  all 
cases,  and  under  all  circumstances.  These  resolutions  were  first  adopted  prior 
to  the  passage  of  the  act  of  March  6,  1820,  which  the  senator  now  chooses  to 
call  a  compact.  But  they  were  renewed  and  repeated  on  the  13th  of  Novem- 
ber 1820,  a  little  more  than  eight  months  after  the  adoption  of  the  Missouri 
compromise,  as  instructions  to  the  New  York  senators  to  resist  the  admission  of 
Missouri  as  a  slaveholding  State,  notwithstanding  the  stipulations  in  the  alleged 
compact.  Now,  let  me  ask  the  senator  from  New  York  by  what  authority  he 
declared  and  published  in  his  speech  that  the  act  of  18$0,  was  a  compact  which 
could  not  be  violated  or  repudiated  without  a  sacrifice  of  honour,  justice,  and 
good  faith.  Perhaps  he  will  shelter  himself  behind  the  resolutions  of  his 
State,  which  he  presented  this  session,  branding  this  bill  as  a  violation  of  plighted 
faith. 

Mr.  Seward.     Will  the  senator  allow  me  a  word  of  explanation  ? 

Mr.  Douglas.     Certainly,  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure. 

Mr.  Seward.  I  wish  simply  to  say  that  the  State  of  New  York,  for  now 
thirty  years,  has  refused  to  make  any  compact  on  any  terms  by  which  a  conces- 
sion should  be  made  for  the  extension  of  slavery.  But,  by  the  practical  action 


383 

of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  compromises  have  been  made,  which,  it 
is  held  by  the  honorable  senator  from  Illinois  and  by  the  south,  bind  her  against 
her  consent  and  approval.  And  therefore  she  stands  throughout  this  whole 
matter  upon  the  same  ground — always  refusing  to  enter  into  a  compromise, 
always  insisting  upon  the  prohibition  of  slavery  within  the  Territories  of  the 
United  States.  But,  on  this  occasion,  we  stand  here  with  a  contract  which  has 
stood  for  thirty  years,  notwithstanding  our  protest  and  dissent,  and  in  which 
there  is  nothing  left  to  be  fulfilled  except  that  part  which  is  to  be  beneficial  to 
us.  All  the  rest  has  been  fulfilled,  and  we  stand  here  with  our  old  opinions  on 
the  whole  subject  of  compromises,  demanding  fulfillment  on  the  part  the  south, 
which  the  honorable  senator  from  Illinois  on  the  present  occasion  represents. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Mr.  President,  the  senator  undoubtedly  speaks  for  himself 
very  frankly  and  very  candidly. 

Mr.  Seward.     Certainly  I  do. 

Mr.  Douglas.  But  I  deny  that  on  this  point  he  speaks  for  the  State  of  New 
"York. 

Mr.  Seward.     We  shall  see. 

Mr.  Douglas.  I  will  state  the  reason  why  I  say  so.  He  has  presented  here 
resolutions  of  the  State  of  New  York  which  have  been  adopted  this  year,  de- 
claring the  act  of  March  6,  1820,  to  be  a  "solemn  compact." 

I  read  from  the  second  resolution  : 

"  But  at  the  same  time  duty  to  themselves  and  to  the  other  States  of  the 
Union  demands  that  when  an  effort  is  making  to  violate  a  solemn  compact, 
whereby  the  political  power  of  the  State  and  the  privileges  as  well  as  the  ho- 
nest sentiments  of  its  citizens  will  be  jeoparded  and  invaded,  they  should  raise 
their  voice  in  protest  against  the  threatened  infraction  of  their  rights,  and  de- 
clare that  the  negation  or  repeal  by  Congress  of  the  Missouri  compromise  will 
be  regarded  by  them  as  a  violation  of  right  and  of  faith,  and  destructive  of 
that  confidence  and  regard  which  should  attach  to  the  enactments  of  the  fede- 
ral legislature." 

Mr.  President,  I  cannot  let  the  senator  off  on  the  plea  that  I,  for  the  sake  of 
the  argument,  in  reply  to  him  and  other  opponents  of  this  bill,  have  called  it  a 
compact ;  or  that  the  south  have  called  it  a  compact ;  or  that  other  friends  of 
Nebraska  have  called  it  a  compact  which  has  been  violated  and  rendered  inva- 
lid. He  and  his  abolition  confederates  have  arraigned  me  for  a  violation  of  a 
compact,  which,  they  say,  is  binding  in  morals,  in  conscience  and  honor.  I 
have  shown  that  the  legislature  of  New  York,  at  its  present  session,  has  de- 
clared it  to  be  "  a  solemn  compact,"  and  that  its  repudiation  would  "  be  regard- 
ed by  them  as  a  violation  of  right,  and  of  faith,  and  destructive  of  confidence, 
and  regard."  I  have  also  shown,  that  if  it  be  such  a  compact,  the  State  of 
New  York  stands  self-condemned  and  self-convicted  as  the  first  to  repudiate 
and  violate  it. 

But  since  the  senator  has  chosen  to  make  an  issue  with  me  in  respect  to  the 
action  of  New  York,  with  the  view  of  condemning  my  conduct  here,  I  will  in- 
vite the  attention  of  the  senator  to  another  portion  of  these  resolutions.  Re- 
ferring to  the  fourteenth  section  of  the  Nebraska  bill,  the  legislature  of  New 
.STork  says  : 

"  That  the  adoption  of  this  provision  would  be  in  derogation  of  the  truth,  a 
OTOSS  violation  of  plighted  faith,  and  an  outrage  and  indignity  upon  the  free 
States  of  the  Union,  whose  assent  has  been  yielded  to  the  admission  into  the 
Union  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas,  with  slavery,  in  reliance  upon  the  faithful 
observance  of  the  provision  now  sought  to  be  abrogated  known  as  the  Missouri 
compromise,  whereby  slavery  was  declared  to  be  '  forever  prohibited  in  all  that 
territory  ceded  by  France  to  the  United  States;  under  the  name  of  Lousiana, 


384 

which  lies  north  of  36°  30'  north  latitude,  not  included  within  the  limits  of 
the  State  of  Missouri." 

I  have  no  comments  to  make  upon  the  courtesy,  and  propriety  exhibited  in 
this  legislative  declaration,  that  a  provision  in  a  bill,  reported  by  a  regular 
committee  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  known  to  be  approved  by 
three-fourths  of  the  body,  and  which  has  since  received  the  sanction  of  their 
votes,  is  "  in  derogation  of  truth,  a  gross  violation  of  plighted  faith,  and  an 
outrage  and  indignity/'  &c.  The  opponents  of  this  measure  claim  a  monopoly 
of  all  the  courtesies  and  amenities,  which  should  be  observed  among  gentlemen, 
and  especially  in  t,he  performance  of  official  duties ;  and  I  am  free  to  say  that 
this  in  one  of  the  mildest  and  most  respectful  forms  of  expression  in  which  they 
have  indulged.  But  there  is  a  declaration  in  this  resolution  to  which  I  wish  to 
invite  the  particular  attention  of  the  Senate  and  the  country.  It  is  the  distinct 
allegation  that  "  the  free  States  of  the  Union,"  including  New  York,  yielded 
their  "  assent  to  the  admission  into  the  Union  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas,  with 
slavery,  in  reliance  upon  the  faithful  observance  of  the  provision  known  as  the 
Missouri  compromise." 

Now,  sir,  since  the  legislature  of  New  York  has  gone  out  of  its  way  to  ar- 
raign the  State  on  matters  of  truth,  I  will  demonstrate  that  this  paragraph  con- 
tains two  material  statements  in  direct  "  derogation  of  truth."  I  have  already 
shown,  beyond  controversy,  by  the  records  of  the  legislature,  and  by  the  jour- 
nals of  the  Senate,  that  New  York  never  did  give  her  assent  to  the  admission 
of  Missouri  with  slavery  !  Hence,  I  must  be  permitted  to  say,  in  the  polite 
language  of  her  own  resolutions,  that  the  statement  that  New  York  yielded  her 
assent  to  the  admission  of  Missouri  with  slavery  is  in  l(  derogation  of  truth  !" 
and,  secondly,  the  statement  that  such  assent  was  given  "  in  reliance  upon  the 
faithful  observance  of  the  Missouri  compromise"  is  equally  "  in  derogation  of 
truth."  New  York  never  assented  to  the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave 
State,  never  assented  to  what  she  now  calls  the  Missouri  compromise,  never  ob- 
served its  stipulations  as  a  compact,  never  has  been  willing  to  carry  it  out ; 
but  on  the  contrary  has  always  resisted  it,  as  I  have  demonstrated  by  her  own 
records. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  before  me  other  journals,  records,  and  instructions, 
which  prove  that  New  York  was.  not  the  only  free  State  that  repudiated  the 
Missouri  compromise  of  1820  within  twelve  months  from  its  date.  I  will  not 
occupy  the  time  of  the  Senate  at  this  late  hour  of  the  night  by  referring  to 
them,  unless  some  opponent  of  the  bill  renders  it  necessary.  In  that  event,  I 
may  be  able  to  place  other  senators  and  their  States  in  the  same  unenviable 
position  in  which  the  senator  from  New  York  has  found  himself  and  his  State. 

I  think  I  have  shown,  that  to  call  the  act  of  the  6th  of  March  1820  a  com- 
pact, binding  in  honor,  is  to  charge  the  northern  States  of  this  Union  with  an 
act  of  perfidy  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  legislation  or  of  civilization.  I 
have  already  adverted  to  the  facts,  that  in  the  summer  of  1820  Missouri  formed 
her  constitution,  in  conformity  with  the  act  of  the  6th  of  March ;  that  it  was 
presented  to  Congress  at  the  next  session;  that  the  senate  passed  a  joint  resolu- 
tion declaring  her  to  be  one  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  on  an  equal  footing 
with  the  original  States;  and  that  the  house  of  representatives  rejected  it,  and 
refused  to  allow  her  to  come  into  the  Union,  because  her  constitution  did  not* 
prohibit  slavery. 

These  facts  created  the  necessity  for  a  new  compromise,  the  old  one  having 
failed  of  its  object,  which  was  to  bring  Missouri  into  the  Union.  At  this  pe- 
riod in  the  order  of  events — in  February  1821 — when  the  excitement  was 
almost  beyond  restraint,  and  a  great  fundamental  principle,  involving  the  right 
of  the  people  of  the  new  States  to  regulate  their  own  domestic  institutions,  was 
dividing  the  Union  into  two  great  howtile  parties — Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky, 


385 

came  forward  with  a  new  compromise,  which  had  the  effect  to  change  the  issue 
and  make  the  result  of  the  controversy  turn  upon  a  different  point.  He  brought 
in  a  resolution  for  the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the,  Union,  not  in  pursuance 
of  the  act  of  1820,  not  in  obedience  to  the  understanding  when  it  was  adopted, 
and  not  with  her  constitution  as  it  had  been  formed  in  conformity  with  that  act, 
but  he  proposed  to  admit  Missouri  into  the  Union  upon  a  "  fundamental  condi- 
tion," which  condition  was  to  be  in  the  nature  of  a  solemn  compact  between 
the  United  States  on  the  one  part  and  the  State  of  Missouri  on  the  other  part, 
and  to  which  "  fundamental  condition"  the  State  of  Missouri  was  required  to 
declare  her  assent  in  the  form  of  a  "  solemn  public  act."  This  joint  resolution 
passed,  and  was  approved  March  2,  1821,  and  is  known  as  Mr.  Clay's  Missouri 
compromise,  in  contradiction  to  that  of  1820,  which  was  introduced  into 
the  Senate  by  Mr.  Thomas,  of  Illinois.  In  the  month  of  June,  1821,  the  leg- 
islature of  Missouri  assembled  and  passed  the  u  solemn  public  act,"  and  fur- 
nished an  authenticated  copy  thereof  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  in 
compliance  with  Mr.  Clay's  compromise,  or  joint  resolution.  On  August  10, 
1821,  James  Monroe,  President  of  the  United  States,  issued  his  proclamation,  in 
which,  after  reciting  the  fact  that  on  the  2d  of  March,  1821,  Congress  had 
passed  a  joint  resolution  "  providing  for  the  admission  of  the  State  of  Missouri 
into  the  Union,  on  a  certain  condition  ;"  and  that  the  general  assembly  of  Mis- 
souri, on  the  26th  of  Juur,  having,  lt  by  a  solemn  public  act,  declared  the  as- 
sent of  said  State  of  Missouri  to  the  fundamental  condition  contained  in  said 
joint  resolution,"  an. I  having  furnished  him  with  an  authentic  copy  thereof,  he, 
"  in  pursuance  of  the  resolution  of  Congress  aforesaid,"  declared  the  admission 
of  Missouri  to  be  complete. 

I  do  not  deem  it  necessary  to  discuss  the  question  whether  the  conditions 
upon  which  Missouri  was  admitted  were  wise  or  unwise.  It  is  sufficient  for  my 
present  purpose  to  remark,  that,  the  "fundamental  condition"  of  her  admission 
related  to  certain  clauses  in  the  constitution  of  Missouri  in  respect  to  the  mi- 
gration of  free  negroes  into  that  State;  .clauses  similar  to  those  now  in  force  in. 
the  constitutions  of  Illinois  and  Indiana,  and  perhaps  other  States;  clauses  sim- 
ilar to  the  provisions  of  law  in  force  at  that  time  in  many  of  the  old  States  of 
the  Union;  and,  I  will  add,  clauses  which,  in  niy  opinion,  Missouri  had  a  right 
to  adopt  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  It  is  no  answer  to  this 
position  to  say,  that  those  clauses  in  the  constitution  of  Missouri  were  in  viola- 
tion of  the  Constitution.  If  they  did  not  conflict  with  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  they  were  void  ;  if  they  were  not  in  conflict,  Missouri  had  a  right 
to  put  them  there,  and  to  puss  all  laws  necessary  to  carry  them  into  effect. 
Whether  such  conflict  did  exist  is  a  question  which,  by  the  Constitution,  can 
only  be  determined  authoritatively  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
Congress  is  not  the  appropriate  and  competent  tribunal  to  adjudicate  and  deter- 
mine questions  of  conflict  between  the  constitution  of  a  State  and  that  of  the 
United  States.  Had  Missouri  been  admitted  without  any  condition  or  restric- 
tion, she  would  have  had  an  opportunity  of  vindicating  her  constitution  and 
rights  in  the  Supreme  Court — the  tribunal  created  by  the  Constitution  for  that 
purpose. 

By  the  condition  imposed  on  Missouri,  Congress  not  only  deprived  that  State 
of  a  right  which  she  believed  she  possessed  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  but  denied  hor  the  privilege  of  vindicating  that  right  in  the 
appropriate  and  constitutional  tribunals,  by  compelling  her,  ll  by  a  solemn  pub- 
lic act,"  to  give  an  irrevocable  pledge  never  to  exercise  or  claim  the  right.. 
Therefore  Missouri  came  in  under  a  humiliating  condition — a  condition  not  im- 
posed by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  which  destroys  the  princi- 
ple of  equality  which  should  exist,  and  by  the  Constitution  does  exist,  be>- 
tween  all  the  States  of  this  Union  This  inequality  resulted  from  Mr.  Clay's 
compromise  of  1821,  and  is  the  principle  upon  which  that  compromise  was 
25 


386 

constructed.  I  own  that  the  act  is  couched  in  general  terms  and  vague  phrases 
and  therefore  may  possibly  be  so  construed  as  not  to  deprive  the  State  of  any 
right  she  might  possess  under  the  Constitution.  Upon  that  point  I  wish  only 
to  say,  that  such  a  construction  makes  the  "  fundamental  condition"  void, 
•while  the  opposite  construction  would  demonstrate  it  to  be  unconstitutional.  I 
have  before  me  the  "  solemn  public  act"  of  Missouri  to  this  fundamental  con- 
dition. Whoever  will  take  the  trouble  to  read  it  will  find  it  the  richest  speci- 
men of  irony  and  sarcasm  that  has  ever  been  incorporated  into  a  solemn  public 
act. 

Sir,  in  view  of  these  facts  I  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the  senator  from 
New  York  to  a  statement  in  his  speech,  upon  which  the  greater  part  of  his  ar- 
gument rested.  His  statement  was,  and  it  is  now  being  published  in  every 
abolition  paper,  and  repeated  by  the  whole  tribe  of  abolition  orators  and  lectu- 
rers, that  Missouri  was  admitted  as  a  slaveholding  State,  under  the  act  of  1820  ; 
while  I  have  shown,  by  the  President's  proclamation  of  August  10,  1821,  that 
she  was  admitted  in  pursuance  of  the  resolution  of  March  2,  1821.  Thus  it  is 
shown  that  the  material  point  of  his  speech  is  contradicted  by  the  highest  evi- 
dence— the  record  in  the  case.  The  same  statement,  I  believe,  was  made  by 
the  senator  from  Connecticut  [Mr.  Smith]  and  the  senators  from  Ohio  [Mr. 
Chase  and  Mr.  Wade]  and  the  senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Sumner.] 
Each  of  these  senators  made  and  repeated  this  statement,  and  upon  the  strength 
of  this  erroneous  assertion  called  upon  us  to  carry  into  effect  the  eighth  section 
of  the  same  act.  The  material  fact  upon  which  their  arguments  rested  being 
overthrown,  of  course  their  conclusions  are  erroneous  and  deceptive. 

Mr.  Seward.  I  hope  the  Senator  will  yield  for  a  moment,  because  I  have 
never  had  so  much  respect  for  him  as  I  have  to-night. 

Mr.  Douglas.  I  see  what  course  I  have  to  pursue  in  order  to  command  the 
Senator's  respect.  I  know  now  how  to  get  it.  [Laughter.] 

Mr.  Seward.  Any  man  who  meets  meets  me. boldly  commands  my  respect. 
I  say  that  Missouri  would  not  have  been  admitted  at  all  into  the  Union  by  the 
United  States  except  upon  the  compromise  of  1820.  When  that  point  was 
settled  about  the  restriction  of  slavery,  it  was  settled  in  this  way ;  that  she 
should  come  in  with  slavery,  and  that  all  the  rest  of  the  Louisiana  purchase, 
which  is  now  known  as  Nebraska,  should  be  forever  free  from  slavery.  Missouri 
adopted  a  constitution,  which  was  thought  by  the  northern  States  to  infringe 
upon  the  right  of  citizenship  guarantied  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  which  was  a  new  point  altogether;  and  upon  that  point  debate  was  held 
and  upon  it  a  new  compromise  was  made,  and  Missouri  came  into  the  Union 
upon  the  agreement  that,  in  regard  to  that  question,  she  submitted  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  and  so  she  was  admitted  into  the  Union. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Mr.  President,  I  must  remind  the  senator  again  that  I  have 
already  proven  that  he  was  in  error  in  stating  that  the  north  objected  to  the  ad- 
mission of  Missouri  merely  on  account  of  the  free  negro  clause  in  her  consti- 
tution. I  have  proven  by  the  vote  that  the  north  objected  to  her  admission 
because  she  tolerated  slavery;  this  objection  was  sustained  by  the  north  by  a 
vote  of  nearly  two  to  one.  He  cannot  shelter  himself,  therefore,  under  the  free 
negro  dodge,  so  long  as  there  is  a  distinct  vote  of  the  north  objecting  to  her  admis- 
sion ;  because,  in  addition  to  complying  with  the  act  of  1820,  she  did  not  also 
prohibit  slavery,  which  was  the  only  consideration  that  the  south  was  to  have 
for  agreeing  to  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  Territories.  Then,  having  de- 
prived the  senator,  by  conclusive  evidence  from  the  records,  of  that  pretext, 
what  do  I  drive  him  to  ?  I  compel  him  to  acknowledge  that  a  new  compromise 
•was  made. 

Mr.  Seward.     Certainly  there  was. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Then,  I  ask,  why  was  it  made  ?  Because  the  north  would 
not  carry  out  the  first  one.  And  the  best  evidence  that  the  north  did  not  carry 


387 

out  the  first  one  is  the  senator's  admission  that  the  south  was  compelled  to  sub- 
mit to  a  new  one.  Then,  if  there  was  a  new  compromise  made,  did  Mis- 
souri come  in  under  the  new  one  or  the  old  one. 

Mr.  Seward.     Under  both. 

Mr.  Douglas.  This  is  the  first  time,  in  this  debate,  it  has  been  intimated 
that  Missouri  came  in  under  two  acts  of  Congress.  The  senator  did  not  allude 
to  the  resolution  of  1821  in  his  speech;  none  of  the  opponents  of  this  bill  have 
said  it.'  But  it  is  now  admitted  that  she  did  not  come  into  the  Union  under 
the  act  of  1820  alone.  She  had  been  voted  out  under  the  first  compromise,  and 
this  vote  compelled  her  to  make  a  new  one,  and  she  came  in  under  the  new  one; 
and  yet  the  senator  from  New  York,  in  his  speech,  declared  to  the  world  that 
she  came  in  under  the  first  one.  This  is  not  an  immaterial  question.  His 
whole  speech  rests  upon  that  misapprehension  or  misstatement  of  the  record. 

Mr.  Seward.     You  had  better  say  misapprehension. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Very  well.  We  will  call  it  by  that  name.  His  whole  argu- 
ment depends  upon  that  misapprehension.  After  stating  that  the  act  of  1820 
was  a  compact,  and  that  the  north  performed  its  part  of  it  in  good  faith,  he  ar- 
raigns the  friends  of  this  bill  for  proposing  to  annul  the  eighth  section  of 
the  act  of  1820 'without  first  turning  Missouri  out  of  the  Union,  in  order 
that  slavery  may  be  abolished  therein  by  the  act  of  Congress.  Pie  says  to  us, 
in  substance :  "  Gentlemen,  if  you  are  going  to  rescind  the  compact,  have  res- 
pect for  that  great  law  of  morals,  of  honesty,  and  of  conscience,  which  compels 
you  first  to  surrender  the  consideration  which  you  have  received  'under  the  com- 
pact/ "  I  concur  with  him  in  regard  to  the  obligation  to  restore  consideration 
when  a  contract  is  rescinded.  And,  inasmuch  as  the  prohibition  in  the  Terri- 
tories north  of  36°  30'  was  obtained,  according  to  his  own  statement,  by  an 
agreement  to  admit  Missouri  as  a  slaveholding*State  on  an  equal  footing  with 
the  original  States,  "  in  all  respects  whatsoever,"  as  specified  in  the  first  section 
of  the  act  of  1820 ;  and,  inasmuch  as  Missouri  was  refused  admission  under 
said  act,  and  was  compelled  to  submit  to  a  new  compromise  in  1821,  and  was 
then  received  into  the  Union  on  a  fundamental  condition  of  inequality,  I  call 
on  him  and  his  abolition  confederates  to  restore  the  consideration  which  they 
have  received,  in  the  shape  of  a  prohibition  of  slavery  north  of  36°  30',  under 
a  compromise  which  they  repudiated,  and  refused  to  carry  into  effect.  I  call 
on  them  to  correct  the  erroneous  statement  in  respect  to  the  admission  of  Mis- 
souri, and  to  make  a  restitution  of  the  consideration  by  voting  for  this  bill.  I 
repeat,  that  this  is  not  an  immaterial  statement.  It  is  the  point  upon  which 
the  abolitionists  rest  their  whole  argument.  They  could  not  get  up  a  show  of 
pretext  against  the  great  principle  of  self-government  involved  in  this  bill,  if 
they  could  not  repeat  all  the  time,  as  the  senator  from  New  York  did  in  his 
speech,  that  Missouri  came  into  the  Union  with  slavery,  in  conformity  to  the 
compact  which  was  made  by  the  act  of  1820,  and  that  the  south,  having  re- 
ceived the  consideration,  is  now  trying  to  cheat  the  north  out  of  her  part  ot  the 
benefits.  I  have  proven  that,  after  abolitionism  had  gained  its  point  so  far  as 
the  eighth  section  of  the  act  prohibited  slavery  in  the  Territory,  Missouri  was 
denied  admission  by  northern  votes  until  she  entered  into  a  compact  by  which 
she  was  understood  to  surrender  an  important  right  now  exercised  by  several 
States  of  the  Union. 

Mr.  President,  I  did  not  wish  to  refer  to  these  things.  I  did  not  understand 
them  fully  in  all  their  bearings  at  the  time  I  made  my  first  speech  on  this  sub- 
ject; and,  so  far  as  I  was  familiar  with  them,  I  made  as  little  reference  to  them 
as  was  consistent  with  my  duty ;  because  it  was  a  mortifying  reflection  to  me, 
as  a  Northern  man,  that  we  had  not  been  able,  in  consequence  of  the  abolition 
excitement  at  the  time,  to  avoid  the  appearance  of  bad  faith  in  the  observance 
of  legislation,  which  has  been  denominated  a  compromise.  There  were  a  few 
men  then,  as  there  are  now,  who  had  the  moral  courage  to  perform  their  duty 


388 

to  the  country  and  the  Constitution,  regardless  of  consequences  personal  to 
themselves.  There  were  ten  Northern  men  who  dared  to  perform  their  duty  by 
'voting  to  admit  Missouri  into  the  Union  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original 
States,  and  with  no  other  restriction  than  that  imposed  by  the  Constitution.  I 
am  aware  that  they  were  abused  and  denounced  as  we  are  now ;  that  they  were 
branded  as  dough-faces,  traitors  to  freedom,  and  to  the  section  of  the  country 
whence  they  come. 

Mr.  Geyer.  They  honored  Mr.  Lanman,  of  Connecticut,  by  burning  him  in 
effigy. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Yes,  sir;  these  Abolitionists  honored  Mr.  Lanman  in  Connec- 
ticut just  as  they  are  honoring  me  in  Boston,  and  other  places,  by  burning  me 
in  effigy. 

Mr.  Cass.     It  will  do  you  no  harm. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Well,  sir,  I  know  it  will  not;  but  why  this  burning  in  effigy? 
It  is  the  legitimate  consequences  of  the  address  which  was  sent  forth  to  the 
world  by  certain  Senators  whom  I  denominated,  on  a  former  occasion,  as  the 
Abolition  confederates.  The  Senator  from  Ohio  presented  here  the  other  day 
a  resolution — he  says  unintentionally,  and  I  take  it  so — declaring  that  every 
Senator  who  advocated  this  bill  was  a  traitor  to  his  country,  to  humanity,  and 
to  God;  and  even  he  seemed  to  be  shocked  at  the  results  of  his  own  advice 
when  it  was  exposed.  Yet  he  did  not  seem  to  know  that  it  was,  in  substance, 
what  he  had  advised  in  his  address,  over  his  own  signature,  when  he  called  upon 
the  people  to  assemble  in  public  meetings  and  thunder  forth  their  indignation 
at  the  criminal  betrayal  of  precious  rights;  when  he  appealed  to  ministers  of 
the  gospel  to  desecrate  their  holy  calling,  and  attempted  to  inflame  passions, 
and  fanaticism,  and  prejudice  against  Senators  who  would  not  consider  them- 
selves very  highly  complimented^  by  being  called  his  equals?  And  yet,  when 
the  natural  consequences  of  his  own  action  and  advice  come  back  upon  him,  and 
he  presents  them  here,  and  is,  called  to  an  account  for  the  indecency  of  the  act, 
he  professes  his  profound  regret  and  surprise  that  anything  should  have  occur- 
red which  could  possibly  be  deemed  unkind  or  disrespectful  to  any  member  of 
this  body ! 

Mr.  Sumner.  I  rise  merely  to  correct  the  Senator  in  a  statement  in  regard 
to  myself,  to  the  effect  that  I  had  said  that  Missouri  came  into  the  Union  under 
the  act  of  1820,  instead  of  the  act  of  1821.  I  forebore  to  designate  any  parti- 
cular act  under  which  Missouri  came  into  the  Union,  but  simply  asserted,  as 
the  result  of  the  long  controversy  with  regard  to  her  admission,  and  as  the  end 
of  the  whole  transaction,  that  she  was  received  as  a  slave  State;  and  that  on 
being  so  received,  whether  sooner  or  later,  whether  under  the  act  of  1820  or 
1821,  the  obligations  of  the  compact  were  fixed — irrevocably  fixed — so  far  as 
the  South  is  eoncerned. 

Mr.  Douglas.  The  Senator's  explanation  does  not  help  him  at  all.  He  says 
he  did  not  state  uader  what  act  Missouri  came  in ;  but  he  did  say,  as  I  under- 
stood him,  that  the  act  of  1820  was  a  compact,  and  that,  according  to  that  com- 
pact, Missouri  was  to  come  in  with  slavery,  provided  slavery  should  be  prohi- 
bited in  certain  territories,  and  did  come  in  in  pursuance  of  the  compact.  He 
now  uses  the  word  "  compact."  To  what  compact  does  he  allude  ?  Is  it  not  to 
the  act  of  1820  ?  If  he  did  not,  what  becomes  of  his  conclusion  that  the  8th 
section  of  that  act  is  irrepealable  ?  He  will  not  venture  to  deny  that  his  refer- 
ence was  to  the  act  of  1820.  Did  he  refer  to  the  joint  resolution  of  1821,  un- 
der which  Missouri  was  admitted  ?  If  so,  we  do  not  propose  to  repeal  it.  We 
admit  that  it  was  a  compact,  and  that  its  obligations  are  irrevocably  fixed.  But 
that  joint  resolution  does  not  prohibit  slavery  in  the  territories.  The  Nebraska 
"bill  does  not  propose  to  repeal  it,  or  impair  its  obligations  in  any  way.  Then, 
*ir,  why  not  take  back  your  correction,  and  admit  that  you  did  mean  the  act  of 
1820;  when  you  spoke  of  irrevocable  obligations  and  compacts  ?  Assuming, 


389 

then,  that  the  Senator  meant  what  he  is  now  unwilling  either  to  admit  or  deny, 
even  while  professing  to  correct  me,  that  Missouri  came  in  under  the  act  of 
1820,  I  aver  that  I  have  proven  that  she  did  not  come  into  the  Union  under 
that  act.  I  have  proven  that  she  was  refused  admission  under  that  alleged 
compact.  I  have,  therefore,  proven  incontestibly  that  the  material  statement 
upon  which  his  argument  rests  is  wholly  without  foundation,  and  unequivocally 
contradicted  by  the  record. 

Sir,  I  believe  I  may  say  the  same  of  every  speech  which  has  been  made 
against  the  bill,  upon  the  ground  that  it  impaired  the  obligation  of  compacts. 
There  has  not  been  an  argument  against  the  measure,  every  word  of  which  in 
regard  to  the  faith  of  compacts  is  not  contradicted  by  the  public  records.  What 
I  complain  of  is  this :  The  people  may  think  that  a  Senator,  having  the  laws 
and  journals  before  him,  to  which  he  could  refer,  would  not  make  a  statement 
in  contravention  of  those  records.  They  make  the  people  believe  these  things, 
and  cause  them  to  do  great  injustice  to  others,  under  the  delusion  that  they 
have  been  wronged,  and  their  feelings  outraged.  Sir,  this  address  did  for  a 
time  mislead  the  whole  country.  It  made  the  Legislature  of  New  York  be- 
lieve that  the  act  of  1820  was  a  compact  which  it  would  be  disgraceful  to  vio- 
late ;  and,  acting  under  that  delusion,  they  framed  a  series  of  resolutions,  which, 
if  true  and  just,  convict  that  State  of  an  act  of  perfidy  and  treachery  unparal- 
led  in  the  history  of  free  governments.  You  see,  therefore,  the  consequences 
of  these  misstatements.  You  degrade  your  own  State,  and  induce  the  peeple, 
under  the  impression  that  they  have  been  injured,  to  get  up  a  violent  crusade 
against  those  whose  fidelity  and  truthfulness  will  in  the  end  command  their  re- 
spect and  admiration.  In  consequence  of  arousing  passions  and  prejudices,  I 
am  now  to  be  found  in  effigy,  hanging  by  the  neck,  in  all  the  towns  where  you 
have  the  influence  to  produce  such  a  result.  In  all  these  excesses,  the  people 
are  yielding  to  an  honest  impulse,  under  the  impression  that  a  grievous  wrong 
has  been  perpetrated.  You  have  had  your  day  of  triumph.  You  have  suc- 
ceeded in  directing  upon  the  heads  of  others  a  torrent  of  insult  and  calumny 
from  which  even  you  shrink  with  horror,  when  the  fact  is  exposed  that  you 
have  become  the  conduits  for  conveying  it  into  this  hall.  In  your  State,  sir, 
(addressing  himself  to  Mr.  Chase,)  I  find  that  I  am  burnt  in  effigy  in  your  abo- 
lition towns.  All  this  is  done  because  I  have  proposed,  as  it  is  said,  to  violate 
a  compact !  Now,  what  will  those  people  think  of  you  when  they  find  out  that 
you  have  stimulated  them  to  these  acts,  which  are  disgraceful  to  your  State,  dis- 
graceful to  your  party,  and  disgraceful  to  your  cause,  under  a  misrepresentation 
of  the  facts,  which  misrepresentation  you  ought  to  have  been  aware  of,  and 
should  never  have  been  made  ? 

Mr.  Chase.     Will  the  Senator  from  Illinois  permit  me  to  say  a  few  words? 

Mr.  Douglas.     Certainly. 

Mr.  Chase.  Mr.  President,  I  certainly  regret  that  anything  has  occurred  in 
my  State  which  should  be  otherwise  than  in  accordance  with  the  disposition 
which  I  trust  I  have  ever  manifested  to  treat  the  Senator  from  Illinois  with  en- 
tire courtesy.  I  do  not  wish,  however,  to  be  understood,  here  or  elsewhere,  as 
retracting'any  statement  which  I  have  made,  or  being  unwilling  to  reassert  that 
statement  when  it  is  directly  impeached.  I  regard  the  admission  of  Missouri, 
and  the  facts  of  the  transaction  connected  with  it,  as  constituting  a  compact  be- 
tween the  two  sections  of  the  country ;  a  pnrt  of  which  was  fulfilled  in  the  ad- 
mission of  Missouri,  another  part  in  the  admission  of  Arkansas,  and  other  parts 
of  which  have  been  fulfilled  in  the  admission  of  Iowa,  and  the  organization  of 
Minnesota,  but  which  yet  remains  to  be  fulfilled  in  respect  to  the  Territory  of 
Nebraska,  and  which,  in  my  judgment,  will  be  violated  by  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  prohibition.  That  is  my  judgment.  I liave  no  quarrel  with  Senators 
who  differ  with  me;  but  upon  the  whole  facts  of  the  transaction,  however,  I 
have  not  changed  my  opinion  at  all,  in  consequence  of  what  has  been  said  by  the 


390 

honorable  Senator  from  Illinois.  I  say  that  the  facts  of  the  transaction,  taken 
together,  and  as  understood  by  the  country  for  more  than  thirty  years,  consti- 
tute a  compact  binding  in'  moral  force;  though,  as  I  have  always  said,  be- 
ing embodied  in  a  legislative  act,  it  may  be  repealed  by  Congress,  if  Congress 
see  fit. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Mr.  president,  I  am  sorry  that  the  Senator  from  Ohio  has  re- 
peated the  statement  that  Missouri  came  in  under  the  compact  which  he  says 
was  made  by  the  act  of  1820.  How  many  times  have  I  to  disprove  the  state- 
ment ?  Does  not  the  vote  to  which  I  have  referred  .show  that  such  was  not  the 
case?  Does  not  the  fact  that  there  was  a  necessity  for  a  new  compromise  show 
it  ?  Have  I  not  proved  it  three  times  over  ?  and  is  it  possible  that  the  Senator 
from  Ohio  will  repeat  it  in  the  face  of  the  record,  with  the  vote  staring  him  in 
the  face,  and  with  the  evidence  which  I  have  produced  ?  Does  he  suppose  that 
he  can  make  his  own  people  believe  that  his  statement  ought  to  be  credited  in 
opposition  to  the  solemn  record  ?  I  am  amazed  that  the  Senator  should  repeat 
the  statement  again  unsustained  by  the  fact,  by  the  record,  and  by  the  evidence, 
and  overwhelmed  by  the  whole  current  and  weight  of  the  testimony  which  I 
have  produced. 

The  Senator  says,  also,  that  he  never  intended  to  do  me  injustice,  and  he  is 
sorry  that  the  people  of  his  State  have  acted  in  the  manner  to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred. Sir,  did  he  not  say,  in  the  same  document  to  which  I  have  already  al- 
luded, that  I  was  engaged,  with  others,  in  "a  criminal  betrayal  of  precious 
rights,"  in  an  "atrocious  plot?"  Did  he  not  say  that  I  and  others  were  guilty 
of  meditated  bad  faith  ?"  Are  not  these  his  exact  words  ?  Did  he  not  say  that 
"  servile  demagogues"  might  make  the  people  believe  certain  things,  or  attempt 
to  do  so  ?  Did  he  not  say  everything  calculated  to  produce  and  bring  upon  my 
head  all  the  insults  to  which  I  have  been  subjected  publicly  and  privately — not 
even  excepting  the  insulting  letters  which  I  have  received  from  his  constituents, 
rejoicing  at  my  domestic  bereavements,  and  praying  that  other  and  similar  cala- 
mities may  befal  me  ?  All  these  have  resulted  from  that  address.  I  expected 
such  consequences  when  I  first  saw  it.  In  it  he  called  upon  the  preachers  of 
the  Gospel  to  prostitute  the  sacred  desk  in  stimulating  excesses;  and  then,  for 
fear  that  the  people  would  not  know  who  it  was  that  was  to  be  insulted  and 
calumniated,  he  told  them,  in  a  postcript,  that  Mr.  Douglas  was  the  author  of 
all  this  iniquity,  and  that  they  ought  not  to  allow  their  rights  to  be  made  the 
hazard  of  a  presidential  game  !  After  having  used  such  language,  he  says  he 
meant  no  disrespect — he  meant  nothing  unkind  !  He  was  amazed  that  I  said 
in  m^  opening  speech  that  there  was  anything  offensive  in  this  address;  and  he 
could  not  suffer  himself  to  use  harsh  epithets,  or  to  impugn  a  gentleman's  mo- 
tives!  No!  not  he  !  After  having  deliberately  written  all  these  insults,  im- 
pugning motive  and  character,  and  calling  upon  our  holy  religion  to  sanctify 
the  calumny,  he  could  not  think  of  losing  his  dignity  by  bandying  epithets,  or 
using  harsh  and  disrespectful  terms ! 

Mr.  President,  I  expected  all  that  has  occurred,  and  more  than  has  come,  as 
the  legitimate  result  of  that  address.  The  things  to  which  I  referred  are  the 
natural  consequences  of  it.  The  only  revenge  I  seek  is  to  expose  the  authors, 
and  leave  them  to  bear,  as  best  they  may,  the  just  indignation  of  an  honest 
community,  when  the  people  discover  how  their  sympathies  and  feelings  have 
been  outraged,  by  making  them  the  instruments  in  performing  such  desperate 
acts. 

Sir,  even  in  Boston  I  have  been  hung  in  effigy.  I  may  say  that  I  expected 
it  to  occur  even  there,  for  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  lives  there.  He 
signed  his  name  to  that  address ;  and  for  fear  the  Boston  Abolitionists  would 
not  know  that  it  was  he,  he  signed  it  "  Charles  Sumner,  Senator  from  Massa- 
chusetts." The  first  outrage  was  in  Ohio,  where  the  address  was  circulated  un- 
der the  signature  of  "  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Senator  from  Ohio."  The  next  came 


391 

from  Boston — the  same  Boston,  sir,  which,  under  the  direction  of  the  same 
leaders,  closed  Fanueil  Hall  to  the  immortal  Webster  in  1850,  because  of  his 
support  of  the  compromise  measures  of  that  year,  which  all  now  confess  have 
restored  peace  and  harmony  to  a  distracted  country.  Yes,  sir,  even  Boston,  so 
glorious  in  her  early  history — Boston,  around  whose  name  so  many  historical 
associations  cling,  to  gratify  the  heart  and  exalt  the  pride  of  every  American — 
could  be  led  astray  by  Abolition  misrepresentations  so  far  as  to  deny  a  hearing 
to  her  own  great  man,  who  had  shed  so  much  glory  upon  Massachusetts  and  her 
metropolis  !  I  know  that  Boston  now  feels  humiliated  and  degraded  by  the  act. 
And,  sir,  (addressing  himself  to  Mr.  Sumner,)  you  will  remember  that  when 
you  came  into  tfie  Senate,  and  sought  an  opportunity  to  put  forth  your  Aboli- 
tion incendiarism,  you  appealed  to  our  sense  of  justice  by  the  sentiment,  "  Strike, 
but  hear  me  first."  But  when  Mr.  Webster  went  back  in. 1850  to  speak  to  his 
constituents  in»his  own  self-defence,  to  tell  the  truth,  and  to  expose  his  slander- 
ers, you  would  not  hear  him,  but  you  struck  Jirst ! 

Again,  sir,  even  Boston,  with  her  Fanueil  Hall  consecrated  to  liberty,  was  so 
far  led  astray  by  abolitionism,  that  when  one  of  her  gallant  sons,  gallant  by 
his«/)wn  glorious  deeds,  inheriting  a.  heroic  revolutionary  name,  had  given  his 
life  to  his  country  upon  the  bloody  field  of  Buena  Vista,  and  when  his  remains 
were  brought  home,  even  that  Boston,  under  abolition  guidance  and  abolition 
preaching,  denied  him  a  decent  burial,  because  he  lost  his  life  in  vindicating 
his  country's  honor  upon  the  southern  frontier  !  Even  the  name  of  Lincoln, 
and  the  deeds  of  Lincoln,  could  not  secure  for  him  a  decent  interment,  because 
abolitionism  follows  a  patriot  beyond  the  grave.  [Applause  in  the  galleries.]  . 

The  presiding  officer,  Mr.  Mason,  in  the  chair.     Order  must  be  preserved. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Mr.  President,  with  these  facts  before  me,  how  could  I  hope 
to  escape  the  fate  which  had  followed  these  great  and  good  men  ?  While  I  had 
no  right  to  hope  that  I  might  be  honored  as  they  had  been  under  abolition  aus- 
pices, have  I  not  a  right  to  be  proud  of  the  distinction  and  the  association  ?  Mr. 
President,  I  regret  these  digressions.  I  have  not  been  able  to  follow  the  line  of 
argument  which  I  had  marked  out  for  myself,  because  of  the  many  interruptions. 
I  do  not  complain  of  them.  It  is  fair  that  gentlemen  should  make  them,  inasmuch 
as  they  have  not  the  opportunity  of  replying ;  hence  I  have  yielded  the  floor, 
and  propose  to  do  so  cheerfully  whenever  any  senator  intimates  that  justice  to 
him  or  his  position  requires  him  to  say  anything  in  reply. 

Returning  to  the  point  from  which  I  was  diverted. 

I  think  I  have  shown  that,  if  the  act  of  1826,  called  the  Missouri  compro- 
mise, was  a  compact,  it  was  violated  and  repudiated  by  a  solemn  vote  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  1821,  within  eleven  months  after  it  was  adopted. 
It  was  repudiated  by  the  north  by  a  majority  vote,  and  that  repudiation  was  so 
complete  and  successful  as  to  compel  Missouri  to  make  a  new  compromise,  and 
she  was  brought  into  the  Union  under  the  new  compromise  of  1821,  and  not  un- 
der the  act  of  1820.  This  reminds  me  of  another  point  made  in  nearly  all  the 
speeches  against  this  bill,  and,  if  I  recollect  right,  was  alluded  to  in  the  aboli- 
tion manifesto;  to  which,  I  regret  to  say,  I  had  occasion  to  refer  so  often.  I 
refer  to  the  significant  hint  that  Mr.  Clay  was  dead  before  any  one  dared  to 
bring  forward  a  proposition  to  undo  the  greatest  work  of  his  hands.  The  sena- 
tor from  New  York  [Mr.  Seward]  has  seized  upon  this  insinuation,  and  elabo- 
rated, perhaps,  more  fully  than  his  compeers ;  and  now  the  abolition  press  sud- 
denly, and  as  if  by  miraculous  conversion,  teems  with  eulogies  upon  Mr.  Clay 
and  his  Missouri  compromise  of  1820. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  does  not  each  of  these  senators  know  that  Mr.  Clay  was 
not  the  author  of  the  act  of  1820  ?  Do  they  not  know  that  he  disclaimed  it  in 
1850  in  this  body  ?  Do  they  not  know  that  the  Missouri  restriction  did  not 
originate  in  the  House  of  which  he  was  a  member  ?  Do  they  not  know  that 
Mr.  Clay  never  came  into  the  Missouri  controversy  as  a  compromiser  until  after 


,392 

the  compromise  of  1820  was  repudiated,  and  it  became  necessary  to  make 
another  ?  I  dislike  to  be  compelled  to  repeat  what  I  have  conclusively  proven, 
that  the  compromise  which  Mr.  Clay  effected  was  the  act  of  1821,  under  which 
Missouri  came  into  the  Union,  and  not  the  act  of  1820.  Mr.  Clay  made  that 
compromise  after  you  had  repudiated  the  first  one.  How,  then,  dare  you  caH 
upon  the  spirit  of  that  great  and  gallant  statesman  to  sanction  your  charge  of 
bad  faith  against  the  south  on  this  question  ? 

Mr.  Seward.     Will  the  senator  allow  me  a  moment? 

Mr.  Douglas.     Certainly. 

Mr.  Seward.  In  the  year  1851  or  1852,  I  think  1851,  a  medal  was  struck 
in  honor  of  Henry  Clay,  of  gold,  which  cost  a  large  sum  of  money,  which  con- 
tained eleven  acts  of  the  life  of  Henry  Clay.  It  was  presented  to  him  by  a 
committee  of  citizens  of  New  York,  by  whom  it  had  been  made.  One  of  the 
eleven  acts  of  his  life  which  was  celebrated  on  that  medal,  which  he  accepted, 
was  the  Missouri  compromise  of  1820.  This  is  my  answer. 

Mr.  Douglas.     Are  the  words  "  of  1820"  upon  it  ? 

Mr.  Seward.     It  commemorates  the  Missouri  compromise. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Exactly.  I  have  seen  that  medal ;  and  my  recollection*  is 
that  it  does  not  contain  the  words  "of  1820."  One  of  the  great  acts  of  Mr. 
Clay  was  the  Missouri  compromise,  but  what  Missouri  compromise  ?  Of  course 
the  one  which  Henry  Clay  made,  the  one  which  he  negotiated,  the  one  which 
brought  Missouri  into  the  Union,  and  which  settled  the  controversy.  That 
was  the  act  of  1821,  and  not  the  act  of  1820.  It  tends  to  confirm  the 
statement  which  I  have  made.  History  is  misread  and  misquoted,  and  these 
statements  have  been  circulated  and  disseminated  broadcast  through  the  coun- 
try, concealing  the  truth.  Does  not  the  senator  know  that  Henry  Clay, 
when  occupying  that  seat  in  1850,  [pointing  to  Mr.  Clay's  chair,]  in  his 
speech  of  the  6th  of  February  of  that  year,  said  that  nothing  had  struck 
him  with  so  much  surprise  as  the  fact  that  historical  circumstances  soon 
passed  out  of  recollection;  and  he  instanced,  as  a  case  in  point,  the  error 
of  attributing  to  him  the  act  of  1820.  [Mr.  Seward  nodded  assent.]  The 
senator  from  New  York  says  that  he  does  remember  that  Mr.  Clay  did  say  so. 
If  so,  how  is  it,  then,  that  he  presumes  now  to  rise  and  quote  that  medal  as 
evidence  that  Henry  Clay  was  the  author  of  the  act  of  1820  ? 

Mr.  Seward.  I  answer  the  senator  in  this  way  :  that  Henry  Clay,  while  he 
said  he  did  not  disavow  or  disapprove  of  that  compromise,  transferred  the  merit 
of  it  to  others  who  were  more  active  in  procuring  it  than  he,  while  he  had  en- 
joyed the  praise  and  the  glory  which  were  due  from  it. 

Mr.  Douglas.  To  that  I  have  only  to  say  that  it  cannot  be  the  reason ;  for 
Henry  Clay,  in  that  same  speech,  did  take  to  himself  the  merit  of  the  compro- 
mise of  1821,  and  hence  it  could  not  have  been  modesty  which  made  him  disa- 
vow the  other.  He  said  that  he  did  not  know  whether  he  had  voted  for  the  act 
of  1820  or  not;  but  he  supposed  that  he  had  done  so.  He  furthermore  said 
that  it  did  not  originate  in  the  House  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  that  he 
never  did  approve  of  its  principles ;  but  that  he  may  have  voted,  and  probably 
did  vote  for  it,  under  the  pressure  of  the  circumstances. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  as  I  have  been  doing  justice  to  Mr.  Clay  on  this  ques- 
tion, perhaps  I  may  as  well  do  justice  to  another  great  man,  who  was  associated 
with  him  in  carrying  through  the  great  measures  of  1850,  which  mortified  the 
Senator  from  New  York  so  much,  because  they  defeated  his  purpose  of  carrying 
on  the  agitation.  I  allude  to  Mr.  Webster.  The  authority  of  his  great  name  has 
been  quoted  for  the  purpose  of  proving  that  he  regarded  the  Missouri  act  as  a 
compact — an  irrepealable  compact.  Evidently  the  distinguished  Senator  from 
Massachusetts  (Mr.  Everett)  supposed  he  was  doing  Mr.  Webster  entire  justice 
•when  he  quoted  the  passage  which  he  read  from  Mr.  Webster's  speech  of  the 
7th  of  March  1850,  when  he  said  that  he  stood  upon  the  position  that  every 


393 

part  of  the  American  continent  was  fixed  for  freedom  or  for  slavery  by  irrepeal- 
able  law. 

The  Senator  says  that,  by  the  expression  "  irrepealable  law,"  Mr.  Webster 
meant  to  include  the  compromise  of  1820.  Now,  I  will  show  that  that  was  not 
Mr.  Webster's  meaning — that  he  was  never  guilty  of  the  mistake  of  saying 
that  the  Missouri  act  of  1820  was  an  irrepealable  law.  Mr.  Webster  said  in 
that  speech,  that  every  foot  of  territory  in  the  United  States  was  fixed  as  to  its 
character  for  freedom  or  slavery  by  an  irrepealable  law.  He  then  enquired  if 
it  was  not  so  in  regard  to  Texas  ?  He  went  on  to  prove  that  it  was ;  because, 
he  said,  there  was  a  compact  in  express  terms  between  Texas  and  the  United 
States.  He  said  the  parties  were  capable  of  contracting,  and  that  there  was  a 
valuable  consideration ;  and  hence,  he  contended,  that  in  that  case  there  was  a 
contract  binding  in  honor,  and  morals,  and  law  :  and  that  it  was  irrepealable 
without  a  breach  of  faith. 

He  went  on  to  sny : 

"Now,  as  to  California^and  New  Mexico,  I  hold  slavery  to  be  excluded  from 
those  Territories  by  a  law  even  superior  to  that  which  admits  and  sanctions  it 
in  Texas — I  mean  the  law  of  nature,  of  physical  geography,  the  law  of  the  for- 
mation of  the  earth." 

That  was  the  irrepealable  law  which  he  said  prohibited  slavery  in  the  Terri- 
tories of  Utah  and  New  Mexico.  He  next  went  on  to  speak  of  the  prohibition 
of  slavery  in  Oregon,  and  he  said  it  was  an  "  entirely  useless,  and,  in  that  con- 
nexion, senseless  proviso." 

He  went  further,  and  said  : 

"  That  the  whole  territory  of  the  States  in  the  United  States,  or  in  the  newly- 
acquired  territory  of  the  United  States,  has  a  fixed  and  settled  character,  now 
fixed  and  settled  fc»y  law,  which  cannot  be  repealed  in  the  case  of  Texas  without 
a  violation  of  public  faith  and  cannot  be  repealed  by  any  human  power  in  re- 
gard to  California  or  New  Mexico  ;  that,  under  one  or  other  of  these  fates,  every 
foot  of  territory  in  the  States,  or  in  the  Territories,  has  now  received  a  fixed 

and  decided  character." 

* 

What  irrepealable  laws?  "One  or  the  other"  of  those  which  he  had  stated. 
One  was  the  Texas  compact,  the  other  the  law  of  nature  and  physical  geogra- 
phy j  and  he  contended  that  one  or  the  other  fixed  the  character  of  the  whole 
American  continent  for  freedom  or  for  slavery.  He  never  alluded  to  the  Mis- 
souri compromise,  unless  it  was  by  the  allusion  to  the  Wilmot  proviso  in  the 
Oregon  bill,  and  there  he  said  it  was  a  useless,  and,  in  that  connexion,  senseless 
thing.  Why  was  it  a  useless  and  a  senseless  thing?  Because  it  was  re-enact- 
ing the  law  of  God ;  because  slavery  had  already  been  prohibited  by  physical 
geography.  Sir,  that  was  the  meaning  of  Mr.  Webster's  speech.  My  distin- 
guished friend  from  Massachusetts,  (Mr.  Everett,)  when  he  reads  the  speech 
again,  will  be  utterly  amazed  to  see  how  he  fell  into  such  an  egregious  error  as 
to  suppose  that  Mr.  Webster  had  so  far  fallen  from  his  high  position  as  to  say 
that  the  Missouri  act  of  1820  was  an  irrepealable  law. 

Mr.  Everett.     Will  tlje  gentleman  give  way  for  a  moment? 
.    Mr.  Douglas.     With  great  pleasure. 

Mr.  Everett.  What  I  said  on  that  subject  was,  that  Mr.  Webster,  in  my 
opinion,  considered  the  Missouri  compromise  as  of  the  nature  of  a  compact.  It 
is  true,  as  the  Senator  from  Illinois  has  just  stated,  that  Mr.  Webster  made  no 
allusion,  in  express  terms,  to  the  subject  of  the  Missouri  restriction.  But  I 
thought  then,  and  I  think  now,  that  he  referred  in  general  terms  to  that  as  a 
final  settlement  of  the  question,  in  the  region  to  which  it  applied.  It  was  not 
drawn  in  question  then  on  either  side  of  the  House.  Nobody  suggested  that 
it  was  at  stake.  Nobody  intimated  that  there  was  a  question  before  the  Senate 


394 

whether  that  restriction  should  be  repealed  or  should  remain  in  force.  It  was 
not  distinctly,  and  in  terms,  alluded  to,  as  the  gentleman  correctly  says,  by  Mr. 
Webster,  or  anybody  else.  What  he  said  in  reference  to  Texas,  applied  to 
Texas  alone.  What  he  said  in  reference  to  Utah  and  New  Mexico,  applied  to 
them  alone;  and  what  he  said  with  regard  to  Oregon,  to  that  Territory  alone. 
But  he  stated  in  general  terms,  and  four  or  five  times,  in  the  speech  of  the  7th 
of  March  1850,  that  there  was  not  a  foot  of  land  in  the  United  States  or  its 
Territories  the  character  of  which,  for  freedom  or  slavery,  was  not  fixed  by 
some  irrepealable  law;  and  I  did  think  then,  and  I  think  now,  that  by  the 
"  irrepealable  law,"  as  far  as  concerned  the  territory  north  of  36°  30',  and  in- 
cluded in  the  Louisiana  purchase,  Mr.  Webster  had  reference  to  the  Missouri 
restriction,  as  regarded  as  of  the  nature  of  a  compact.  That  restriction  was 
copied  from  one  of  the  provisions  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  which  are  declared 
in  that  instrument  itself  to  be  articles  of  compact.  The  Missouri  restriction 
is  the  article  of  the  ordinance  of  1787  applied  to  the  Louisiana  purchase.  That 
this  is  the  correct  interpretation  of  Mr.  Webster's  language,  is  confirmed  by  the 
fact  that  he  said,  more  than  once,  and  over  again,  that. all  the  North  lost  by  the 
arrangement  of  1850,  was  the  non-imposition  of  the  Wilmot  proviso  upon  Utah 
and  New  Mexico.  If,  in  addition  to  that,  the  North  had  lost  the  Missouri  re- 
striction over  the  whole  of  the  Louisiana  purchase,  could  he  have  used  language 
of  that  kind,  and  would  he  not  have  attempted,  in  some  way  or  other,  to  recon- 
cile such  a  momentous  fact  with  his  repeated  statements  that  the  measures  of 
1850  applied  only  to  the  territories  newly  acquired  from  Mexico  ? 

Mr.  Douglas.  Mr.  President,  I  will  explain  that  matter  very  quickly.  Mr. 
Webster's  speech  was  made  on  the  7th  of  March  1850,  and  the  territorial  bills 
and  the  Texas  boundary  bill  were  first  reported  to  the  Senate  by  myself  on  the 
25th  of  the  same  month.  Mr.  Webster's  speech  was  made  upon  Mr.  Clay's  re- 
solution, when  there  was  no  bill  pending.  Then  the  omnibus  bill  was  formed 
about  the  1st  of  May  subsequently ;  and  hence  this  explains  the  reason  why 
Mr.  Webster  did  not  refer  to  the  principle  involved  in  these  acts,  and  to  the 
necessary  effect  of  carrying  out  the  principle. 

Mr.  Everett.  The  expression  of  Mr.  Webster,  which  I  quoted  in  my  remarks 
on  the  8th  of  February,  was  from  a  speech  on  Mr.  Soule's  amendment,  offered, 
I  think,  in  June.  In  addition  to  this,  I  have  before  me  an  extract  from  a*  still 
later  speech  of  Mr.  Webster,  made  quite  late  in  the  session,  on  the  17th  of 
July  1850,  in  which  he  reiterated  that  statement.  In  it  he  said : 

"  And  now,  sir,  what  do  Massachusetts  and  the  north,  the  anti-slavery  States, 
lose  by  this  adjustment.  What  is  it  they  lose?  I  put  that  question  to  every 
gentleman  here,  and  to  every  gentleman  in  the  country.  They  lose  the  appli- 
cation of  what  is  called  the  '  Wilmot  proviso'  to  these  territories,  and  that  is 
all.  There  is  nothing  else,  I  suppose,  that  the  whole  North  are  not  ready  to  do. 
They  wish  to  get  California  into  the  Union ;  they  wish  to  quiet  New  Mexico ; 
they  desire  to  terminate  the  dispute  about  the  Texan  boundary  in  any  reasona- 
ble manner,  cost  what  it  reasonably  may.  They  make  no  sacrifice  in  all  that. 
What  they  do  sacrifice  is  exactly  this :  The  application  of  the  Wilmot  proviso 
to  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico  and  the  Territory  of  Utah,  and  that  is  all." 

Could  Mr.  Webster  have  used  language  like  this  if'he  had  understood  that, 
at  the  same  time,  the  non-slaveholding  States  were  losing  the  Missouri  restric- 
tion, as  applied  to  the  whole  vast  territory  included  in  the  bills  now  before  the 
Senate  ? 

Mr.  Douglas.  Of  course  that  was  all,  and  if  he  regarded  the  Missouri  pro- 
hibition in  the  same  light  that  he  did  the  Oregon  prohibition,  it  was  a  useless, 
and,  in  that  connexion,  a  senseless  proviso ;  and  hence  the  north  lost  nothing 
by  not  having  that  same  senseless,  useless  proviso  applied  to  Utah  and  New 
.  Mexico.  Now,  to  show  the  senator  that  he  must  be  mistaken  as  to  Mr.  Web- 


395 

ster's  authority,  let  me  call  his  attention  back  to  this  passage  in  his  7th  of 
March  speech  : 

"  Under  one  or  other  of  these  laws,  every  foot  of  territory  in  the  States  or 
Territories  has  now  received  a  fixed  and  decided  character.'7 

What  laws  did  he  refer  to  when  he  spoke  of  "one  or  other  of  these  laws?" 
He  had  named  but  two,  the  Texas  compact  and  the  law  of  nature,  of  climate, 
and  physical  geography,  which  excluded  slavery.  He  had  mentioned  none 
other;  and  yet  he  says  "one  or  other"  prohibited  slavery  in  all  the  States  or 
Territories — thus  including  Nebraska,  as  well  as  Utah  and  New  Mexico. 

Mr.  Everett.     That  was  not  drawn  in  question  at  all. 

Mr.  Douglas.  Then  if  it  was  not  drawn  in  question,  the  speech  should  not 
have  been  quoted  in  support  of  the  Missouri  compromise.  It  is  just  what  I 
complain  of,  that,  if  it  was  not  thus  drawn  in  question,  that  use  ought  not  to 
have  been  made  of  it.  Now,  Mr.  President,  it  is  well  known  that  Mr.  Webster 
supported  the  compromise  measures  of  1850,  and  the  principle  involved  in  them, 
of  leaving  the  people  to  do  as  they  pleased  upon  this  subject.  I  think,  there- 
fore, that  I  have  shown  that  these  gentlemen  are  not  authorized  to  quote  the 
name  either  of  Mr.  Webster  or  Mr.  Clay  in  support  of  the  position  which  they 
take,  that  this  bill  violates  the  faith  of  compacts.  Sir,  it  was  because  Mr. 
Webster  went  for  giving  the  people  in  the  Territories  the  right  to  do  as  they 
pleased  upon  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  because  he  was  in  favor  of  carrying 
out  the  Constitution  in  regard  to  fugitive  slaves,  that  he  was  not  allowed  to 
speak  in  Fanueil  Hall. 

Mr.  Everett.     That  was  not  my  fault. 

Mr.  Douglas.  I  know  it  was  not;  but  I  say  it  was  because  he  took  that  po- 
sition ;  it  was  because  he  did  not  go  for  a  prohibitory  policy  ;  it  was  because  he 
advocated  the  same  principles  which  I  now  advocate,  because  he  went  for  the 
same  provisions  in  the  Utah  bill  which  I  now  sustain  in  this  bill,  that  Boston 
abolitionists  turned  their  back  upon  him,  just  as  they  burnt  me  in  effigy.  Sir, 
if  identity  of  principle,  if  identity  of  support  as  friends,  if  identity  of  enemies 
fix  Mr.  Webster's  position,  his  authority  is  certainly  with  us,  and  not  with  the 
abolitionists.  I  have  a  right,  therefore,  to  have  the  sympathies  of  his  Boston 
friends  with  me,  as  I  sympathized  with  him  when  the  same  principle  was  in- 
volved. 

Mr.  President,  I  am  sorry  that  I  have  taken  up  so  much  time ;  but  I  must 
notice  one  or  two  points  more.  So  much  has  been  said  about  the  Missouri  com- 
promise act,  and  about  a  faithful  compliance  with  it  by  the  north,  that  I  must 
follow  that  matter  a  little  further.  The  senator  from  Ohio  [Mr.  WADE]  has 
referred,  to-night,  to  the  fact  that  I  went  for  carrying  out  the  Missouri  compro- 
mise in  the  Texas  resolutions  of  1845,  and  in  1848,  on  several  occasions ;  and 
he  actually  proved  that  I  never  abandoned  it  until  1850.  He  need  not  have 
taken  the  pains  to  prove  that  fact;  for  he  got  all  his  information  on  the  subject 
from  my  opening  speech  upon  this  bill.  I  told  you  then  that  I  was  willing,  as 
a  northern  man,  in  1845,  when  the  Texas  question  arose,  to  cafry  the  Missouri 
compromise  line  through  that  State,  and  in  1848  I  offered  it  as  an  amendment 
to  the  Oregon  bill.  Although  I  did  not  like  the  principle  involved  in  that  act, 
yet  I  was  willing,  for  the  sake  of  harmony,  to  extend  to  the  Pacific,  and  abide 
by  it  in  good  faith,  in  order  to  avoid  the  slavery  agitation.  The  Missouri  com- 
promise was  defeated  then  by  the  same  class  of  politicians  who  are  now  com- 
bined in  opposition  to  the  Nebraska  bill.  It  was  because  we  were  unable  to 
carry  out  that  compromise,  that  a  necessity  existed  for  making  a  new  one  in 
1850.  And  then  we  established  this  great  principle  of  self-government  which 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  our  institutions.  What  does  his  charge  amount  to  ? 
He  charges  it,  as  a  matter  of  offence,  that  I  struggled  in  1845  and  in  1848  to 
observe  good  faith ;  and  he  and  his  associates  defeated  my  purpose,  and  deprived. 


396 

me  of  the  ability  to  carry  out  what  he  now  says  is  the  plighted  faith  of  the 
nation. 

Mr.  Wade.  I  did  not  charge  the  senator  with  anything  except  with  making 
a  very  excellent  argument  on  my  side  of  the  question,  and  I  wished  he  would 
make  it  again  to-night.  That  was  all. 

Mr.  Douglas.  What  was  the  argument  which  I  made  ?  A  southern  senator 
had  complained  that  t'he  Missouri  compromise  was  a  matter  of  injustice  to  the 
south.  I  told  him  he  ought  not  to  complain  of  that  when  his  southern  friends 
were  here  proposing  to  accept  it;  and  if  we  could  carry  it  out,  he  had  no  right 
to  make  such  a  complaint.  I  was  anxious  to  carry  it  out.  It  would  not  have 
done  for  a  northern  man  who  was  opposed  to  the  measure,  and  unwilling  to 
abide  it,  to  take  that  position.  It  would  not  have  become  the  senator  from 
Ohio,  who  then  denounced  the  very  measure  which  he  now  calls  a  sacred  coin- 
pact,  to  take  that  position.  But,  as  one  who  had  always  been  in  favor  of  carry- 
ing it  out,  it  was  legitimate  and  proper  that  I  should  make  that  argument  in 
reply. 

Sir,  as  I  have  said,  the  south  were  willing  to  agree  to  the  Missouri  compro- 
mise in  1848.  When  it  was  proposed  by  me  to  the  Oregon  bill,  as  an  amend- 
ment, to  extend  that  line  to  the  Pacific,  the  south  agreed  to  it.  The  senate 
adopted  that  proposition,  and  the  House  voted  it  down.  In  1850,  after  the 
omnibus  bill  had  broken  down,  and  we  proceeded  to  pass  the  compromise  mea- 
sures separately,  I  proposed,  when  the  Utah  bill  was  under  discussion,  to  make 
a  slight  variation  of  the  boundary  of  that  Territory,  so  as  to  include  the  Mor- 
mon settlements,  and  not  with  reference  to  any  other  question ;  and  it  was  sug- 
gested that  we  should  take  the  line  of  36°  30'.  That  would  have  accomplished 
the  local  objects  of  the  amendment  very  well.  But  when  I  proposed  it,  what 
did  these  free-Boilers  say  ?  What  did  the  senator  from  New  Hampshire,  [Mr. 
Hale,]  who  was  then  their  leader  in  this  body,  say  ?  Here  are  his  words  : 

"  Mr.  HALE.  I  wish  to  say  a  word  as  a  reason  why  I  shall  vote  against  the 
amendment.  I  shall  vote  against  36°  30',  because  1  think  there  is  an  implica- 
tion in  it.  [Laughter.]  I  will  vote  for  37°  or  36°  either,  just  as  it  is  conve- 
nient; but  it  is  idle  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  here  is  an  attempt  in  this 
bill — I  will  not  say  it  is  the  intention  of  the  mover — to  pledge  this  Senate  and 
Congress  to  the  imaginary  line  of  36°  30',  because  there  are  some  historical 
recollections  connected  wit! i  it  in  regard  to  this  controversy  about  slavery.  I  will 
content  myself  with  saying  that  1  never  will,  by  vote  or  speech,  admit  or  submit 
to  anything  that  may  bind  the  action  of  .our  legislation  here  to  make  the  parallel 
of  30°  30'  the  boundary  line  between  slave  and  free  territory.-  And  when  I 
say  that,  I  explain  the  reason  why  I  go  against  the  amendment." 

These  remarks  of  Mr.  Hale  were  not  made  on  a  proposition  to  extend  the 
Missouri  compromise  line  to  the  Pacific,  but  on  a  proposition  to  fix  36°  30'  as 
the  southern  boundary  line  of  Utah,  for  local  reasons.  He  was  against  it  be- 
cause there  migljt  be,  as  he  said,  an  implication  growing  out  of  historical  recol- 
lections in  favor  of  the  imaginary  line  between  slavery  and  freedom.  Does  that 
look  as  if  his  object  was  to  get  an  implication  in  favor  of  preserving  sacred 
this  line,  in  regard  to  which  gentlemen  now  say  there  was  a  solemn  compact  ? 
That  proposition  may  illustrate  what  I  wish  to  say  in  this  connexion  upon  a 
point  which  has  been  made  by  the  opponents  of  this  bill  as  to  the  effect  of  an 
amendment  inserted  on  the  motion  of  the  senator  from  Virginia,  [Mr.  MASON,] 
into  the  Texas  boundary  bill.  The  opponents  of  this  measure  rely  upon  that 
amendment  to  show  that  the  Texas  compact  was  preserved  by  the  acts  of  1850. 
I  have  already  shown,  in  my  former  speech,  that  the  object  of  the  amendment 
was  to  guaranty  to  the  State  of  Texas,, with  her  circumscribed  boundaries,  the 
same  number  of  States  which  she  would  have  had  under  her  larger  boundaries, 
tind  with  the  same  right  to  come  in  with  or  without  slavery,  as  they  please. 


397 

We  have  been  told  over  and  over  again  that  there  was  no  such  thing  inti- 
mated in  debate  as  that  the  country  cut  off  from  Texas  was  to  be  relieved  from 
the  stipulation  of  that  compromise.  This  has  been  asserted  boldly  and  uncon- 
ditionally, as  if  there  could  be  no  doubt  about  it.  The  senator  from  Georgia 
[Mr.  Toombs]  in  his  speech,  showed  that,  in  his  address  to  fcis  constituents  of 
that  State,  he  had  proclaimed  to  the  world  that  the  object  was  to  establish  a 
principle  which  would  allow  the  people  to  decide  the  question  of  slavery  for 
themselves,  north  as  well  as  south  of  36°  30'.  The  line  of  30°  30'  was  voted 
down  as  the  boundary  of  Utah,  so  that  there  should  not  be  even  an  implication 
in  favor  of  an  imaginary  line  to  divide  freedom  and  slavery.  Subsequently, 
when  the  Texas  boundary  bill  was  under  consideration,  on  the  next  day  after 
the  amendment  of  the  senator  from  Virginia  had  been  adopted,  the  record 
says  : 

"  Mr.  Sebastian  moved  to  add  to  the  second  article  the  following  : 

"  'On  the  condition  that  the  territory  hereby  ceded  may  be,  at  the  proper 
time,  formed  into  a  State,  and  admitted  into  the  Union,  with  a  constitution 
with  or  without  the  prohibition  of  slavery  therein,  as  the  people  of  the  said 
Territory  may  at  the  time  determine/" 

Then  the  senator  from  Arkansas  did  propose  that  the  territory  cut  off  should 
be  relieved  from  that  restriction  in  express  terms,  and  allowed  to  come  in  ac- 
cording to  the  principles  of  this  bill.  What  was  done  ?  The  debate  continued  : 

".Mr.  Foote.  Will  my  friend  allow  me  to  appeal  to  him  to  move  this  amend- 
ment when  the  territorial  bill  for  New  Mexico  shall  be  up  for  consideration? 
It  will  certainly  be  a  part  of  that  bill,  and  I  shall  then  vote  for  it  with  pleasure. 
Now  it  will  only  embarrass  our  action." 

Let  it  be  remarked,  that  no  one  denied  the  propriety  of  the  provision.  All 
seemed  to  acquiesce  in  the  principle  ;  but  it  was  thought  better  to  insert  it  in 
the  territorial  bills,  as  we  are  now  doing,  instead  of  adding  it  to  the  Texas 
boundary  bill.  The  debate  proceeded  : 

"  Mr.  Sebastian.  My  only  object  in  offering  the  amendment  is  to  secure  the 
assertion  of  this  principle  beyond  a  doubt.  The  principb  was  acquiesced  in 
without  difficulty  in  regard  to  the  territorial  government  established  for  Utah, 
a  part  of  this  acquired  territory,  and,  it  is  proper,  in  my  opinion,  that  it  should 
be  incorporated  in  this  bill. 

"  Messrs.  Cass,  Foote,  and  others.     Oh,  withdraw  it. 

"  Mr.  Sebastian.  I  think  this  is  the  proper  place  for  it.  It  is  uncertain 
whether  it  will  be  incorporated  in  the  other  bill  referred  to,  and  the  bill  itself 
may  not  pass." 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  debate  goes  upon  the  supposition  that  the  effect  was 
to  release  the  country  north  of  36°  30'  from  the  obligation  of  the  prohibition  ; 
and  the  only  question,  was  whether  the  declaration  that  it  should  be  received 
into  the  Union  "  with  or  without  slavery"  should  be  inserted  in  the  Texas  bill, 
or  the  territorial  bill. 

The  debate  was  continued,  and  I  will  read  one  or  two  other  passages  : 

"  Mr.  Foote.  I  wish  to  state  to  the  senator  a  fact  of  which,  I  think,  he  is 
not  observant  at  this  moment ;  and  that  is,  that  the  senator  from  Virginia  has 
introduced  an  amendment,  which  is  now  a  part  of  the  bill,  which  recognises  the 
Tex;is  compact  of  annexation  in  every  respect. 

"  Mr.  Sebastian.  I  was  aware  of  the  effect  of  the  amendment  of  the  sena- 
tor from  Virginia.  It  is  in  regard  to  the  number  of  States  to  be  formed  out  of 
Texas,  and  is  referred  to  only  iu  general  terms.'' 


398 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  senator  from  Arkansas,  then  explained  the 
amendment  of  the  senator  from  Virginia,  which  had  been  adopted,  in  precisely 
the  same  way  in  which  I  explained  it  in  my  opening  speech.  The  senator  from 
Arkansas  continued  : 

"  If  this  amendment  be  the  same  as  that  offered  by  the  senator  from  Virgi- 
nia there  can  certainly  be  no  harm  in  reaffirming  it  in  this  bill,  to  which  I 
think  it  properly  belongs." 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  nobody  disputed  that  the  restriction  was  to  be  re- 
moved ;  and  the  only  question  was,  as  to  the  bill  in  which  that  declaration 
would  be  put.  It  seems,  from  the  record,  that  I  took  part  in  the  debate,  and 
said  : 

"  Mr.  Douglas.  This  boundary  as  now  fixed,  would  leave  New  Mexico 
bounded  on  the  east  by  the  103°  of  longitude  up  to  36°  30',  and  then  east  to 
the  100° ;  and  it  leaves  a  narrow  neck  of  land  between  86°  30'  and  the  old 
boundary  of  Texas,  that  would  not  naturally  and  properly  go  to  New  Mexico 
when  it  should  become  a  State.  This  amendment  would  compel  us  to  include 
it  in  New  Mexico,  or  to  form  it  into  another  State.  When  the  principle  shall 
come  up  in  the  bill  for  the  organization  of  a  territorial  government  for  New 
Mexico,  no  doubt  the  same  vote  which  inserted  it  in  the  omnibus  bill,  and  the 
Utah  bill  will  insert  it  there. 

"  Several  Senators.     No  doubt  of  it." 

Upon  that  debate  the  amendment  of  the  senator  from  Arkansas  was  voted 
down,  because  it  was  avowed  and  distinctly  understood  that  the  amendment  of 
the  senator  from  Virginia,  taken  in  connexion  with  the  remainder  of  the  bill, 
did  release  the  country  ceded  by  Texas,  north  of  36°  30'  from  the  restriction  ; 
and  it  was  agreed  that  if  we  did  not  put  it  into  the  Texas  boundary  bill,  it 
should  go  into  the  territorial  bill.  I  stated,  as  a  reason  why  it  should  not  go 
into  the  Texas  boundary  bill,  that  if  it  did  it  would  be  a  compact,  and  would 
compel  us  to  put  the  whole  ceded  country  into  one  State,  when  it  might  be 
more  convenient  and  natural  to  make  a  different  boundary.  I  pledged  myself 
then  that  it  should  be  put  into  the  territorial  bill ;  and  when  we  considered  the 
territorial  bill  for  New  Mexico  we  put  in  the  same  clause,  so  far  as  the  country 
ceded  by  Texas  was  embraced  within  that  territory,  and  it  passed  in  that  shape. 
When  it  went  into  the  House,  they  united  the  two  bills  together,  and  thus  this 
clause  passed  in  the  same  bill,  as  the  senator  from  Arkansas  desired. 

Now,  sir,  have  I  not  shown  conclusively  that  it  was  the  understanding  in  that 
debate  that  the  effect  was  to  release  the  country  north  of  36°  30',  which  for- 
merly belonged  to  Texas,  from  the  operation  of  that  restriction,  and  to  provide 
that  it  should  come  into  the  Union  with  or  without  slavery,  as  its  people  should 
Bee  proper  ? 

That  being  the  case,  I  ask  the  senator  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Chase]  if  he  ought 
not  to  have  been  cautious  when  he  charged  over  and  over  again  that  there  was 
not  a  word  or  a  syllable  uttered  in  debate  to  that  effect  ?  Should  he  not  have 
been  cautious  when  he  said  that  it  was  a  mere  after-thought  on  my  part  ? 
Should  he  not  have  been  cautious  when  he  said  that  even  I  never  dreamed  of  it 
up  to  the  4th  of  January  of  this  year?  Whereas  the  record  shows  that  I  made 
a  speech  to  that  effect  during  the  pendency  of  the  bills  of  1850.  The  same 
statement  was  repeated  by  nearly  every  senator  who  followed  him  in  debate  in 
opposition  to  this 'bill ;  and  it  is  now  being  circulated  over  the  country,  pub- 
lished in  every  abolition  paper,  and  read  on  every  stump  by  every  abolition  ora- 
tor, in  order  to  get  up  a  prejudice  against  me  and  the  measure  I  have  introduced. 
Those  gentlemen  should  not  have  dared  to  utter  the  statement  without  knowing 
whether  it  was  correct  or  not.  These  records  are  troublesome  things  sometimes. 
It  is  not  proper  for  a  man  to  charge  another  with  a  mere  after-thought  because 


399 

he  did  not  know  that  ho  had  advocated  the  same  principles  before.  Because  he 
did  not  know  it  he  should  not  take  it  for  granted  that  nobody  else  did.  Let 
me  tell  the  senators  that  it  is  a  very  unsafe  rule  for  them  to  rely  upon.  They 
ought  to  have  had  sufficient  respect  for  a  brother  senator  to  have  believed,  when 
he  came  forward  with  an  important  proposition,  that  he  had  investigated  it. 
They  ought  to  have  had  sufficient  respect  for  a  committee  of  this  body  to  have 
assumed  that  they  meant  what  they  said. 

When  I  sec  such  a  system  of  misinterpretation,  and  misrepresentation  of 
views,  of  laws,  of  records,  of  debates,  all  tending  to  mislead  the  public,  to 
•excite  prejudice,  and  to  propagate  error,  have  I  not  a  right  to  expose  it  in  very 
plain  terms,  without  being  arraigned  for  violating  the  courtesies  of  the  Senate  ? 

Mr.  President,  frequent  reference  has  been  made  in  debate  to  the  admission 
of  Arkansas  as  a  slave-holding  State,  as  furnishing  evidence  that  the  abolition- 
ists and  freesoilers,  who  have  recently  become  so  much  enamored  with  the  Mis- 
souri compromise,  have  always  been  faithful  to  its  stipulations  and  implications. 
I  will  show  that  the  reference  is  unfortunate  for  them.  When  Arkansas  applied 
for  admission  in  1836,  objection  was  made  in  consequence  of  the  provisions  of 
her  constitution  in  respect  to  slavery.  When  the  abolitionists  and  fresoilers  of 
that  day  were  arraigned  for  making  that  objection,  upon  the  ground  that  Ar- 
kansas was  south  of  36°  30',  they  replied  that  the  act  of  1820  was  never  a 
compromise,  much  less  a  compact,  imposing  any  obligation  upon  the  successors 
of  those  who  passed  the  act  to  pay  any  more  respect  to  its  provisions  than  to 
any  other  enactment  of  ordinary  legislation.  I  have  the  debates  before  me,  but 
will  occupy  the  attention  of  the  Senate  only  to  read  one  or  two  paragraphs. 
Mr.  Hand  of  New  York,  in  opposition  to  the  admission  of  Arkansas  as  a  slave- 
holding  State,  said  : 

"  I  am  aware  it  will  be,  as  it  has  been  already  contended,  that  by  the  Mis- 
souri compromise,  as  it  has  been  preposterously  termed,  Congress  has  parted 
with  its  right  to  prohibit  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the  territory  south  of 
36°  30'  north  latitude." 

He  acknowledged  that  by  the  Missouri  compromise,  as  he  said  it  was  prepos- 
terously tended,  the  north  was  estopped  from  denying  the  right  to  hold  slaves 
south  of  that  line ;  but,  he  added  : 

"  There  are,  to  my  mind,  insuperable  objections  to  the  soundness  of  that  pro- 
position." 

Here  they  are : 

"In  the  first  place,  there  was  no  compromise  or  compact  whereby  Congress 
surrendered  any  power,  or  yielded  any  jurisdiction;  and,  in  the  second  place,  if 
it  had  done  so,  it  was  a  mere  legislative  act,  that  could  not  bind  their  successors, 
it  would  be  subject  to  a  repeal  at  the  will  of  any  succeeding  Congress." 

I  give  these  passages  as  specimens  of  the  various  speeches  made  in  opposition 
to  the  admission  of  Arkansas  by  the  same  class  of  politicians  who  now  oppose 
the  Nebraska  bill  upon  the  ground  that  it  violates  a  solemn  compact.  So  much 
for  the  speeches.  Now  for  the  vote.  The  Journal  which  I  hold  in  my  hand, 
shows  that  forty-nine  northern  votes  were  recorded  against  the  admission  of 
Arkansas. 

Yet,  sirs,  in  utter  disregard — and  charity  leads  me  to  hope,  in  profound  i 
norance — of  all  these  facts,  gentlemen  are  boasting  that  the  north  always  o 
served  the  contract,  never  denied  its  validity,  never  wished  to  violate  it ;  and 
they  have  even  referred  to  the  cases  of  the  admission  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas 
as  instances  of  their  good  faith. 

Now,  is  it  possible  that  gentlemen  could  suppose  these  things  could  be  said 
and  distributed  in  their  speeches  without  exposure  ?  Did  they  presume  that; 


400 

inasmuch  as  their  lives  were  devoted  to  slavery  agitation,  whatever  they  di'cl  not 
know  about  the  history  of  that  question  did  not  exist  ?  I  am  willing  to  be- 
lieve, I  hope  it  may  be  the  fact,  that  they  were  profoundly  ignorant,  of  all 
these  records,  all  these  debates,  all  these  facts,  which  overthrow  every  position 
they  have  assumed.  I  wish  the  senator  from  Maine,  [Mr.  Fessenden,]  who 
delivered  his  maiden  speech  here  to-night,  and  who  made  a  great -many  sly 
stabs  at  me,  had  informed  himself  upon  the  subject  before  he  repeated  all  these 
groundless  assertions.  I  can  excuse  him  for  the  reason  that  he  has  been  here 
but  a  few  days,  and,  having  enlisted  under  the  banner  of  the  abolition  confede- 
rates, was  unwise  and  simple  enough  to  believe  that  what  they  had  published, 
could  be  relied  upon  as  stubborn  facts.  He  may  be  an  innocent  victim.  I 
hope  he  can  have  the  excuse  of  not  having  investigated  the  subject.  I  am 
willing  to  excuse  him  on  the  ground  that  he  did  not  know  what  he  was  talking 
about,  and  it  is  the  only  excuse  which  I  can  make  for  him.  I  will  say,  how- 
ever, that  I  do  not  think  he  was  required  by  his  loyalty  to  the  abolitionists  to 
repeat  every  disreputable  insinuation  which  they  made.  Why  did  he  throw 
into  his  speech  that  foul  inuendo  about  a  "  northern  man  with  southern  princi- 
ples," and  then  quote  the  senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Sumner]  as  his  au- 
thority ?  Ay,  sir,  I  say  that  foul  insinuation.  Did  not  the  senator  from  Mas- 
sachusetts, who  first  dragged  it  into  this  debate,  wish  to  have  the  public  under- 
stand that  I  was  known  as  a  northern  man  with  southern  principles  ?  Was  not 
that  the  allusion  ?  If  it  was,  he  availed  himself  of  a  cant  phrase  in  the  public 
mind,  in  violation  of  the  truth  of  history.  I  know  of  but  one  man  in  this 
country  who  ever  made  it  a  boast  that  he  was  li  a  northern  man  with  southern 
principles,"  and  lie  [turning  to  Mr.  Sumner]  was  your  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency in  1848.  [Applause  in  the  galleries.] 

The  Presiding  Officer,  [Mr.  Mason.]     Order,  order. 

Mr.  Douglas.  If  his  sarcasm  was  inteilded  for  Martin  Van  Buren,  it  involves 
a  family  quarrel,  with  which  I  have  no  disposition  to  interfere.  I  will  only  add 
that  I  have  been  able  to  discover  nothing  in  the  present  position  or  recent  his- 
tory of  that  distinguished  statesman,  which  would  lead  me  to  covet  the  sobri- 
quet by  which  he  is  known — "a  northern  man  with  southern  principles." 

Mr.  President,  the  senators  from  Ohio  and  Massachusetts,  [Mr.  Chase  and 
Mr.  Sumner,]  have  taken  the  liberty  to  impeach  my  motives  in  'bringing  for- 
ward this  measure.  I  desire  to  know  by  what  right  they  arraign  me,  or  by 
what  authority  thev  impute  to  me  other  and  different  motives  than  those  which 
I  have  assigned.  I  have  shown  from  the  record  that  I  advocated  and  voted  for 
the  same  principles  and  provisions  in  the  compromise  acts  of  1850,  which  are 
embraced  in  this  bill.  I  have  proven  that  I  put  the  same  construction  upon 
those  measures  immediately  after  their  adoption  that  is  given  in  the  report 
which  I  submitted  this  session  from  the  Committee  on  Territories.  I  have 
shown  that  the  legislature  of  Illinois  at  its  first  session,  after  those  measures 
were  enacted,  passed  resolutions  approving  them,  and  declaring  that  the  same 
great  principles  of  self-government  should  be  incorporated  into  all  territorial 
organizations.  Yet,  sir,  in  the  face  of  these  facts,  these  senators  have  the 
hardihood  to  declare  that  this  was  all  an  "  afterthought"  on  my  part,  conceived 
for  the  first  time  during  the  present  session ;  and  that  the  measure  is  offered  as 
a  bid  for  presidential  votes  !  Are  they  incapable  of  conceiving  that  an  honest 
man  can  do  a  right  thing  from  worthy  motives?  I  must  be  permitted  to  tell 
those  senators  that  their  experience  in  seeking  political  preferment  does  not 
furnish  a  safe  rule  by  which  to  judge  the  character  and  principles  of  other  sena- 
tors ! 

I  must  be  permitted  to  tell  the  Senator  from  Ohio  that  I  did  not  obtain  my 
seat  in  this  body,  either  by  a  corrupt  bargain  or  a  dishonorable  coalition  !  I 
must  be  permitted  to  remind  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  that  I  did  not  en- 
ter into  any  combinations  or  arrangements  by  which  my  character,  my  princi- 


401 

plcst  and  my  honor,  were  set  up  at  public  auction  or  private  sale  in  order  to  pro- 
cure a  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  !  I  did  not  come  into  the  Senate 
by  any  such  means. 

Mr.  Weller.     But  there  are  some  men  whom  I  know  that  did. 

Mr.  Chase,  (to  Mr.  Weller.)     Do  you  say  that  I  came  here  by  a  bargain  ? 

The  Presiding  Officer,  [Mr.  Mason.]  Order  must  be  preserved  in  the  Se- 
nate. 

Mr.  Weller.     I  will  explain  what  I  mean. 

The  Presiding  Officer.     The  Senator  from  Illinois  is  entitled  to  the  floor. 

Mr.  Dodge  of  Iowa.  I  call  both  the  Senator  from  California  and  the  Senator 
from  Ohio  to  order. 

Mr.  Douglas.  I  cannot  yield  the  floor  until  I  get  through.  I  say,  then, 
there  is  nothing  which  authorized  that  Senator  to  impugn  my  motives. 

Mr.  Chase.  Will  the  Senator  from  Illinois  allow  me?  Does  he  say  that  I 
came  into  the  Senate  by  a  corrupt  bargain  ? 

Mr.  Douglas.  I  cannot  permit  the  Senator  to  change  the  issue.  He  has  ar- 
raigned me  on  the  charge  of  seeking  high  political  station  by  unworthy  means. 
I  tell  him  there  is  nothing  in  my  history  which  would  create  the  suspicion  that 
I  come  into  the  Senate  by  a  corrupt  bargain  or  a  disgraceful  coalition. 

Mr,  Chase.  Whoever  says  that  I  came  here  by  a  corrupt  bargain  states  what 
is  false. 

Mr.  Weller.     Mr.  President.  

Mr.  Douglas.  My  friend  from  California  will  wait  till  I  get  through,  if  he 
pleases. 

The  Presiding  Ofncer.     The  Senator  from  Illinois  is  entitled  to  the  floor. 

Mr.  Douglas.  It  will  not  do  for  the  Senator  from  Ohio  to  return  offensive 
expressions  after  what  I  have  said  and  proven.  Nor  can  I  permit  him  to  change 
the  issue,  and  thereby  divert  public  attention  from  the  enormity  of  his  offence, 
in  charging  me  with  unworthy  motives;  while  performing  a  high  public  duty, 
in  obedience  to  the  expressed  wish  and  known  principles  of  my  State.  I  choose 
to  maintain  my  own  position,  and  leave  the  public  to  ascertain,  if  they  do  not 
understand,  how  and  by  what  means  he  was  elected  to  the  Senate. 

Mr.  Chase.  If  the  Senator  will  allow  me,  I  will  say,  in  reply  to  the  remarks 
which  the  Senator  has  just  made,  that  I  did  not  understand  him  as  calling 
upon  me  for  any  explanation  of  the  statement  which  he  said  was  made  in  re- 
gard to  a  presidential  bid.  The  exact  statement  in  the  address  was  this — it  was 
a  question  addressed  to  the  people  :  "  Would  they  allow  their  dearest  rights  to 
be  made  the  hazards  of  a  presidential  game?"  That  was  the  exact  expression. 
Now,  sir,  it  is  well  known  that  all  these  great  measures  in  the  country  are  in- 
fluenced, more  or  less,  by  reference  to  the  great  public  canvasses  which  arc  go- 
ing on  from  time  to  time.  I  certainly  did  not  intend  to  impute  to  the  Senator 
from  Illinois — and  I  desire  always  to  do  justice — in  that  any  improper  motive. 
I  do  not  think  it  is  an  unworthy  ambition  to  desire  to  be  a  President  of  the 
United  States.  I  do  not  think  that  the  bringing  forward  of  a  measure  with  re- 
ference to  that  object  would  be  an  improper  thing,  if  the  measure  be  proper  in 
itself.  I  differ  from  the  Senator  in  my  judgment  of  the  measure.  I  do  not 
think  the  measure  is  a  right  one.  'In  that  I  express  the  judgment  which  I  ho- 
nestly entertain.  I  do  not  condemn  his  judgment;  I  do  not  make,  and  I  do 
not  desire  to  make,  any  personal  imputations  upon  him  in  reference  to  a  great 
public  question. 

Mr.  Weller.  Mr.  President- 
Mr.  Douglas.  I  cannot  allow  my  friend  from  California  to  come  into  the 
ring  at  this  time,  for  this  is  iny  peculiar  business.  I  may  let  him  in  after 
awhile.  I  wish  to  examine  the  explanation  of  the  senator  from  Ohio,  and  see 
whether  I  ought  to  accept  it  as  satisfactory.  He  has  quoted  the  language  of 
the  address.  It  is  undeniable  that  that  language  clearly  imputed  to  me  the  de- 
26 


402 

sign  of  bringing  forward  this  bill  with  a  view  of  securing  my  own  election  to 
the  presidency.  Then,  by  way  of  excusing  himself  for  imputing  to  me  such  a 
purpose,  the  senator  says  that  he  does  not  consider  it  "  an  unworthy  ambition/' 
and  hence  he  says  that,  in  making  the  charge,  he  does  not  impugn  my  motives. 
I  must  remind  him  that,  in  addition  to  that  insinuation,  he  only  said,  in  the 
same  address,  that  my  bill  was  a  "criminal  betrayal  of  precious  rights;"  he 
only  said  it  was  "an  atrocious  plot  against  freedom  and  humanity;"  he  only 
said  that  it  was  "meditated  bad  faith;"  he  only  spoke  significantly  of  "  servile 
demagogues ;"  he  only  called  upon  the  preachers  of  the  G-ospel  and  the  people 
at  their  public  meetings  to  denounce  and  resist  such  a  monstrous  iniquity.  In 
saying  all  this,  and  much  of  the  same  sort,  he  now  assures  me,  in  the  presence 
of  the  Senate,  that  he  did  not  mean  the  charge  to  imply  an  "  unworthy  ambi- 
tion ;"  that  it  was  not  intended  as  a  "  personal  imputation"  upon  my  motives 
or  character;  and  that  he  meant  "  no  personal  disrespect"  to  me  as  the  author 
of  the  measure.  In  reply,  I  will  content  myself  with  the  remark,  that  there 
is  a  very  wide  difference  of  opinion  between  the  senator  from  Ohio  and  myself 
in  respect  to  the  meaning  of  words,  and  especially  in  regard  to  the  line  of  con- 
duct which,  in  a  public  man,  does  not  constitute  an  unworthy  ambition. 

Mr.  Weller.  Now,  I  ask  my  friend  from  Illinois  to  give  way  to  me  for  a  few 
moments. 

Mr.  Douglas.     I  yield  the  floor. 

Mr.  Weller.  I  made  a  remark  which  no  doubt  gave  cause  to  this  digression 
in  the  argument  of  the  senator  from  Illinois. "  I  presume  that  I  know  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  the  senator  from  Ohio  was  elected  to  this  body.  I  in- 
timated them  in  the  expression  of  opinion  which  I  gave  a  few  moments  ago.  I 
do  not  know  that  the  senator  was  elected  here  under  a  compromise,  or  an  agree- 
ment, or  an  express  bargain.  I  entertain  no  personal  feeling  of  ill-will  against 
the  senator,  however  little  respect  I  may  have  for  his  political  opinions.  I  pro- 
pose to  state  some  facts,  however,  connected  with  his  election,  and  leave  others 
to  decide  how  far  they  constituted  a  bargain.  Soon  after  the  admission  of  Ohio 
into  the  Union,  a  law  had  been  passed  prohibiting  negroes  and  their  descendants 
from  testifying  in  a  court  of  justice  when  a  white  man  was  a  party — the  same 
law  required  a  negro,  upon  coming  within  the  limits  of  the  State,  to  give 
bond  and  security  that  he  would  not  become  a  pauper.  This  law  was  particu- 
larly odious  to  the  abolitionists,  and  the  democrats  had  uniformly  opposed  its 
repeal,  upon  the  ground  that  such  an  act  would  encourage  and  invite  emigrants 
of  that  class  to  the  State.  Such  persons,  they  held,  would  add  nothing  to  the 
real  strength  of  the  State.  Certain  judges  of  the  supreme  and  other  courts 
were  to  be  elected  by  the  legislature.  Some  members  of  the  board  of  publio 
works  were  to  be  appointed.  For  these  places  there  were,  as  is  usually  the  case, 
a  multitude  of  applicants.  The  political  power  between  the  two  great  parties 
in  the  legislature  was  so  equally  divided  that  a  few  (three  or  four,  I  believe) 
abolitionists  held  the  balance  between  them.  An  effort  was  made  to  compro- 
mise with  the  whigs  and  elect  an  abolitionist  in  the  other  branch  of  Congress  to 
the  Senate.  This  failed.  Propositions  were  then  made  to  the  democrats,  which 
resulted  in  the  repeal  of  the  "  black-laws,"  the  appointment  of  certain  demo- 
crats to  judgeships,  &c.,  and  the  election  of  Mr.  Chase  to  the  Senate,  These 
facts  transpired  about  the  time  I  left  the  State  for  California,  and  I  know  gave 
great  dissatisfaction  to  a  large  portion  of  the  people. 

Mr.  Chase.  I  know  that  the  senator  from  California  means  to  state  the  facts 
correctly;  but  I  think  justice  to  myself,  and  justice  to  my  State,  requires  me 
to  say  that  he  is  not  correctly  informed  in  regard  to  the  material  facts.  The 
truth  is,  and  I  owe  it  to  my  State  to  say  it,  that  in  the  legislature,  at  the  time 
of  my  election,  there  were  three  parties,  one  of  them  known  as  the  independent 
democrats,  or  sometimes  as  free-soilers,  another  known  as  the  old-line  demo- 
crats, and  another  known  as  whigs.  It  was  impossible  for  either  of  these  three 


403 

parties  to  elect  its  candidate  of  itself,  and  that  happened  which  I  believe  has 
happened  in  very  many  of  the  States  nortk  arid  south. 

Mr.  Weller.     How  many  votes  had  the  third  party  ? 

Mr.  Chase.  Ten  or  twelve.  There  were  ten  or  twelve  gentlemen  elected  as 
frecsoilers;  but  itxis  true  the  whig  portion  of  them  did  not  vote  for  me.  I  got 
none  but  democratic  votes.  I  received  the  democratic  portion  of  the  freesoii 
vote,  and  I  received  the  whole  of  the  old-line  democratic  vote,  without  a  single 
exception.  On  the  other  hand,  some  gentlemen,  generally  concurring  with  me 
in  political  views  in  most  respects,  and  also  in  respect  to  slavery,  but  belonging 
to  the  old-line  organization,  were  elected  as  members  of  the  supreme  court. 
That  is  the  whole  of  it. 

So  far  as  the  repeal  of  the  black  laws  is  concerned  ;  those  laws  which,  I  think, 
the  senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Butler]  once  mentioned  as  a  subject  of 
reproach  against  the  people  of  Ohio,  by  which  bonds  were  required  for  the 
good  behavior  of  every  colored  person  coining  into  the  State,  and  by  which 
every  colored  person  was  excluded  as  a  witness  upon  the  trial  of  a  white  man, 
that  whole  matter  of  repeal  occurred  prior  to  the  election,  and  had  no  connex- 
ion with  it  as  far  I  know. 

Mr.  Weller.  Was  not  that  part  of  the  agreement  which  resulted  in  your 
election  ?  I  know  these  laws  were  repealed  at  the  same  session,  and  I  always 
understood  it  was  a  part  of  the  bargain. 

Mr.  Chase.  It  had  no  connexion  with  it,  so  far  as  I  know.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  Senator  thinks  it  had,  but  he  is  mistaken.  Now,  I  take  occasion  to 
say  that  the  repeal  of  these  inhuman  and  oppressive  laws  was  a  measure  de- 
manded by  the  people.  I  rejoiced  at  their  repeal.  I  believe  that  everybody 
who  has  investigated  the  subject  thinks  that  that  repeal  was  a  humane  mea- 
sure— a  wise,  fit,  and  a  proper  measure.  Everybody  who  knows  anything  about 
the  population  of  my  State  since  that,  knows,  that,  far  from  having  been  pro- 
ductive of  any  injury,  it  has  resulted  in  great  good.  That  is  all  I  have  to  say. 

Mr.  Sumner.  Will  the  Senator  from  Illinois  yield  the  floor  to  me  for  a  mo- 
ment? 

Mr.  Douglas.  As  I  presume  it  is  on  the  same  point,  I  will  hear  the  testi- 
mony. 

Mr.  Sumner.  Mr.  President,  I  shrink  always  instinctively  from  any  effort 
to  repel  a  personal  assault.  I  do  not  recognize  the  jurisdiction  of  this  body  to 
try  my  election  to  the  Senate ;  but  I  do  state,  in  reply  to  the  Senator  from  Illi- 
nois, that  if  he  means  to  suggest  that  I  came  into  the  body  by  any  waiver  of 
principles;  by  any  abandonment  of  my  principles  of  any  kind;  by  any  effort 
or  activity  of  my  own,  in  any  degree,  he  states  that  which  cannot  be  sustained 
by  the  facts.  I  never  sought,  in  any  way,  the  office  which  I  now  hold;  nor 
was  I  a  party,  in  any  way,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  those  efforts  which  placed 
me  here. 

Mr.  Weller.  My  only  excuse  for  intermeddling  with  this  matter  was,  that  I 
am,  I  believe,  the  only  member  of  the  Senate  who  is  a  native  of  Ohio.  I  took 
occasion  to  say,  some  days  ago,  that  I  was  very  much  mortified  that  my  native 
State  should  be  represented  in  the  manner  she  is  on  this  floor.  I  happened  to 
be  familiar,  as  I  have  stated,  with  the  circumstances  under  which  the  Senator 
on  my  right  (Mr.  Chase)  was  elected.  He  was  elected  to  the  Senate  the  very 
year  that  I  left  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  I  was  very  glad  to  have  an  opportunity 
of  changing  my  residence  on  that  remarkable  occasion.  [Laughter.]  That  is 
the  only  apology  which  I  have  to  offer  for  intermeddling  with  what  is  otherwise 
a  personal  matter  between  the  Senator  from  Ohio  and  the  Senator  from  Illinois. 
Usually,  I  have  as  much  as  I  can  do  to  attend  to  my  own  affairs — I  am  rarely 
a  volunteer  in  the  controversies  of  others. 

Mr.  Douglas.  I  do  not  complain  of  my  friend  from  California  for  interposing 
in  the  manner  he  has ;  for  I  see  that  it  was  very  appropriate  in  him  to  do  so. 


404 

But,  sir,  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  comes  up  with  a  very  bold  front,  and 
denies  the  right  of  anj  man  to  put  him  on  defence  for  the  manner  of  his  elec- 
tion. He  says  it  is  contrary  to  his  principles  to  engage  in  personal  assaults. 
If  he  expects  to  avail  himself  of  the  benefit  of  such  a  plea,  he  should  act  in 
accordance  with  his  professed  principles,  and  refrain  from  assaulting  the  charac- 
ter and  impugning  the  motives  of  better  men  than  himself.  Everybody  knows 
that  he  came  here  by  a  coalition  or  combination  between  political  parties  hold- 
ing opposite  and  hostile  opinions.  But  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  go  into  the  mo- 
rality of  the  matters  involved  in  his  election.  The  public  know  the  history  of 
that  notorious  coalition,  and  have  formed  its  judgment  upon  it.  It  will  not  do 
for  the  Senator  to  say  that  he  was  not  a  party  to  it,  for  he  thereby  betrays  a 
consciousness  of  the  immorality  of  the  transaction,  without  acquitting  himself 
of  the  responsibilities  which  justly  attach  to  him.  As  well  might  the  receiver 
of  stolen  goods  deny  any  responsibility  for  the  larceny,  while  luxuriating  in  the 
proceeds  of  the  crime,  as  the  senator  to  avoid  the  consequences  resulting  from 
the  mode  of  his  election,  while  he  clings  to  the  office.  I  must  be  permitted  to 
remind  him  of  what  he  certainly  can  never  forget,  that  when  he  arrived  here, 
to  take  his  seat  for  the  first  time,  so  firmly  were  senators  impressed  with  the 
conviction  that  he  had  been  elected  by  dishonorable  and  corrupt  means,  there 
were  very  few  who,  for  a  long  time,  could  deem  it  consistent  with  personal  ho- 
nor to  hold  private  intercourse  with  him.  So  general  was  that  impression,  that 
for  a  long  time  he  was  avoided  and  shunned  as  a  person  unworthy  of  the  asso- 
ciation of  gentlemen.  Gradually,  however,  these  injurious  impressions  were 
worn  away  by  his  bland  manners  and  amiable  deportment ;  and  I  regret  that 
the  senator  should  now,  by  a  violation  of  all  the  rules  of  courtesy  and  propri- 
ety, compel  me  to  refresh  his  mind  upon  these  unwelcome  reminiscences. 

Mr.  Chase.  If  the  senator  refers  to  me,  he  is  stating  a  fact  of  which  I  have 
no  knowledge  at  all.  I  came  here 

Mr.  Douglas.  I  was  not  speaking  of  the  senator  from  Ohio,  but  of  his  con- 
federate in  slander,  the  senator  from  Massachusetts,  [Mr.  SUMNER.]  I  have  a 
word  now  to  say  to  the  other  senator  from  Ohio,  [Mr.  WADE.]  On  the  day 
when  I  exposed  this  abolition  address,  so  full  of  slanders  and  calumnies,  he 
rose  and  stated  that,  although  his  name  was  signed  to  it,  he  had  never  read  it  j 
and  so  willing  was  he  to  endorse  an  abolition  49curaent>  tnafc  he  signed  it  in 
blank,  without  knowing  what  it  contained. 

Mr.  Wade.     I  have  always  found  them  true. 

Mr.  Douglas.  He  stated  that  from  what  I  had  exposed  of  its  contents  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  endorse  every  word.  In  the  same  speech  he  said,  thar  in 
Ohio  a  negro  was  as  good  as  a  white  man;  with  the  avowal  that  he  did  not 
consider  himself  any  better  than  a  free  negro.  I  have  only  to  say  that  1  should 
not  have  noticed  it  if  none  but  free  negroes  had  signed  it ! 

The  senator  from  New  York,  [Mr.  SEWARD,]  when  I  was  about  to  call  him 
to  account  for  this  slanderous  production,  promptly  denied  that  he  ever  signed 
the  document.  Now,  I  say,  it  has  been  circulated  with  his  named  attached  to 
it;  then  I  want  to  know  of  the  senators  who  sent  out  the  document,  who  forged 
the  name  of  the  senator  from  New  York  ? 

Mr.  Chase.  I  am  glad  that  the  senator  has  asked  that  question.  I  have 
only  to  say,  in  reference  to  that  matter,  that  I  have  not  the  slightest  knowledge 
in  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  various  names  were  appended  to  that  docu- 
ment. It  was  prepared  to  be  signed,  and  was  signed,  by  the  gentlemen  here 
who  are  known  as  independent  democrats,  and  how  any  other  names  came  to  be 
added  to  it  is  more  than  I  can  tell. 

Mr.  Douglas.  It  is  not  a  satisfactory  answer,  for  those  who  confess  to  the 
preparation  and  publication  of  a  document  filled  with  insult  and  calumny,  with 
forged  names  attached  to  it  for  the  purpose  of  imparting  to  it  respectability,  to 
interpose  a  technical  denial  that  they  committed  the  crime.  Somebody  did 


405 

forge  other  people's  names  to  that  document.  The  senators  from  Ohio  and 
Massachusetts  [Mr.  CHASE  and  Mr.  SUMNER]  plead  guilty  to  the  authorship 
and  publication ;  upon  them  rests  the  responsibility  of  showing  who  committed 
the  forgery. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  done  with  these  personal  matters.  I  regret  the  neces- 
sity which  compelled  me  to  devote  so  much  time  to  them.  All  I  have  done 
and  said  has  been  in  the  way  of  self  defence,  as  the  Senate  can  bear  me  witness. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  also  occupied  a  good  deal  of  time  in  exposing  the  cant 
of  these  gentlemen  about  the  sanctity  of  the  Missouri  compromise,  and  the  dis- 
honour attached  to  the  violation  of  plighted  faith.  I  have  exposed  these  mat- 
ters in  order  to  show  that  the  object  of  these  men  is  to  withdraw  from  public 
attention  the  real  principle  involved  in  the  bill.  They  well  know  that  the 
abrogation  of  the  Missouri  compromise  is  the  incident  and  not  the  principal  of 
the  bill.  They  well  understand  that  the  report  of  the  committee  and  the  bill 
propose  to  establish  the  principle  in  all  territorial  organizations,  that  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery  shall  be  referred  to  the  people  to  regulate  for  themselves,  and 
that  such  legislation  should  be  had  as  was  necessary  to  remove  all  legal  obstruc- 
tions to  the  free  exercise  of  this  right  by  the  people. 

The  eighth  section  of  the  Missouri  act  standing  in  the  way  of  this  ereat 
principle  must  be  rendered  inoperative  and  void,  whether  expressly  repealed  or 
not,  in  order  to  give  the  people  the  power  of  regulating  their  own  domestic  in- 
stitutions in  their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution. 

Now,  sir,  if  these  gentlemen  have  entire  confidence  in  the  correctness  of  their 
own  position,  why  do  they  not  meet  the  issue  boldly  and  fairly,  and  controvert 
the  soundness  of  this  great  principle  of  popular  sovereignty  in  obedience  to  the 
Constitution  ?  They  know  full  well  that  this  was  the  principle  upon  which  the 
colonies  separated  from  the  crown  of  Great  Britian,  the  principle  upon  which 
the  battles  of  the  revolution  were  fought,  and  the  principle  upon  which  our  re- 
publican system  was  founded.  They  cannot  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the 
revolution  grew  out  of  the  assertion  of  the  right  on  the  part  of  the  imperial 
government  to  interfere  with  the  internal  affairs  and  domestic  concerns  of  the 
colonies.  In  this  connexion  I  will  invite  attention  to  a  few  extracts  from  the 
instructions  of  the  different  colonies  to  their  delegates  in  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, with  a  view  of  forming'  such  a  union  as  would  enable  them  to  make  suc- 
cessful resistance  to  the  efforts  of  the  crown  to  destroy  the  fundamental  princi- 
ple of  all  free  government  by  interfering  with  the  domestic  affairs  of  the  colo- 
nies. 

I  will  begin  with  Pennsylvania,  whose  devotion  to  the  principles  of  human 
liberty,  and  the  obligations  of  the  Constitution,  has  acquired  for  her  the  proud 
title  of  the  Key-stone  in  the  arch  of  republican  States.  In  her  instructions  is 
contained  the  following  reservation  : 

"  Reserving  to  the  people  of  this  colony  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  of  regu- 
lating the  internal  government  and  police  of  the  same." 

And,  in  a  subsequent  instruction,  in  reference  to  suppressing  the  British  au- 
thority in  the  colonies,  Pennsylvania  uses  the  following  emphatic  language  : 

"  Unanimously  declare  our  willingness  to  concur  in  a  vote  of  the  Congress 
declaring  the  United  Colonies  free  and  independent  States,  provided  the  forming 
the  government  and  the  regulation  of  the  internal  police  of  this  colony  bo 
always  reserved  to  the  people  of  the  said  colony." 

Connecticut,  in  authorizing  her  delegates  to  vote  for  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, attached  to  it  the  following  condition  : 

"  Saving  that  the  administration  of  government,  and  the  power  of  forming 
governments  for,  and  the  regulation  of  the  internal  concerns  and  police  of  each 
colony,  ought  to  be  left  and  remain  to  the  respective  colonial  legislatures." 


406 

New  Hampshire  annexed  this  proviso  to  her  instructions  to  her  delegates  to 
vote  for  independence  : 

"  Provided  the  regulation  of  our  internal  police  be  under  the  direction  of 
our  own  assembly." 

New  Jersey  imposed  the  following  condition  : 

"  Always  observing  that,  whatever  plan  of  confederacy  you  enter  into,  the 
regulating  of  the  internal  police  of  this  province  is  to  be  reserved  to  the  colonial 
legislature." 

Maryland  gave  her  consent  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence  upon  the 
condition  contained  in  this  proviso  : 

i(  And  that  said  colony  will  hold  itself  bound  by  the  resolutions  of  a  majority 
of  the  United  Colonies  in  the  premises,  provided  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  of 
regulating  the  internal  government  and  police  of  that  colony  be  reserved  to  the 
people  thereof." 

Virginia  annexed  the  following  condition  to  her  instructions  to  vote  for  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  : 

"  Provided  that  the  power  of  forming  government  for,  and  the  regulations  of 
the  internal  concerns  of  the  colony,  be  left  to  respective  colonial  legislatures." 

I  will  not  weary  the  senate  in  multiplying  evidence  upon  this  point.  It  is 
apparent  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  had  its  origin  in  the  violation  of 
that  great  fundamental  principle  which  secured  to  the  people  of  the  colonies 
the  right  to  regulate  their  own  domestic  affairs  in  their  own  way ;  and  that  the 
revolution  resulted  in  the  triumph  of  that  principle,  and  the  recognition  of  the 
right  asserted  by  it.  Abolitionism  proposes  to  destroy  the  right,  and  extin- 
guish the  principle  for  which  our  forefathers  waged  a  seven  years'  bloody  war, 
and  upon  which  our  whole  system  of  free  government  is  founded.  They  not 
only  deny  the  application  of  this  principle  to  the  Territories,  but  insist  upon 
fastening  the  prohibition  upon  all  the  States  to  be  formed  out  of  those  Territo- 
ries. Therefore,  the  doctrine  of  the  abolitionists — the  doctrine  of  the  opponents 
of  the  Nebraska  and  Kansas  bill,  and  of  the  advocates  of  the  Missouri  restric- 
tion— demand  congressional  interference  with  slavery,  not  only  in  the  Territo- 
ries, but  in  all  the  new  States  to  be  formed  therefrom.  It  is  the  same  doctrine 
when  applied  to  the  Territories  and  new  States  of  this  Union,  which  the  British 
government  attempted  to  enforce  by  the  sword  upon  the  American  colonies.  It 
is  this  fundamental  principle  of  self-government  which  constitutes  the  distin- 
guishing feature  of  the  Nebraska  bill.  The  opponents  of  the  principle  are  con- 
sistent in  opposing  the  bill.  I  do  not  blame  them  for  their  opposition.  I  only 
ask  them  to  meet  the  issue  fairly  and  openly,  by  acknowledging  that  they  are 
opposed  to  the  principle  which  it  is  the  object  of  the  bill  to  carry  into  opera- 
tion. It  seems  that  there  is  no  power  on  earth,  no  intellectual  power,  no  me- 
chanical power  that  can  bring  them  to  a  fair  discussion  of  the  true  issue.  If 
they  hope  to  delude  the  people,  and  escape  detection  for  any  considerable  length 
of  time  under  the  catch-word  u  Missouri  compromise,"  and  "  faith  of  compacts," 
they  will  find  that  the  people  of  this  country  have  more  penetration  and  intel- 
ligence than  they  have  given  them  credit  for. 

Mr.  President,  there  is  an  important  fact  connected  with  this  slavery  resolu- 
tion, which  should  never  be  lost  sight  of.  It  has  always  arisen  from  one  and 
the  same  cause.  Whenever  that  cause  has  been  removed,  the  agitation  has 
ceased ;  and  whenever  the  cause  has  been  renewed,  the  agitation  has  sprung 
into  existence.  That  cause  is,  and  ever  has  been,  the  attempt  on  the  part  of 
Congress  to  interfere  with  the  question  of  slavery  in  the  Territories  and  new 


407 

\ 

States  formed  therefrom.  Is  it  not  wise,  then,  to  confine  our  action  within  the 
sphere  of  our  legitimate  duties,  and  leave  this  vexed  question  to  take  care  of 
itself  in  each  State  and  Territory,  according  to  the  wishes  of  the  people  thereoof, 
in  conformity  to  the  forms  and  in  subjection  to  the  provisions  of  the  Constitu- 
tion ? 

The  opponents  of  the  bill  tell  us  that  agitation  is  no  part  of  their  policy, 
that  their  great  desire  is  peace  and  harmony ;  and  they  complain  bitterly  that  I 
should  have  disturbed  the  repose  of  the  country  by  the  introduction  of  this 
measure.  Let  me  ask  these  professed  friends  of  peace  and  avowed  enemies  of 
agitation,  how  the  issue  could  have  been  avoided  ?  They  tell  me  that  I  should 
have  let  the  question  alone-r-that  is,  that  I  should  haVe  left  Nebraska  unorgan- 
ized, the  people  unprotected,  and  the  Indian  barrier  in  existence,  until  the  swel- 
ling tide  of  emigration  should  burst  through,  and  accomplish  by  violence  what 
it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  and  statesmanship  to  direct  and  regulate  by  law.  How 
long  could  you  have  postponed  action  with  safety  ?  How  long  could  you  main- 
tain that  Indian  barrier,  and  restrain  the  onward  march  of  civilization,  Christi- 
anity, and  free  government  by  a  barbarian  wall  ?  Do  you  suppose  that  you 
could  keep  that  vast  country  a  howling  wilderness»in  all  time  to  come,  roamed 
over  by  hostile  savages,  cutting  off  all  safe  communication  between  our  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  possessions  ?  I  tell  you  that  the  time  for  action  has  come,  and  can- 
not be  postponed.  It  is  a  case  in  which  the  "  let  alone"  policy  would  precipi- 
tate a  crisis  which  must  inevitably  result  in  violence,  anarchy,  and  strife. 

You  cannot  fix  bounds  to  the  onward  march  of  this  great  and  growing  coun- 
try. You  cannot  fetter  the  limbs  of  the  young  giant.  He  will  burst  all  your 
chains.  He  will  expand,  and  grow,  and  increase,  and  extend  civilization, 
Christianity,  and  liberal  principles.  Then,  sir,  if  you  cannot  check  the  growth 
of  the  country  in  that  direction,  is  it  not  the  part  of  wisdom  to  look  the  danger 
in  the  face,  and  provide  for  an  event  which  you  cannot  avoid  ?  I  tell  you,  sir, 
you  must  provide  for  continuous  lines  of  settlement  from  the  Mississippi  valley 
to  the  Pacific  ocean.  And  in  making  this  provision,  you  must  decide  upon 
what  principles  the  Territories  shall  be  organized  ;  in  other  words,  whether  the 
people  shall  be  allowed  to  regulate  their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way, 
according  to  the  provisions  of  this  bill,  or  whether  the  opposite  doctrine  of 
congressional  interference  is  to  prevail.  Postpone  it,  if  you  will  ;  but  when- 
ever you  do  act,  this  question  must  be  met  and  decided. 

The  Missouri  compromise  was  interference;  the  compromise  of  1850  was  non 
interference,  leaving  the  people  to  exercise  their  rights  under  the  Constitution. 
The  Committee  on  Territories  were  compelled  to  act  on  this  subject.  I,  as 
their  chairman,  was  bound  to  meet  the  question.  I  chose  to  take  the  responsi- 
bility, regardless  of  consequences  personal  to  myself.  I  should  have  done  the 
same  thing  last  year,  if  there  had  been  time;  but  we  know,  considering  the 
late  period  at  which  the  bill  then  reached  us  from  the  House,  that  there  was  not 
sufficient  time  to  consider  the  question  fully,  and  to  prepare  a  report  upon  the 
subject.  I  was,  therefore,  persuaded  by  friends  to  allow  the  bill  to  be  reported 
to  the  Senate,  in  order  that  such  action  might  be  taken  as  should  be  deemed 
wise  and  proper. 

The  bill  was  never  taken  up  for  action ;  the  last  night  of  the  session  having 
been  exhausted  in  debate  on  the  motion  to  take  up  the  bill.  This  session,  the 
measure  was  introduced  by  my  friend  from  Iowa,  [Mr.  Dodge,]  and  referred  to 
the  Territorial  Committee  during  the  first  week  of  the  session.  We  have  abun- 
dance of  time  to  consider  the  subject;  it  was  a  matter  of  pressing  necessity, 
and  there  was  no  excuse  for  not  meeting  it  directly  and  fairly.  We  were  com- 
pelled to  take  our  position  upon  the  doctrine  either  of  intervention  or  non-in- 
tervention. We  chose  the  latter,  for  two  reasons  :  first,  because  we  believed 
that  the  principle  was  right ;  and,  second,  because  it  was  the  principle  adopted 


408 

in  1850,  to  which  the  two  great  political  parties  of  the  country  were  solemnly 
pledged. 

There  is  another  reason  why  1  desire  to  see  this  principle  recognised  as  a  rule 
of  action  in  all  time  to  come.  It  will  have  the  effect  to  destroy  all  sectional 
parties  and  sectional  agitations.  If,  in  the  language  of  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee, you  withdraw  the  slavery  question  from  the  halls  of  Congress  and  the 
political  arena,  and  commit  it  to  the  abitrament  of  those  who  are  immediately 
interested  in  and  alone  responsible  for  its  consequences,  there  is  nothing  left 
out  of  which  sectional  parties  can  be  organized.  It  never  was  done,  and  never 
can  be  done  on  the  bank,  tariff,  distribution,  or  any  other  party  issue  which  has 
existed,  or  may  exist,  after  this  slavery  question  is  withdrawn  from  politics.  On 
every  other  political  question  these  have  always  supporters  and  opponents  in 
every  portion  of  the  Union — in  each  State,  county,  village,  and  neighborhood- 
residing  together  in  harmony  and  good-fellowship,  and  combating  each  other's 
opinions  and  correcting  each  other's  errors  in  a  spirit  of  kindness  and  friend- 
ship. These  differences  of  opinion  between  neighbors  and  friends,  and  the  dis- 
cussions that  grow  out  of  them,  and  the  sympathy  which  each  feels  with  the 
advocates  of  his  own  opinions  in  every  other  portion  of  this  wide-spread  repub- 
lic, adds  an  overwhelming  and  irresistible  moral  weight  to  the  strength  of  the 
confederacy. 

Affection  for  the  Union  can  never  be  alienated  or  diminished  by  any  other 
party  issues  than  those  which  are  joined  upon  sectional  or  geographical  lines. 
When  the  people  of  the  North  shall  all  be  rallied  under  one  banner,  and  the 
whole  South  marshalled  under  another  banner,  and  each  section  excited  to  frenzy 
and  madness  by  hostility  to  the  institutions  of  the  other,  then  the  patriot  may 
well  tremble  for  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union.  Withdraw  the  slavery  question 
from  the  political  arena,  and  remove  it  to  the  States  and  Territories,  each  to  de- 
cide for  itself,  such  a  catastrophe  can  never  happen.  Then  you  will  never  be 
able  to  tell,  by  any  senator's  vote  for  or  against  any  measure,  from  what  State 
or  section  of  the  Union  he  comes. 

Why,  then,  can  we  not  withdraw  this  vexed  question  from  politics?  Why 
can  we  not  adopt  the  principle  of  this  bill  as  a  rule  of  action  in  all  new  territo- 
rial organizations?  Why  can  we  not  deprive  these  agitators  of  their  vocation, 
and  render  it  impossible  for  senators  to  come  here  upon  bargains  on  the  slavery 
question  ?  I  believe  that  the  peace,  the  harmony,  and  perpetuity  of  the  Union 
require  us  to  go  back  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Revolution,  to  the  principles  of 
the  Constitution,  to  the  principles  of  the  compromise  of  1850,  and  leave  the 
people,  under  the  Constitution,  to  do  as  they  may  see  proper  in  respect  to  their 
own  internal  affairs. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  not  brought  this  question  forward  as  a  northern  man 
or  as  a  southern  man.  I  am  unwilling  to  recognise  such  divisions  and  distinc- 
tions. I  have  brought  it  forward  as  an  American  senator,  representing  a  State 
which  is  true  to  this  principle,  and  which  has  approved  of  rny  action  in  respect 
to  the  Nebraska  bill.  I  have  brought  it  forward  not  as  an  act  of  justice  to  the 
south  more  than  to  the  north.  I  have  presented  it  especially  as  an  act  of  jus- 
tice to  the  people  of  those  Territories,  and  of  the  States  to  be  formed  there- 
from, now  and  in  all  time  to  come. 

I  have  nothing  to  say  about  northern  rights  or  southern  rights.  I  know  of 
no  such  divisions  or  distinctions  under  the  Constitution.  The  bill  does  equal 
and  exact  justice  to  the  whole  Union,  and  every  part  of  it ;  it  violates  the 
rights  of  no  State  or  Territory,  but  places  each  on  a  perfect  equality,  and  leaves 
the  people  thereof  to  the  free  enjoyment  of  all  their  rights  under  the  Constitu- 
tion. 

Now,  sir,  I  wish  to  say  to  our  southern  friends,  that  if  they  desire  to  see  this 
great  principle  carried  out,  now  is  their  time  to  rally  around  it;  to  cherish  it, 


409 

preserve  it,  make  it  the  rule  of  action  in  all  future  time.  If  they  fail  to  do  it 
now,  and  thereby  allow  the  doctrine  of  interference  to  prevail,  upon  their  heads 
the  consequence  of  that  interference  must  rest.  To  our  northern  friends,  ou 
the  other  hand,  I  desire  to  say,  that  from  this  day  henceforward,  they  must  re- 
buke the  slander  which  has  been  uttered  against  the  south,  that  they  desire  to 
legislate  slavery  into  the  Territories.  The  south  has  vindicated  her  sincerity, 
her  honor  on  that  point,  by  bringing  forward  a  provision,  negativing,  in  express 
terms,  any  such  effect  as  a  result  of  this  bill.  I  am  rejoiced  to  know  that, 
while  the  proposition  to  abrogate  the  eighth  section  of  the  Missouri  act  comes 
from  a  free  State,  the  proposition  to  negative  the  conclusion  that  slavery  is 
thereby  introduced  comes  from  a  slaveholding  State.  Thus,  both  sides  furnish 
conclusive  evidence  that  they  go  for  the  principle,  and  the  principle  only,  and 
desire  to  take  no  advantage  of  any  possible  misconstruction. 

Mr.  President,  I  feel  that  I  owe  an  apology  to  the  Senate  for  having  occupied 
their  attention  so  long,  and  a  still  greater  apology  for  having  discussed  the  ques- 
tion in  such  an  incoherent  and  desultory  manner.  But  I  could  not  forbear  to 
claim  the  right  of  closing  this  debate.  I  thought  gentlemen  would  recognise 
its  propriety  when  they  saw  the  manner  in  which  I  was  assailed  and  misrepre- 
sented in  the  course  of  this  discussion,  and  especially  by  assaults  still  more  dis- 
reputable in  some  portions  of  the  country.  These  assaults  have  had  no  other 
effect  upon  me  than  to  give  me  courage  and  energy  for  a  still  more  resolute  dis- 
charge of  duty.  I  say  frankly  that  in  my  opinion,  this  measure  will  be  as 
popular  at  the  north  as  at  the  south,  when  its  provisions  and  principles  shall 
have  been  fully  developed  and  become  well  understood.  The  people  at  the 
north  are  attached  t<5  the  principles  of  self-government;  and  you  cannot  con- 
vince them  that  that  is  self-government  which  deprives  a  people  of  the  right  of 
legislating  for  themselves,  and  compels  them  to  receive  laws  which  are  forced 
upon  them  by  a  legislature  in  which  they  are  not  represented.  We  are  willing 
to  stand  upon  this  great  principle  of  self-government  everywhere ;  and  it  is  to 
us  a  proud  reflection  that,  in  this  whole  discussion,  no  friend  of  the  bill  has 
urged  an  argument  in  its  favor  which  could  not  be  used  with  the  same  proprie- 
ty in  a  free  State  as  in  a  slave  State,  and  vice  versa.  But  no  enemy  of  the  bill 
has  used  an  argument'which  would  bear  repetition  one  mile  across  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line.  Our  opponents  have  dealt  entirely  in  sectional  appeals.  The 
friends  of  the  bill  have  discussed  a  great  principle  of  universal  application, 
which  can  be  sustained  by  the  same  reasons,  and  the  same  arguments,  in  every 
time  and  in  every  corner  of  the  Union. 


MR.  WISE  IN  WASHINGTON  CITY  AFTER  THE  RESULT  WAS 

KNOWN. 

After  it  was  fully  ascertained  that  Mr.  Wise  was  certainly  Governor  elect  of 
Virginia,  his  friends  and  admirers  of  the  City  of  Washington  concluded  to  call 
him  out,  being  then  in  their  midst.  Arrangements  being  made,  Mr.  Wise  was 
to  address  in  a  brief  manner  the  citizens  irrespectively  of  party,  from  the  bal- 
cony in  front  of  Brown's  Hotel.  Early  in  the  evening  the  crowd  commenced 
assembling,  and  when  the  hour  for  speaking  arrived,  we  are  told  by  persons  who 
were  present,  that  such  an  assemblage  of  human  beings  had  scarcely  if  ever 
been  seen  in  that  city  on  any  similar  occasion.  Mr.  Wise  appeared,  calm  and 
serene,  and  made  a  few  remarks — when  the  infuriated  Know  Nothings  set  up, 


410 

and  kept  up,  the  most  unearthly  and  demoniac  yell  that  was  ever  heard  on  this 
side  of  or  in  all  probability  even  in  the  infernal  regions.  Mr.  Wise  made  seve- 
ral attempts  to  go  on ;  but  his  voice  was  incontinently  stifled  by  the  yells  of  this 
midnight  banditti  and  culvert  swarm  of  debauched  ruffians  and  rowdies.  Finally 
his  friends  withdrew  him  from  the  presence  of  the  rabble.  They  still  conti- 
nued to  bawl  and  vociferate  in  this  manner  until,  to  carry  out  a  simile  of  Spa- 
nish barbarity,  they  erected  in  the  centre  of  the  street  a  garote,  when  some  vic- 
timised babbler  mounted  the  sunless  scaffold,  with  the  iron  collar  already  adjust- 
ed, and  commenced  a  Know  Nothing  harangue.  This  dissipated  orator,  with 
much  gravity  of  manner  and  air  of  superiority,  ranted  about  the  "  insidious  en- 
croachments of  the  Pope  of  Rome,  the  Holy  Bible,"  £c.  Now  and  then  at 
the  top  of  his  voice,  with  a  countenance  frantic  with  fear,  and  nervous  with  fa- 
naticism, he  exclaimed  "Americans  must  rule  America."  Here  was  a  genuine 
specimen  of  a  Know  Nothing  harangue.  When  you  have  heard  this  Shibbo- 
leth about  seventy-five  times  in  a  discourse  of  eighty  minutes,  you  may  set  it 
down  that  you  have  had  what  was  known  about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century  as  a  Know  Nothing  harangue.  After  several  of  the  leaders  had  ha- 
rangued thus  to  their  satisfaction,  this  disgraceful  mob  dispersed  to  their  seve- 
ral dens.  Such  was  the  courtesy  shown  to  a  stranger  and  a  distinguished  Vir- 
ginian in  the  Federal  City  !  Such  was  Know  Nothing  politeness  in  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century  ! 


From  the  Enquirer. 

THE  WAY  THE  MONEY  WAS  LOST. 

I  have  compiled  a  few  extracts  from  Know  Nothing  papers  printed  before  the 
election,  to  show  ."  the  way  the  money  was  lost."  They  may  serve  as  a  caution 
for  the  future.  They  fully  show  that  the  Know  Nothings  are  eminently  enti- 
tled to  the  name  they  have  assumed.  Such  statements  and  estimates  as  are  to 
be  found  in  the  extracts  below,  were  never  made  by  Wise-men.  The  game  of 
"  brag"  was  "the  order  of  the  day"  with' Sam's  family,  and  many  a  poor  fel- 
low was  duped  out  of  his  money  by  it.  I  particularly  commend  the  perusal  of 
these  extracts  to  sick  persons  and  those  who  are  in  low  spirits.  They  cannot  be 
read  without  creating  a  laugh : 

THE  PROSPECT  STILL  BRIGHTENING. — We  subjoin  additional  letters  of  the 
most  encouraging  character  from  the  Southwest.  Sam  is  evidently  making  tre- 
mendous progress  all  over  the  State.  Wise  is  a  used  up  man.  After  next  Thurs- 
day, he  will  be  heard  of  no  more.  A  thousand  cheers  for  the  victorious  Flour- 
noy.— [  Whiff,  May  19. 

"  The  Junto  without  even  the  honor  of  a  decent  burial" 

The  political  sky  is  clear  and  unclouded.  A  few  shadows  at  first  obscured 
the  brilliancy  of  the  sun — but  they  have  been  dissipated  into  thin  air,  and  are 
no  longer  visible.  The  great  American  army,  moving  steadily  and  harmoniously 
under  these  auspicious  circumstances,  will,  beyond  a  doubt,  achieve  a  most  bril- 
liant victory.  The  disjecta  membra  of  Juntoism,  after  the  election,  will  be 


411 

scattered  far  and  wide,  without  even  the  honor  of  a  decent  burial. — [Richmond 
JV%,  May  7.  ^ 

Fifteen  hundred  Know  Nothing  majority  in  Richmond. 

Richmond  achieved  a  glorious  and  startling  victory  in  her  charter  elections; 
but  that  triumph  is  as  nothing  compared  with  that  which  is  shortly  to  crown 
her  afresh.  The  great  American  party  of  this  city  is  firmly,  and  enthusiasti- 
cally resolved  to  give  Flournoy,  Beale  and  Patton,  a  majority  of  not  less  than 
1500  !  This  is  no  vain  boasting,  but  the  State  will  soon  see  the  prediction  con- 
verted into  sober  reality. — [Richmond  Whiff,  Mat/  11. 

[Richmond  gave  977  Know  Nothing  majority.] 

Wise  loitt  be  defeated  ly  20,000. 

The  following  is  extracted  from  a  letter  from  a  Virginian,  now  a  merchant  in 
Baltimore  : — "I  received  the  other  day  a  letter  on  business  from  an  extensive 
merchant  in  Richmond,  Va.,  who  said,  'Business  is  good,  and  I  reallv  believe 
Wise  will  be  defeated  by  20,000.'  "—[Norfolk  Beacon,  May  2. 

Flournoy's  majority  34,000. 

There  are  known  to  be  72,000  members  of  the  American  party  in  Virginia. 
This  force,  together  with  the  15,000  Whig  votes,  which  the  Chronicle  concedes 
to  Mr.  Flournoy,  would  make  an  aggregate  of  87,000  votes,  leaving  Mr.  Wise 
but  53,000,  and  electing  Flournoy  by  34,000  majority.  That  will  do  for  to- 
day.— [American  Oryan  of  Washington  City. 

Wise  not  more  than  30,000  votes  in  the  State. 

ELECTIONS. — For  the  information  of  our  readers  we  have  compiled  the  vote 
of  the  last  Presidential  contest  in  the  cities  where  municipal  elections  have  been 
held,  and  have  compared  the  result,  in  order  that  they  may  see  how  fast  the 
Democracy  is  tottering  to  its  fall : 

American  gain  (in  Richmond,  Portsmouth,  Alexandria,  Lynchburg  and  Fre- 
dericksburg)  1496  in  a  vote  of  a  little  over  6000. 

A  corresponding  gain  in  the  different  counties  would  not  leave  Wise  with 
more  than  30,000  votes  after  the  election.  We  hope,  therefore,  that  "  Sam" 
will  respect  the  misfortunes  of  the  poor  deluded  traveller  of  4<  Onancock"  and 
only  beat  him  by  about  twenty  thousand  majority. — [Floyd  Intelligencer. 

600  Majority  for  Flournoy  in,  Preston   County. 

PRESTON. — A  correspondent  says,  "  Sam  is  here  in  every  neighborhood,  and 
Wiseocracy  is  so  weak  it  dare  not  show  its  face.  Flournoy  will  carry  the  county 
by  600  majority,  and  it  usually  gives  a  majority  the  other  way  of  about  150. 
We  intend  too  to  elect  an  American  Congressman  in  spite  of  Wise  and  all  other 
demagogues." — [Penny  Post,  Mny  1. 

[Preston  gave  Wise  57  majority.] 

SOUTH-WESTERN  VIRGINIA. 
Wise  cannot  get  10  votes  where  Johnson  got  100. 

LEE  COUNTY. — "  Sam"  has  been  all  around  here,  and  will  sweep  South- 
western Virginia,  such  as  no  country  was  ever  swept  before.  The  people  have 


412 

become  sick  of  demagogueism,  and  their  only  desire  appears  now  to  be,  to  re- 
trieve the  past.  Wise  cannot  possibly  get  10  votes  where  Johnson  received  100, 
and  this  is  not  particularly  confined  to  any  particular  locality,  but  will  charac- 
terize the  election  throughout  the  entire  South-west.  This  you  may  state  as  an 
unalterable  certainty.  I  have  always  been  a  Democrat,  but  have  been  so  com- 
pletely disgusted  with  the  action  of  the  party,  in  forcing  upon  us  a  broken 
down,  false,  hacknied,  renegade  ticket,  that  I  determined  to  be  off  forever.  I 
consider  this  the  very  time  to  break  down  the  severity  of  party,  and  give  the 
country  good  and  true  men  in  the  State  and  National  offices.  "  Let  Americans 
rule  America,"  is  my  motto. — [Penny  Post. 

[Lee  county  gave  Wise  736  majority.  It  gave  Johnson  234.  South-western 
Virginia  (McMullen's  district)  gave  Johnson  450  majority.  It  gives  Wise 
3,500  majority.  Yet  it  was  an  "  unalterable  certainty"  that  Wise  would  not 
get  "  10  votes  where  Johnson  got  100." 

Boteler's  Majority  over  Faulkner,  600. 

We  received  the  most  favorable  reports  from  the  Loudoun  district.  Mr.  Bote- 
ler  is  gaining  friends  wherever  he  appears,  and  will  beat  Faulkner  from  200  to 
300  votes. 

Other  estimates  make  Boteler's  majority  as  high  as  600. — [American 
Organ. 

A   Great  Political  "  Ground  Swell"  on  the  South- Side. 

HENRY  COUNTY. — The  Lynchburg  Virginian  assures  us  that  late  advices 
from  this  county  are  exceedingly  encouraging.  The  American  cause  is  daily 
gaining  ground,  while  Wise  stock  is  rapidly  declining.  It  is  the  same  case  in 
Floyd,  Patrick,  Carroll  and  Franklin — indeed,  in  all  the  counties  south  of  the 
river.  The  American  party  will  sweep  the  south-side  country,  after  the  manner 
of  a  tornado.  It  will  leave  nothing  standing  which  dares  to  oppose  it.  Verily, 
the  great  political  ground-swell  of  1840  is  nothing  compared  with  that  of 
1855. — [Richmond  Whig,  before  the  election. 

[Henry  gave  Wise  99  majority;  Floyd,  125  majority;  Patrick,  192  majo- 
rity; Carroll,  359  majority;  and  Franklin,  847  majority.  Such  was  the  way 
in  which  the  "  American  party"  swept  the  south-side  country,  "  after  the 
manner  of  a  tornado." 

Tazewell  County — Wise's  Defeat  an  Absolute   Certainty. 

TAZEWELL  COUNTY. — A  letter  from  a  gentleman  of  this  county  informs  us 
that  the  prospects  for  the  American  cause  are  most  encouraging.  The  people 
there,  he  says,  will  resent,  with  manly  indignation,  the  abusive  epithets  which 
Mr.  Wise  applies  to  th^e  Know  Nothings.  The  same  spirit  prevails  throughout 
that  whole  section,  and  Wise's  defeat  is  regarded  as  an  absolute  certainty. — 
[Richmond  Whig,  May  7. 

[Tazewell  gave  Mr.  Wise  915  majority  ! — and  the  same  spirit  prevailed 
throughout  that  whole  section."] 

Paulus  Powell,  the   Worst  Beaten  Man  in  Virginia. 

HON.  PAULUS  POWELL. — Is  there  a  faithful  Democrat  in  Virginia  who  will 
rejoice  with  us,  when  we  announce  that  intelligence  from  all  portions  of  the 
Red  Land  district  assures  us  of  the  certainty  of  this  gallant,  tried  public  ser- 
vant's re-election  ? — [Richmond  Examiner. 


413 

Our  information  is  exactly  the  reverse  of  this,  and  living  upon  the  border  of 
the  district,  familiarly  acquainted  with  most  of  the  counties  composing  it,  we 
have  better  opportunities  than  the  Examiner  of  knowing  the  true  state  of  things. 
We  will  wager  the  Examiner  "a  ducat  to  a  denier"  that  Mr.  Powell  is  one  of 
the  worst  beaten  candidates  in  Eastern  Virginia  ?[ — Lynchburg  Virginian, 
"before  the  election. 

[Powell's  majority  in  the  District  is  793.] 

"Official1  from  the  North-west— 15, QQQ  Majority  against  Wise. 

From  the  North-west,  that  is  the  portion  of  Virginia  north  and  west  of  the 
Alleghany  mountains,  we  are  permitted  to  give  the  following  extract  of  a  letter 
from  official  sources  : 

"  We  now  number  201  councils,  and  about  25,000  members,  and  increasing 
rapidly.  As  to  withdrawals,  there  has  uot  been  100  withdrawals  outside  of 
Harper's  Ferry. 

"  I  think  that  when  the  vote  is  counted  from  the  "West,  that  Mr.  Wise  will 
find  at  least  15,000  against  him." 

The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  this  is  official,  and  we  respectfully  call 
upon  the  Junto,  if  they  deny  the  statement  as  to  withdrawals,  to  give  us  the 
names.  We  don't  want  so  many  indefinite  localities  and  mythical  "  defectors." 
Our  butterfly  chasing  days  were  over  years  ago. — [Penny  Post,  May  5. 

[The  "  15,000  against  Wise  in  the  North-west"  turned  out  to  be  about  1500 
in  his  favor.] 

Eight  Know  Nothing  Congressmen  Elected,  and  a  Majority  of  the  Legislature. 

THE  CAMPAIGN. — Notwithstanding  the  ridiculous  statements  of  the  anti- 
American  press  in  regard  to  the  defections  and  a  host  of  other  dire  calamities 
said  by  them  to  have  overtaken  the  American  party,  we  still  continue  to  receive 
the  most  encouraging  accounts  from  every  section.  Our  prospects  certainly  in- 
dicate the  election  of  the  whole  State  ticket — eight  out  of  thirteen  Congress- 
men, and  a  majority  at  least  of  the  Legislature.  The  American  ticket  will 
sweep  the  West  like  a  tornado. — [Penny  Post. 

[There  is  a  Democratic  majority  of  54  in  the  Legislature.] 

The   "Ground- Swell" — Greenbricr  the  Banner  County  in  the  "  Great  Ameri- 
can Revoluiion." 

GREENBRTER. — From  this  county,  we  have  the  intelligence  that  "  Flournoy, 
Beale  and  Patton  will  roll  up  a  tremendous  majority  on  the  24th  of  May. 
Everything  is  harmonious  and  determined.  Greenbrier  will  be  the  banner 
county  in  this  great  American  Revolution.  Nothing  can  stay  the  ground- 
swell."—  Penny  Post,  May  5. 

[Greenbrier  gave  Flournoy  336  majority.     It  gave  Sumners  622  majority.] 

A  most  Overwhelming  Defeat  to  the  Enemies  of  Sam. 

"  SAM." — Our  country  exchanges  bring  us  most  cheering  accounts  of  the 
prospects  of  this  invincible  gentleman.  The  progress  which  he  has  made,  and 
is  now  making  in  Virginia,  is  unparaleled  in  the  history  of  political  parties,  and 
we  predict  as  the  result  of  his  operations  the  moat  overwhelming  defeat  to  his 
eYiemies,  ever  sustained  by  any  party  in  the  Old  Dominion.  We  append  a  few 


414 

extracts  from  correspondents  of  the  True  American,  frcm  different  counties,  as 
to  his  doings. — Lynchburg  Virginian,  before  the  election. 

[Here  followed  a  number  of  letters,  the  reading  of  which  at  this  time  would 
make  a  dying  man  laugh.] 

Col.  Roane  Elected  Triumphantly. 

ESSEX  AND  KING  AND  QUEEN. — From  these  counties  we  have  the  most 
flattering  accounts.  Col.  Roane,  the  candidate  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Garnett, 
will  be  elected  triumphantly.  The  State  ticket  will  also  be  strongly  supported. 
A  friend  writes  us  that  the  Know-Nothings  are  as  thick  as  "  grasshoppers"  in 
that  section. — Penny  Post,  April  30. 

[Col.  Roane,  Know-Nothing,  was  defeated  "  triumphantly/' 

Ligon's  Majority  so  very  Large,  that  we  fear  to  name  it. 

Ligon's  majority  in  Nelson  and  Amherst  will  be  so  very  large,  that  we  fear 
to  name  it.  It  will  exceed  the  most  sanguine  anticipations  of  Sam's  friends. — 
[  Charlottesville  Advocate,  before  the  election. 

[Ligon's  majority  in  the  two  counties  named  was  162.  Is  the  Advocate  still 
"afraid  to  name  it?" 

Wise  beaten  bij  40,000. 

A  great  and  overwhelming  revolution  is  sweeping  over  the  whole  country. 
"Revolutions,"  it  is  said,  "never  go  backward."  In  Virginia,  it  has  almost 
entirely  obliterated  old  party  lines.  The  wave  has  reached  the  mountains,  and 
washed  the  sand  out  of  the  eyes  of  the  people.  With  the  opposition  Mr. 
Wise  has,  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  him  to  succeed.  He  cannot  stand  up 
against  opposition  within  and  without  his  own  party.  He  cannot  win  the  race 
with  Gen.  Bayly  tripping  him  up  at  this  corner,  Bowden  knocking  him  down  at 
that,  Extra  Billy  hedging  up  his  way  at  a  third,  Nat.  Claiborne  digging  a  pit- 
full  for  him  at  a  fourth,  all  the  time  sweating  and  panting  with  his  associate 
"renegades"  lashed  to  his  back.  The  indications  are  that  he  will  be  beaten 
20,000 — some  say  40,000. — [Abingdon  Virginian,  before  the  election. 

Four  to  Five  Hundred  Majority  in  Hardy. 

We  are  assr.red  that  Hardy  will  roll  up  a  majority  of  from  four  to  five  hun- 
dred for  the  American  ticket,  and  that  there  are  not  four  Whigs  in  the  county 
who  will  vote  for  Wise. — [Romney  Intelligencer,  May  4. 

[Hardy  gave  57  majority  for  the  "  American"  ticket.  It  gave  388  majority 
for  Summers.] 

W.  K.  Pendleton  "Elected  with   Ease." 

We  have  cheering  accounts  from  all  parts  of  this  Congressional  District.  W. 
K.  Pendleton,  American,  will,  I  think  be  elected  with  ease,  over  Dr.  Kidwell. 
Mr.  P.  is  a  popular  speaker,  and  has  canvassed  the  district  thoroughly.  He 
will  make  his  mark  in  Congress  if  elected. — {Correspondence  of  the  Penny 
Post,  May  11. 

[Dr.  Kidwell's  majority  is  1336.] 


415 

"  Our  Nat"   Certainly  Elected,  "  and  no  Mistake." 

FRANKLIN  DISTRICT. — The  news  from  this  district  is  cheering.  Claiborno 
is  gaining  every  day,  and  will,  we  are  informed  by  letters  from  some  of  the 
Knowing  ones,  most  certainly  be  elected.  Bocock  is  awfully  frightened  and 
no  mistake.  Old  Pittsylvania  and  Patrick  will  give  him  a  terrible  lashing,  and 
one  from  the  effects  of  which  he  will  not  be  able  to  recover  in  time  to  take  his 
seat  in  the  next  Congress.  Our  "  Nat"  will  however  be  in  Washington  about 
that  time  to  attend  to  the  interest  of  the  people  of  the  Franklin  Congressional 
District.  Mark  our  prediction  and  don't  forget. — [Floyd  Intdliyencer,  May  12. 

"  Especially  in  Pittsylcania" 

CAMPBELL,  BEDFORD,  HENRY,  PITTSYLVANIA  AND  HALIFAX. — We  saw  an 
intelligent  Democrat,  yesterday,  who  has  recently  travelled  over  the  above  coun- 
ties. He  is  a  member  of  the  Order,  knows  what  he  speaks,,  and  is  reliable  in. 
everything.  He  represents  the  prospects  of  our  ticket  as  being  in  all  respects 
most  brilliant.  He  visited  many  councils,  knew  the  people,  and  found  large 
numbers  of  Democrats  in  the  Order  in  all  these  counties.  The  unjust  and  false 
charges  against  Mr.  Flournoy  are  recoiling  with  tremendous  effect  upon  the 
miscreants  who  make  them.  Very,  very  few  have  left  the  Order,  and  most  of 
them  who,  have  done  so  will  vote  the  American  ticket,  while  numbers  are 
coming  in  daily.  The  greatest  enthusiasm  prevailed,  especially  in  Pittsylva- 
nia.— [Penny  Post,  May  S. 

[Pjttsylvania  gave  Flournoy  20 — It  gave  Summers  166  majority.] 

"  Heavy.  Gains  in  the    Valley." 

"  The  Valley  will  certainly  do  remarkably  well,  and  will  show  heavy  gains." 
[  Correspondence  of  the  Post,  May  9. 

[A  correspondent  of  the  Enquirer,  a  few  days  ago,  showed  the  side  on  which 
the  gains  were  in  the  Valley.  Wise's  majority  in  the  Valley  is  about  10,000.] 

"  No  disposition  to  Manufacture  Public   Opinion" 

We  have  no  disposition  to  enter  into  the  manufacture  of  public  opinion,  as 
do  the  Wise  organs,  or  crow,  until  after  the  election ;  but  there  never  was  a 
more  apparent  and  manifest  fact  than  that  Thomas  S.  Flournoy  will  be  Gover- 
nor by  more  than  20,000  majority.  Every  indication  from  all  quarters  is  to 
that  effect. — {Wheeling  Times  (Abolition)  May  5. 

Million  defeated  ly  600  to  1,000  Majority. 

"This  (Millson's)  Congressional  District  will  give  the  American  ticket  from 
600  to  1,000  majority,  and  it  may  even  exceed  that  number.  Great  enthusi- 
asm prevails  throughout  the  entire  district.  The  reported  withdrawals  in  this 
section  ar$  base  fabrications." — [Correspondent  of  the  Richmond  Whiy,  May 

oo 

[Millson's  majority  is  about  568.] 

Sam's  Majority  in  Floyd  225  to  375. 

FLOYD  COUNTY. — "The  majority  in  this  county  will  not  be  less  than  225, 
and  we  are  making  every  effort  to  carry  it  up  to  375.  Scott's  majority  was 
only  83." — [Correspondent  of  the  Richmond  Whig,  May  22. 

[Floyd  county  gave  Wise  125  majority.] 


416 

Sam's  Majority  in  Patrick  350. 

PATRICK  COUNTY. — "  Place  no  reliance  on  the  statement  in  the  Enquirer  in 
regard  to  this  county.  You  may  safely  put  down  the  majority  for  the  Ameri- 
can ticket  in  Patrick  at  350,  and  I  surely  believe  it  will  exceed  that.  From 
Henry,  Franklin  and  Floyd,  I  have  the  most  cheering  account  of  the  progress 
of  the  great  American  movement/' — Correspondent  of  the  Richmond  Whiy, 
May  22. 

[Wise's  majority  in  Patrick  is  192.] 

"  tSaw  but  one  man  in  5  months  against  Sam." 

FREDERICK  AND  PAGE  COUNTIES. — "I  rejoice  to  inform  you  that  the  cause 
of  our  country  is  progressing  so  well  in  this  (Frederick)  county.  I  have  tra- 
veled very  considerably  for  the  last  5  months  in  the  upper  cud  of  this  and  the 
'lower  end  of  Hampshire  county,  and  in  all  that  time  /  have  met  with  but  one 
man  that  ivas  against  vs,  and  I  feel  assured  that  I  am  warranted  in  saying  that 
old  Frederick  will  give  a  majority  of  150  for  our  nominees. 

11 1  have  also  been  informed  .that  there  are  upwards  of  400  members  in 
Page. 

"  Having  belonged  to  the  Democratic  party,  I  am  utterly  astonished  at  the 
course  they  pursue  in  regard  to  this  great  national  movement.  They  seem  to 
be  blinded  not  only  to  the  best  interests  of  society,  but  of  the  country/' — 
[Correspondent  of  the  Richmond  Whig,  May  22. 

[Frederick  gave  130  for  Wise — and  the  official  vote  of  Page  is  103 o  for 
Wise,  72  (!)  for  Floumoy.  If  the  gentleman  will  travel  "  five  months"  through 
Page,  he  will  probably  be  able  to  find  rather  more  than  "  one  man"  against 
Sam.] 

A  Handsome  Majority  for  Sam  in  PulasJci  County. 

PULASKI  COUNTY. — "  We  shall  elect  our  county  delegate,  Thomas  Poage, 
and  give  the  Winchester  ticket  a  handsome  majority." — Correspondent  of  (he 
Richmond  Whig,  May  22. 

[Pulaski  gave  Mr.  Wise  "a  handsome  majority,"  and  didn't  elect  Mr. 
Poage.] 

Sam's  Majority  1500  in  KidweWs    District — and  2000  In  Lewis' s  District. 

'*  As  to  the  report  of  withdrawals  in  the  North- West,  it  is  false.  We  havo 
but  few,  and  we  take  in  five  to  one  that  withdraws.  We  will  carry  this  dis- 
trict bv  1500  majority,  and  we  have  2000  to  overcome.  We  will  elect  Pendle- 
to  Congress.  The  adjoining  district  will  do  better  than  what  we  do.  There  is 
1600  majority  against  them,  and  they  will  carry  it  by  2000. — [Correspondent 
of  the  Richmond  Whig,  May  22. 

[Kid well's  majority  upwards  of  1300 — and  Sam's  majority  in  Lewis's  dis- 
trict 391,  instead  of  "2000."] 

An  overwhelming  Majority  for  Sam's  candidates. 

HANOVER  COUNTY. — Dear  Post :  We  are  augmenting  our  forces  daily  and 
nightly.  We  will  give  Reins,  Flournoy  and  Scott  a  tremendous  vote.  Thomp- 
son, American  candidate  for  the  House  of  Delegates,  will  certainly  be  elected 
by  an  overwhelming  majority. — [Correspondent  of  ilie  Postj  May  17. 


417 

Nearly  Every  Man  in  favor  of  the  Know  Nothing  Ticket! 

HANOVER  AND  NEW  KENT.— Dear  Post :— I  happened  a  few  days  since  to 
be  among  the  people  of  New  Kent  and  Hanover,  when,  greatly  to  my  surprise, 
men  whom  a  few  years  ago,  were  the  strongest  advocates  of  Democracy  are  now 
seizing  every  chance  to  let  their  friends  know  that  Flourhoy  is  the  man  of  their 
choice  and  not  Henry  A.  Wise,  the  slanderer  of  all  parties.  So  far,  Mr.  Editor, 
as  I  was  able  to  learn,  there  are  few  members  of  the  American  Order  in  the 
above  counties,  but  so  well  are  the  people  convinced  of  its  republican  and  na- 
tional principles  that  nearly  every  man  I  saw  will  go  for  the  whole  ticket.  You 
can  rest  assured  that  both  counties  will  give  a  larger  majority  than  has  ever 
been  given  for  any  other  party.  I  am  yours,  &c. — [  Correspondent  of  the  Penny 
Post. 

[Hanover  gave  the  Democratic  ticket  about  200  majority.]^ 

George  W.  Palmore  Elected  in  Cumberland  and  Powhatan. 

CUMBERLAND. — "We  have  ver^  cheering  news  from  this  (Cumberland)  county. 
George  W.  Palmore  will  be  elepted  from  Powhatan  and  Cumberland,  and  the 
American  ticket  will  get  one  hundred  majority  in  the  latter  county. — [Penny 
2*ost,  before  the  election. 

[The  "American"  ticket  got  25  majority  in  "  the  latter  county" — and  Mr. 
Palmore  was  defeated  by  about  100  majority.  Powhatan  cave  Wise  a  majority 
of  137.] 

Louisa — "  Statements   Utterly   Unfounded.1' 

LOUISA. — Various  exaggerated  calculations  have  been  made  by  the  Anti- 
American  party  in  regard  to  their  anticipated  majorities  in  this  county — claim- 
ing as  high  as  200  for  Judge  Caskie,  &c.  These  statements  we  have  the  best 
reason  for  knowing  are  utterly  unfDuuded.  With  the  gallant  Clayton  Gr.  Cole- 
man  as  our  standard  bearer  for  the  State  Senate,  and  the  other  excellent  candi- 
dates in  the  field,  we  confidently  anticipate  a  glorious  triumph  in  Louisa. — 
[Penny  Post,  May  17. 

[The  majority  for  Caskie  in  Louisa  was  precisely  200—644  to  444.] 
"  Sam"  in  Mecklenburg. 

In  this  county  (Mecklenburg)  our  information  is  that  Hutcherson,  the  Ame- 
rican candidate  for  the  Legislature,  will  certainly  be  elected.  At  the  last  elec- 
tion the  whole  vote  of  the  country  was  1167,  and  the  Democratic  majority  was 
about  340.  Flournoy  is  certain  to  get,  next  Thursday,  at  least  600  votes. 
Pretty  good  progress  in  one  county.  There  are  seven  councils  in  the  county, 
and  the  Presidents  of  four  of  them  are  Old  Line  Democrats.  We  learn  also 
that  there  was  a  free  barbecue  at  Williamson's  store  last  Saturday,  after  which 
thirty-eight  joined  the  order,  twenty-two  of  whom  were  Democrats.— [Penny 
Post,  May  17. 

[Mecklenburg  gives  Mr.  Wise  and  the  whole  Democratic  ticket  about  400 
majority.  Johnson's  majority  over  Summers  was  317.] 

Botetourt  175  or  225  Majority  for  Flournoy. 

BOTETOURT  COUNTY. — "  From  the  statistics  I  send,  you  will  perceive  that 
the  American  party  have  a  clear  majority  of  the  votes  in  this  county,  besides 
27 


418 

scores  of  outsiders  to  be  sympathizing  with  us  and  will  vote  our  ticket.  Pierce's 
majority  was  317.  We  shall  change  this  into  at  least  175  and  very  likely  to 
225,  for  Flournoy,  Beale  and  Patton." — [Richmond  Whig,  May  15. 

[Botetourt  gave  "Wise  430  majority.] 

<l  Sam"  Dividing  Marion   County. 

"We  shall  poll  900  votes  in  Marion,  which  is  half  of  the  whole."— [Cor- 
respondent of  the  Richmond  Whig,  May  22. 

[The  v6te  of  Marion  stands,  for  Wise  1127,  Flournoy  450.] 

20,000  and  Prolally  40,000  Majority  for  Flournoy. 

We  shall  not  be  satisfied  with  less  than  20,000  majority  for  Flournoy.  We 
are  disposed  to  think  we  shall  double  that  figure.  "  Press  on  the  column," 
therefore,  we  say,  and  look  not  to  the  right  or  left  until  after  the  election.  We 
wish  to  have  as  large  a  majority  as  possible.  Already  certain  of  success,  we 
wish  something  more  than  mere  victory.  W\3  desire  to  secure  a  triumph  I — 
[Penny  Post,  May  7. 

What  a  "Fall,"  nty   Countrymen! 

11  PRESS  ON  THE  COLUMN/'' — As  the  day  of  election  approaches,  the  confi- 
dence of  the  American  party  rises.  Already  72,000  strong,  their  numbers  are 
daily  increasing.  So  certain  are  they  of  success,  that  we  fear  they  may  be  in- 
duced to  relax  their  exertions.  We  trust  that  may  not  be  the  case.  Let  us 
keep  up  the  fire  until  we  exterminate  the  enemy.  We  shall  give  Mr.  Wise  such  a 
fall  that  he  will  stand  no  more  chance  of  rising  than  Lucifer. — [Penny  Post, 
May  7. 

Mr.    Wise  Ruminating  in  Accomac.  , 

"  Revolutions  never  go  backward.  The  grand  political  revolution  of  the 
Know  Nothings  is  the  spontaneous  uprising  of  the  people  against  political 
trickery  and  party  corruptions.  It  were  as  vain  to  attempt  to  check  its  progress 
as  to  stop  the  tornado  in  its  course.  It  has  the  imprimatur  of  popular  approval, 
and  Mr.  Wise  ought  by  this  time  to  be  convinced  of  the  futility  of  attempting 
to  arrest  it.  Beneath  the  classic  shades  of  "  Only,  near  Onancock,"  be  may 
ruminate  on  the  result — and  from  the  instructive  teachings  of  the  past  may 
gather  some  valuable  lessons  for  the  future."— Richmond  Whig,  May  8. 

Know  Nothing  Sympathy  for  the  Dead   Wise  Men. 

We  can  assure  our  anti- American  friends  here  that  we  feel  no  little  sympathy 
for  them  in  the  present  condition  of  political  affairs — the  certain,  overwhelming 
defeat  that  awaits  them  at  the  coming  election  staring  them  in  the  face.  We 
know  they  feel  bad — the  forebodings  of  their  approaching  doom  haunt  them  day 
and  night.  Now,  we  must  say  we  have  not  the  least  objection  that  they  should, 
to  the  last,  show  true  pluck  and  grit — indeed,  these  qualities  will  always  chal- 
lenge our  admiration  j  but  we  are  solicitous  that  they  should  be  preparing  to 
fold  their  togas  about  them  and  die  with  the  grace  and  dignity  that  become  the 
remaining  few  of  a  once  powerful  and  honorable  party — that  they  will  so  deport 
themselves  in  this  last  death-struggle,  that  the  future  faithful  historian  will  be 
unable  to  find  the  least  spot  upon  their  fairness,  truth  or  honor.  We  do  really 
hope  that  we  shall  have  it  in  our  power,  after  the  election,  with  a  clear  coa- 


419 

science,  to  comply  with  the  old  maxim  —  "  to  say  nothing  but  good  of  the  dead." 
—  [Kanawha  Republican  ,  May  2. 

"  Sam  Doing   Wonders  in  Brunswick" 

We  learn  that  "  Sam"  is  doing  wonders  in  the  Democratic  county  of  Bruns- 
wick. Two  councils  have  been  started  in  that  county,  and  they  are  working 
finely.  Brunswick  is  the  last  county  in  the  State  in  which  "  Sam"  was  intro- 
duced. Nevertheless  he  will  give  a  good  account  of  himself  and  family  even 
there  on  election  day.  —  [Penny  Post,  May  17. 

[Sure  enough,  Sam  "  did  wonders  in  Brunswick."  Wise's  majority  is  332. 
Johnson's  majority  over  Summers  was  154.] 

A  Large  majority  for  Sam  in  Smyth   County. 

We  learn  that  there  are  seve^n  councils  in  Smyth  county,  all  in  full  blast,  and 
working  finely.  The  order  numbers  some  of  the  best  men  in  the  county,  and 
will  give  a  large  majority  for  the  Winchester  ticket.  —  IPennpPostj  May  17. 

[Smyth  gave  Wise  83  majority.] 

Oar  "Nat"  Elected  ly  800  to  1,000  Majority. 

THE  HALIFAX  CONGRESSIONAL  DISTRICT.  —  "Information  received  from 
every  county  in  this  district  renders  certain  the  election  of  Claiborne  by  a  ma- 
jority from  SOOUo  1,000,  while  Flournoy  will  not  fall  short  of  1500,  and  the 
best  informed  gentlemen  say  it  will  go  beyond  2,000."  —  Richmond  Whigy 
15. 

["  Our  Nat"  was  defeated  by  1,700  majority.] 

Tazewell   Coun(y   Safe  for   Trigg  —  Trigg  Elected. 

"  WYTIIEVILLE.  —  "  Dear  Whig  :  —  Rejoice  !  rejoice  !  for  truly  have  the  friends 
of  American  and  haters  of  foreign  policy,  cause  to  do  so  here.  The  determined' 
progeny  of  Sam  now  number  in  this  county  800  good  and  true.  It  is  now 
universally  conceded  that  Trigg  will  get  a  majority  over  both  Martin  and  Mc- 
Mullen,  not  only  in  this  county,  but  in  the  whole  district.  Tazewell  is  thought 
safe  for  Trigg;  Smyth  will  give  a  very  large  majority;  Preston's  fate  is  sealed, 
and  Sheffey's  majority  may  be  safely  put  down  at  100."  —  [Richmond  Whty, 
May  15. 

[Tazewell  gave  the  whole  Democratic  ticket  more  than  900  majority  —  and 
Trigg  was  defeated  by  McMullen,  by  a  majority  of  about  8;500.] 

Sam  in  Rockingham. 

Sam  introduced  himself  to  the  good  people  of  Ilockingham  in  September 
last,  in  the  persons  of  an  old  Ilockingham  Democrat,  who  now  resides  in  Albe- 
inarle,  and  an  Alexandria  Democrat.  Endorsed  thus  by  two  "  old  liners/'  he 
was  most  cordially  received,  and  we  have  never  for  a  moment  felt  any  disposition 
to  cut  his  acquaintance.  His  family  is  now  large  and  respectable,  having  daily 
additions  of  pure  old  Jackson  Democrats,  who  can  never  forget  how  Henry  A. 
Wise  used  to  abuse  them  and  their  party.  You  may  rest  assured,  that  the 
Winchester  ticket  will  receive  at  least  1500  votes  in  this  county.  —  [Richnwn>l 
,  Muy  15. 


[The  vote  of  Rockingham  was  :  Wise  2,702,  Flournoy  612.] 


420 

The  Penny  Post  Entitling  Itself  to  the   Gratitude  of  Betters. 

A  CHANCE. — The  love  of  money  is  the  besetting  sin  of  the  people  of  this 
world.  We  scarcely  ever  meet  a  man  who  does'nt  want  more  than  he  has. 
We  are  very  sure  then  that  we  should  entitle  ourselves  to  the  gratitude  of  many 
if  we  direct  them  to  a  plan  by  which  money  can  be  made.  Well,  listen,  all  ye 
lucre-loving  sinners,  and  we  will  tell  you  how  $  5,000  can  be  made  as  clear  as 
grit  in  a  little  more  than  a  month.  Here  it  is  : 

Just  get  $2,500  and  come  to  this  office,  and  we  will  direct  you  to  a  gentle- 
man who  has  $  5,000,  and  who  is  particularly  green.  He  is  anxious  to  bet 
that  amount  to  $  2,500,  that  Flournoy  will  be  elected.  Well,  of  course,  you 
have  seen  accounts  of  so  many  withdrawals,  and  of  course  you  know  that  the 
Know  Nothing  house  is  fast  tumbling  to  pieces.  So  bring  us  your  $  2,500  and 
stake  it  as  we  direct,  deposit  it  in  Bank,  and  on  the  4th  Thursday  in  May, 
you'll  be  $  5,000  richer  than  you  are  now — if  Wise  is  elected. — [Richmond 
Penny  Post. 


From  the  Richmond  Enquirer. 

OBITUARY  OF  SAM. 

It  has  fallen  to  our  lot  to  perform  the  melancholy  task  of  announcing  to  his 
friends  and  the  public,  the  death  of  the  lamented  "  Sam."  He  departed  this 
life  on  the  24th  day  of  May,  1855,  at  a  place  in  Virginia,  called  the  Polls,  af- 
ter a  short  illness  of  extreme  mental  and  bodily  suffering.  In  the  morning  of 
the  24th,  on  which  the  sad  catastrophe  occurred,  he  was,  apparently,  in  fine 
health  and  spirits,  and  manifested,  it  was  observed  by  everybody,  unusual  acti- 
vity in  his  business.  But,  alas  !  before  night  he  was  numbered  with  those  that 
have  been.  Indeed,  the  writer  saw  him  the  very  day  he  died;  he  said  he  never 
felt  better,  and  promised  himself  a  long,  happy,  and  prosperous  life.  What 
shadows  we  are  1  Sam's  days  were  swifter  than  a  weaver's  shuttle,  and  spent 
without  "  Hope."  His  days  were  few  and  evil.  As  for  "  Sam,"  his  days  are 
as  grass ;  as  a  flower  of  the  field  he  flourisheth,  the  breeze  of  public  opinion 
passed  over  him,  he  is  gone,  and  the  places  in  Virginia,  that  knew  him  once, 
will  know  him  no  more  for  ever.  Because,  "  Sam"  goeth  to  his  long  home, 
and  the  mourners  go  about  the  streets.  As  the  particulars  of  his  death  may 
be  gratifying  to  his  friends  at  a  distance,  we  give  them,  as  we  received  them, 
from  the  most  authentic  sources. 

About  one  o'clock,  in  the  afternoon  of  the  24th,  "Sam"  became  dejected, 
and  was  soon  after  taken  with  a  nausea  at  the  stomach,  and  vomiting  up  of  a 
quantity  of  crude  indigestible  matter,  supposed  to  be  green  fruit,  with  which  he 
had  overloaded  his  stomach,  brought  from  Massachusetts ;  this  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  a  violent  purging  at  the  Polls ;  when  great  debility  ensued,  termina- 
ting in  death. 

The  friends  of  the  deceased,  both  North  and  South,  may  be  assured  that  no 
pains  or  expense  was  wanting  here  to  save  the  life  of  this  estimable  man. 
Steam  and  electricity  were  taxed  to  the  highest  power — servants  were  going 
day  and  night  after  the  doctors,  and  the  most  skillful  "  knowing"  ones,  North 
and  South,  were  employed — Councils  were  held  in  every  corner,  and  groups  of 
the  most  eminent  practitioner*,  were  seen  here  and  there  in  solemn  conclave- 
consulting  physicians  were  called  in  to  confer  with  family  doctors — the  prayers 
of  the  church  and  the  advice  of  the  most  eminent  divines,  in  other  States,  was 
earnestly  solicited — the  elders  of  the  church  were  called  for,  to  anoiut  him  with 


421 

oil ;  but  all  in  vain — "  Sam's"  time  had  come — the  decree  had  gone  forth — a 
portion  of  the  members  of  the  Whig  church  which  had  long  been  in  a  cold  and 
dead  state,  but  had  began  to  "  strengthen  the  things  that  remain,  and  were 
ready  to  perish,"  and  to  pray  and  hope  for  a  revival,  saying,  all  our  help  must 
come  from  "  Sam,"  now  sunk  in  deep  despair;  and  a  universal  gloom,  as  still 
as  the  grave,  hung  over  the  vestals  of  the  "  Dim  Lantern."  The  patient  was 
in  an  awful  state  of  collapse,  and  every  expedient  was  tried  to  produce  a  re-ac- 
tion in  the  system.  Blisters  or  Sinapisms,  composed  of  different  ingredients, 
and  spread  on  blue  paper,  were  constantly  applied  to  the  extremities,  at  th'e 
polls  -,  but  they  failed  to  draw.  American  "  Gnats"  instead  of  Spanish  flies, 
were  applied  to  the  back,  and  "  Clay"  poultices  to  the  abdomen  ;  and  the  cele- 
brated "  Patent"  gruel,  (said  to  be  a  specific  in  every  disease,)  given  as  an  in- 
jection ;  hut  there  was  no  "  Hope."  "  Sic  transit  gloria  mundi!" 

After  the  physicians  had  despaired  of  "  Sam's"  body,  the  Doctors  of  Divini- 
ty were  sent  for  to  take  care  of  his  soul.  An  eminent  Divine  (from  Kentucky) 
who  visited  him  in  his  last  moments,  conversed  freely  with  him  on  the  subject 
of  religion.  His  remarks  were  published  in  the  Presbyterian  Critic.  He  as- 
sured "  Sam"  that  he  need  not  be  under  any  apprehensions  about  his  "future 
destiny ;"  that  his  conduct  and  principles  were  in  perfect  accordance  with  the 
Word  of  God,  and  he  was  perfectly  orthodox.  "  Sam"  had  no  fears  upon  that 
score ;  he  had  endeavoured  to  obey  the  will  of  the  "  Grand  Master,"  and  what 
he  had  committed  to  him,  he  had  kept  to  the  day  of  his  death.  But,  turning 
from  the  Doctor  to  one  of  the  family — a  gentleman  from  Lunenburg,  a  Mr.  T., 
(who,  it  is  thought,  will  never  forget  the  remark  and  the  impression  it  made  on 
him,)  he  observed,  he  was  conscious  of  his  approaching  dissolution,  and  he 
would  die  perfectly  "  contented"  if  he  only  knew  what  killed  him.  The  Doc- 
tor gravely  remarked,  he  believed  that  it  was  that  "  intense  Democracy"  of 
Virginia  that  was  the  immediate  cause  of  his  death.  Mr.  T.,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, retired  from  "  Sam"  "  with  a  bird  in  the  hand  ;"  and  that  "  Goode" 
gentleman,  whose  death  he  predicted,  is  still  alive.  The  above  mentioned  is 
the  Kentucky  Doctor  that  prophesied  of  "  Sam,"  before  his  death,  in  Virginia, 
said  the  coming  of  "  Sam"  would  be  as  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
"  in  silence,  (secretly,)  without  observation."  "  That  is  the  way,"  said  he, 
"in  which  all  'grand'  movements  come."  (Mark  the  expression,  "grand 
movement,"  "  Grand  Master,"  "  Grand  Council," — everything  grand  about 
"Sam;"  "Sam  is  one  of  the  grandees.)  Said  that  "Sam"  would  swallow 
Democracy  and  live  forever;  that  "Sam's"  family  would  swallow  up  every 
other -family  in  America,  and  there  would  be  left  but  one  national,  native-born, 
American  family — "Sam's!!!"  But  if  "Sam"  swallowed  a  small  dose  of 
Democracy,  and  he  died  instantly,  what  would  become  of  him  if  he  should  take 
a  full  dose  ?  The  Uemocratic  Medical  Faculty  has  just  prescribed  the  following 
dose  for  "  Sam"  in  Virginia  :  Take — 

Of  Wise,  9  or  10,000  drops. 
"    Congress  13  do. 

"    Legislature  48  do. 

Given  in  pure  Democracy,  in  broken  doses,  at  the  polls,  in  the  day  time — 
4<  Sam"  will  be  dead  by  next  morning.  If  "  Sam"  should  revive,  give  the 
same  in  larger  ddles.  For  a  "  National"  dose,  see  Democratic  Dispensatory. 
See,  also,  "  Rush"  on  Sam  at  the  polls. 

We  had  predicted  that  poor  "  Sam"  had  been  deceived — that  he  had  not  ex- 
amined the  ground  of  his  hope.  The  Doctors  have  led  him  to  rely  on  secrecy 
for  salvation,  and  faith  alone  in  the  "  Grand  Master  ;"  preaching  to  him  that 
"every  grand  movement  must  be  secret,"  when  they  ought  to  have  urged  him 
to  come  out,  and  make  an  open,  bold  profession  of  his  religion  before  the  world, 
that  it  might  be  seen  whether  his  practice  accorded  with  his  principles.  Not  to 


422 

be  tl  ashamed  of  '  Sam'  before  men ;"  "  let  his  light  so  shine" — "  not  to  put  it 
under  a  bushel" — that  we  are  "  children  of  the  day,  not  of  the  night."  And, 
above  all,  to  have  referred  him  to  his  "  Bible  in  hand" — particularly  that  pas- 
sage in  John  xviii :  19,  (if  he  wished  to  come  as  the  kingdom  of  heaven)  : 
"  The  High  Priest  then  asked  Jesus  of  his  doctrine."  20  :  "  Jesus  answered 
him,  I  spake  openly  to  the  world  :  I  even  taught  in  the  Synagogue  and  in  the 
Temple,  where  the  Jews  always  resort,  and  in  secret  have  I  said  nothing." 
And,  again  :  "  This  thing  was  not  clone  in  a  corner"  (or  a  pulvert.)  "  Sam" 
ought  to  have  been  taught  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  came  openly,  (though  it 
came  not  with  "  observation,"  that  is,  with  great  outward  pomp,  and  a  particu- 
lar locality,  as  a  temporal  kingdom,)  and  not  secretly,  like  the  Jesuits  ;  that  it 
had  a  visible  organization,  and  that  publicity  was  its  grand  characteristic.  The 
TO  disciples  were  sent  out  by  the  Ruler,  himself,  of  the  Kingdom,  to  preach 
before  the  world,  that  "  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  was  at  hand."  So  "  Sarn" 
ought  to  have  sent  out  his  "  72,000"  disciples  to  preach  his  doctrines,  a*nd  to 
announce  his  coming;  and,  verily,  (according  to  Mr.  Botts  and  other  prophets,) 
they  would  not  have  gone  over  Virginia,  before  "  Sam"  would  be  in  all  his 
power  and  glory.  But,  on  the  contrary,  whenever  the  Know  Nothings  were 
asked  by  the  Democrats  when  the  kingdom  of  "  Sam"  should  come,  and  what 
its  doctrines,  they  answered  and  said,  "  Sam  cometh  not  with  observation." 
Neither  shall  they  say,  Lo  !  here,  or,  lo  !  there,  for,  behold,  "  Sam"  is  within 
you.  For  as  the  lightning  that  lightneth  out  of  the  one  part  under  Heaven, 
shineth  unto  the  other  part  under  Heaven,  so  shall  "  Sam"  be  in  his  day.  Here 
the  analogy  of  the  Know  Nothing  commentators,  between  the  kingdom  of 
"Sam"  and  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  fails.  "Sam"  goes,  it  is  true,  by  the 
telegraph,  but  is  unseen.  The  lightning  is  seen  under  the  whole  Heavens. 
Not  so  with  the  great  "  Invisible  and  Invincible."  And  as  it  was  in  the  days 
of  Noah,  (continue  these  same  doctors,  in  the  same  chapter,)  so  shall  it  be  also 
in  the  days  of  "  Sam."  The  Democrats  were  carousing,  say  they,  until  the 
day  that  the  Know  Nothings  were  taken  into  the  ark  and  the  flood  of  Know 
Nothingism  came  and  destroyed  them  all.  Likewise,  also,  it  was  in  the  days  of 
Lot :  "  They  did  eat  and  drink,"  &c.  But  the  same  day  that  "  Sam''  went 
out  of  Sodorn,  it  rained  fire  and  brimstone  from  "  Sam"  on  the  Democrats,  and 
destroyed  them  all.  Even  so  shall  it  be  in  the  days  of  "  Sam  5"  so  saith  the 
prophet.  The  delayed  retribution  is  impending,  and  like  every  other  great  re- 
tribution, it  takes  those  it  falls  on  by  surprise— (The  "  Critic.")  Off  whose 
head,  tell  me,  did  the  fire  and  brimstone  fall,  at  the  polls  in  Virginia?  Who 
was  taken  by  surprise  ?  "  Sam"  was  taken  in  his  own  net.  Who  is  feasting 
and  reveling  now,  till  the  flood  comes  again,  walking  in  political  lasciviousness, 
lusts  of  power,  excess  of  wine,  revelings,  banquetings,  and  abominable  idola- 
tries, wherein  they  think  it  strange  that  ye  run  not  with  them  to  the  same  ex- 
cess of  not  speaking  evil  of  you?  It  is  "  Sam"  in  Philadelphia,  like  Belshaz.- 
zar  in  Babylon,  giving  a  great  feast  to  a  thousand  of  his  lords,  his  wives  and 
concubines.  But,  a  finger  has  written  over  against  the  dim  a  lantern,"  on  the 
plaster  of  the  wall;  and  (the  magicians,  astrologers,  chaldeans,  and  soothsayers, 
are  failing,)  Daniel,  as  before,  will  be  sent  for  to  interpret  it.  Daniel  will  teach 
Sam  that  the  Most  High  ruleth  in  the  kingdom  of  men — that  Sam  had  not 
humbled  himself  since  his  fall  in  Virginia.  And,  therefore,  for  the  thought 
of  his  heart,  this  is  the  interpretation  of  the  thing :  Mene^-Thy  kingdom  is 
numbered.  Tekel — Thou  art  weighed.  Peres — Thy  kingdom  is  divided,  In 
vain  will  "Sam"  sing  "  he  brought  me  into  the  '  banqueting  house/  and  his 
banner  over  me  was  love."  Sam  has  prepared  this  great  feast  in  imitation  of 
Queen  Esther's  emancipation  of  the  Jews,  to  liberate  the  slaves  of  the  south  ; 
and  "  Sam,"  like  Haman,  boasts  that  no  man  is  permitted  to  come  to  the 
"banquet"  prepared  by  the  Queen,  but  himself.  Yet  all  this  (honor)  avails 
me  nothing,  says  he,  so  long  as  I  see  Democrats  in  office.  But;  mark  !  Haman 


423 

will  hang  himself  on  the  very  gallows  he  is  preparing  for  Mordecai ;  and  Es- 
ther will  be  celebrated  by  the  Democrats.  The  Kentucky  doctors  also  said,  that 
the  poor  Democrats,  (like  the  Demoniacs,  when  they  saw  Christ  approach  them,) 
would  li  scream  at  the  bare  mention  of  Sam"  !!!  Who  screamed  at  the  polls? 
"  Sam" — the  "  invincible  Sam/'  And  it  turns  out  to  be,  that  it  was  the  Know 
Nothings,  (whose  name  they  say  was  legion,)  that  besought  the  Democracy  that 
they  might  go  into  the  herd  of  swine,  (Northern  abolitionists,)  and,  behold,  the 
whole  herd  of  swine  rushed  headlong  down  a  precipice  and  were  drowned  in  the 
sea,  and  the  herdsmen,  (the  Northern  Whigs,)  that  attended  them  fled  into  the 
city,  (of  Philadelphia,)  and  the  whole  city  came  out  and  besought  the  Democ- 
racy to  depart  out  of  their  course.  The  Doctors  mistook  Democracy  for  De- 
moniacy  !  If  "  Sam"  is  so  expert  in  casting  out  devils,  it  is  a  wonder  he  has 
not  dispossessed  himself,  long  ago.  This,  indeed,  would  be  Belzebub,  casting 
out  the  Devil — "Sum's"  kingdom  divided  against  itself — the  harlot  of  Massa- 
chusetts complaining  of  the  "  whore  of  Babylon!" 

As  to  the  disease  with  which  "Sam"  died,  there  are  various  conjectures. 
Some  think  he  died  of  Flux,  or  "  Fusion,"  (as  it  is  termed  in  modern  nomen- 
clature,) from  the  appearance  of  his  stools  or  "platforms" — that  is,  a  running 
together  of  Northern  Abolitionists  with  Northern  Whigs,  against  the  Catholics 
for  power  and  office.  The  purging  which  Sam  got  at  the  polls  did  not  indicate 
that  his  bowels  were  open,  for  physicians  know,  that,  in  dysentery,  the  purging 
is  a  se.-retion  from  the  bowels  themselves,  while  the  food,  or  natural  passages, 
are  retained;  so,  that,  although  he  disgorged  (by  the  mouth)  a  good  deal  of 
what  he  had  swallowed,  and  lost  flesh,  he  was  still  bound  in  the  bowels  to  the 
last.  "  Sam"  had  been  subject  to  costiveness  from  his  birth,  b,oth  at  the  mouth, 
by  oath,  and  in  the  belly.  But  a  few  weeks  before  his  death,  being  alarmed  at 
his  situation,  he  was  wont  to  go  out  very  badly  from  his  lodging,  and  take  an 
aperient,  but  the  physicians  forbid  it.  Said  that  a  sudden  evacuation  would 
produce  such  debility,  it  would  certainly  carry  him  off — to  confine  himself 
closely  to  his  room  and  keep  quiet.  There  is  a  great  anxiety  now  to  know,  I 
am  told,  that  of  the  different  kinds  of  isms  "  Sam"  eat,  which  it  was  that  dis- 
agreed with  him,  so  that  they  might  diet  him  hereafter,  for  dysentery  (running 
from  the  lodges)  and  obstinate  costiveness  of  the  bowels — secresy  is  hereditary 
in  the  family.  They  are  stiH  bound,  as  before,  and  now  under  the  care  of  the^ 
Philadelphia  doctors,  who  advise  them  to  touch  nothing  but  what  agrees  with 
them.  But  a  Philadelphia  doctor  can't  cure  "  Sam" — he  is  too  far  gone.  There 
are  others  of  opinion  that  "  Sam"  died  from  sheer  debility,  (or  "civil  disabili- 
ty") from  being  overheated  in  the  crusades.  Some  contend  he  had  the  Scrofula 
or  King's  Evil — hatred  to  free  institutions — (as  freedom  of  opinion,  alien,  &c., 
can  never  be  mentioned  in  his  presence  without  producing  nausea  at  the  sto- 
mach) which  he  inherited  from  old  federal  Sam  and  which  broke  out,  now 
and  then,  in  various  branches  of  the  Whig  family,  there  being  a  predisposi- 
tion to  the  disease.  Others  again,  presume  that  he  was  killed  by  swallow- 
ing too  many  different  kinds  of  isms  at  once,  as  appears  from  a  post  mortem 
examination,  there  having  been  found  about  forty  in  his  belly,  in  an  indi- 
gestible state.  The  last  one  which  he  swallowed  just  before  he  died — Ame- 
rican or  Know  Nothingi.sin — lodged  in  his  throat,  and  produced  Bronchitis  at 
the  polls.  Some  conjectured,  and  not  without  reason,- that  "  Sam"  had  Hydro- 
phobia, from  his  dread  of  "  Holy  Water,"  as  he  had  been  bitten  by  a  canine 
fanatic  at  the  North,  during  dog-days  there.  Others  supposed  he  took  cold  tra- 
velling in  Missouri  and  the  territories  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska;  while  many 
think  that  he  was  wounded  in  a  rencounter  with  the  "  Fugitive  Slave  Bill." 
Others  think  he  died  from  emaciation — that  he  pined  away  from  pure  love  for 
the  Negroes,  the  Union  and  Native  Americans,  and  envy  at  the  prosperity  of 
the  South.  Some  think  that  he  was  literally  consumed  with  lust  for  power  and 
office,  and  they  gave  him  the  balsam  of  Know  Nothingism.  Many,  again,  sup- 


424 

pose  that  he  died  from  refusing  to  take  stimulus,  from  his  conscientious  scruples 
about  "  Maine  Liquour,"  and  from  substituting  sour  butter-milk  in  the  Saera- 
m£nt,  in  the  place  of  wine.  While  not  a  few  are  persuaded  he  suffered  from 
religious  melancholy,  or  derangement  from  discarding  the  Bible  from  his  heart, 
and  substituting  Know  Nothingism.  But  the  most  probable  opinion  is  that  the 
immediate  cause  of  his  death,  was  the  shock  from  the  Democratic  battery,  when 
the  positive  and  negative  poles  were  brought  together,  to  cure  him  of  the  Rheu- 
matism, which  he  got  by  going  out  too  late  at  night!  All  these,  no  doubt,  con- 
tributed to  "  Sam's"  sufferings.  Never  did  a  poor  man  groan  under  a  greater 
complication  of  maladies,  than  did  u  Sam"  in  Virginia;  and  it  was,  no  doubt, 
best  for  him  and  the  community,  that  he  was  taken  away  in  his  youth,  for  his 
disease  was  a  contagious  one,  whatever  might  have  been  its  nature  in  other  re- 
spects. The  Democratic  Faculty,  as  soon  as  he  died,  recommended  that  the 
room  (Virginia)  should  be  constantly  fumigated  with  vinegar,  (Democratic  prin- 
ciples,) and  well  ventilated.  The  clothing,  as  well  as  the  bedding,  ought  to  be 
often  removed  and  all  offensive  odors  (particularly  the  fseces)  should  be  removed 
as  speedily  as  possible. 

As  to  the  character  of  "  Sam"  he  was  perfectly  consistent  in  his  "  Platform" 
and  practice.  He  stood  broad  in  public  estimation.  No  man  doubted  his  vera- 
city, purity  or  piety.  His  Bible  was  always  in  hand,  if  not  in  heart.  He  loved 
(like  the  good  Samaritan)  his  neighbor  as  himself.  His  charity  covered  a  mul- 
titude of  sins  in  others,  and  extended  to  all  without  exception.  He  was  parti- 
cularly noted  for  entertaining  strangers,  for  he  thought  that  thereby  he  might 
entertain  angels  unawares.  In  creed,  Sam  was  a  Unitarian,  and  required  his 
followers  to  swear  by  and  believe  in  one  God;  and  he  propagated  this  doctrine 
under  the  cover  of  political  principle. 

If  Sam's  conscious  scruples  about  slavery,  wine,  &c.,  in  the  Bible,  did  lead 
him  to  reject  the  New  Testament  and  its  authors,  yet  he  very  piously  believed, 
like  Mahomet,  in  the  unity  of  God,  and  received  a  small  portion  of  the  Old 
Testament.  "  Sam"  was  a  good  author ;  he  wrote  pamphlets,  in  which  he 
"  denied  that  Christ  made  an  intoxicating  wine,  and  if  he  did,  he  was  no  Sa- 
viour for  him."  And  he  had  the  charity  to  believe,  that  "  if  Christ  had  known 
the  misery  he  brought  on  the  world  by  making  an  intoxicating  liquor,  he  never 
would  have  made  it."  Sam's  doctrines  in  the  Church  in  which  he  was  first 
brought  up,  had  prepared  him  for  any  emergency  in  the  State.  But  no  man  was 
more  tolerant  or  more  opposed  to  retaliation.  He  was  perfectly  willing  that 
every  man  should  think  for  himself  in  matters  of  religion.  That  all  religious 
sects  and  denominations  of  professing  christains,  should  have  their  own  ways  of 
thinking  and  modes  of  worship ;  that  "  every  one  should  be  fully  persuaded 
in  his  own  mind,"  was  "  Sam's"  motto  written  on  his  forehead — a  living  epis- 
tle to  be  read  of  all  men,  whatever  he  might  have  kept  behind.  He  read  with 
horror,  and  tears  in  his  eyes,  how  they  used  to  fry  men,  for  thinking,  on  grid- 
irons, and  drive  them  out  of  the  country  just  for  opinion  sake.  Sam,  although 
not  a  Presbyterian,  Baptist,  Methodist,  Episcopalian,  or  Roman  Catholic,  but 
of  the  Know  Nothing  persuasion,  yet  he  loved  all,  and  was  all  things  to  all 
men,  peradventure,  he  might  win  some.  He  held  that  when  in  Rome,  (where 
he  often  went,)  we  must  do  as  Rome  does.  He  had  lately  joined  the  Know 
Nothing  church,  and  was  a  consistent  member  to  the  day  of  his  death.  He 
possessed  a  zeal  for  God,  exactly  according  to  Know  Nothingism.  He  was  a 
great  Protestant.  He  protested  against  all  party  spirit  and  sectarianism  in 
Church  and  State,  but  his  own  "  American  party."  He  "  set  aside  all  parties 
for  the  time  at  least,"  (Pres.  Critic)  except  the"  Know-Nothing  party.  How 
beautifully  consistent  was  "  Sam  !"  Sam  was  a  great  Patriot.  He  so  loved 
his  country,  that  he  called  himself  "  American,"  "  National  Republican," 
"  Star  Spangled  Banner,"  &c.;  following  the  example  of  the  good  old  Roman 
fathers  who  called  themselves  the  opposite  of  what  they  were — Pius,  Cleaient, 


425 

* 

(mild)  Innocent,  Felix,  (happy)  Celestine,  (Heavenly,)  &c.  "Sam"  was  not 
only  exceedingly  exemplary  in  his  own  conduct  and  conversation,  but  he  brought 
up  his -children  in  the  way  they  should  go,  and  they  never  lived  to  be  old  enough 
to  depart  from  it.  "  Sam  kept  a  family  Record  in  his  Bible  where  he  recorded 
all  the  births  of  his  children.  It  is  true  he  omitted  the  deaths,  but  this  is  ex- 
cusable, as  his  feelings  were  so  tender,  he  couldn't  think  on  the  subject.  At 
his  death,  "  8am"  had  7'2,000  children  in  Virginia,  besides  grand  children. — 
They  were  as  the  stars  of  Heaven  in  multitude.  He  had  been  promised  a  nu- 
merous seed.  It  was  said  in  "  Sam"  "  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be 
blessed,"  and  he  should  live  forever.  tf  The  American  parti/  involves  the  over- 
throw of  every  other  party,"  "Democracy  has  lived  100  years;  'Sam1  will 
swallow  Democracy  and  live  forever ,"  is  the  language  of  the  prophet  of  Ken- 
tucky. 

"  Sam  was  born  in  Massachusetts,  of  royal  parentage,  and  was  descended  in 
a  direct  line  from  a  British  Whig  family.  His  ancestors  emigrated  from  Eng- 
land to  America  before  the  revolutionary  war.  After  the  war,  "  British  Whig" 
Sam,  died,  and  left  an  only  son,  "  Federal"  Sam — a  respectable  honest  man, 
but  of  bad  principles — he  became  odious  by  his  connection  with  the  Adams 
family  in-  Massachusetts.  Federal  Sam  died,  and  left  an  only  son,  Whig 
Sam.  He  died  and  left  an  only  son,  National  Republican  Sam.  He  died,  and 
left  an  only  son,  Whig  "  Sam"  or  "  £am  Pure"  again,  named  after  his  grand 
father,  Whig  Sam.  This  family  separated  from  the  Whig  family  South,  and 
"  Sam"  married  an  abolition  lady  in  Massachusetts,  a  relation  of  Adams*,  Gree- 
ley,  Seward,  Wilson,  &c. 

The  fruit  of  this  connection,  was  Know-Nothing  or  American  "Sam."  So 
that  Know  Nothing  Sam  was  an  abolitionist  on  the  maternal  side,  and  on  the 
paternal  a  Whig.-  Now  this  is  the  genealogy  of  "  Sam."  British  Wrhig  Sam 
begat  Federal  Sam.  Federal  Sam  begat  Whig  Sam  again.  Whig  Sam  begat 
National  Republican  Sam.  National  Republican  Sam  begat  Know  Nothing 
Sam.  And  all  the  generations  of  Sam,  from  British  Whig  Sam  to  Know 
Nothing  Sam,  are  five  generations.  And  the  days  of  the  years  of  Sam  are 
about  three-score  years  and  ten  ;  and  if  by  reason  of  strength  they  be  four- 
score years,  yet  is  their  strength,  labor  and  sorrow  ;  for  it  is  soon  cut  off  and  we 
fly  away.  So  teach  us  to  number  our  days,  that  we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto 
wisdom — may  all  the  Know  Nothings  pray. 

Sam  having  heard  through  the  Board  of  Domestic  Miesions,  (the  Grand 
Council,)  of  the  ignorance  and  superstitious  devotion  of  the  Heathen  in  Vir- 
ginia to  the  Constitution,  his  soul  was  stirred  within  him  ;  for  he  saw  they  were 
wholly  given  to  idolatry.  He  determined  to  visit  that  destitute  region,  on  a 
missionary  tour,  and  preach  to  them  the  gospel  of  Know  Nothingism — to  de- 
clare unto  them  the  "  unknown  (or  Know-Nothing)  God"  whom  they  ignorant- 
ly  worshipped ;  but  the  climate  proving  unfavorable  to  his  health,  he  died  in 
Virginia,  May  24tH,  1855. 

While  on  this  mission  South,  American  Sam  married  a  Miss  Know-Nothing, 
his  first  cousin,  for  be  had  relations  in  Virginia,  both  on  the  mother's  and  fath- 
er's side,  who  had  settled  in  that  State  before,  and  in  other  States.  This  mar- 
riage united  the  Know  Nothing  family  North,  with  the  Know  Nothing"  family 
South.  But  this  match  was  opposed  by  the  most  respectable  portion  of  the 
Whig  family  South,  who,  about  the  time  of  "  Sam's"  death,  married  into  the 
Democratic  family.  We  may  observe  here,  that  although  Sain  claims  kin  with 
the  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison  and  Jackson  family,  they  are  not  blood  re- 
lations. He  tries  to  trace  his  pedigree  to  those  families,  (to  get  office.)  Al- 
though he  dogs  Virginia  for  her  family  pride. — Sam's  amiable  consort,  is  now 
in  desolate  widowhood.  She  is  advised  to  marry  again,  as  soon  as  it  is  decent, 
as  Sain  left  his  matters  in  a  bad  condition  and  she  needs  funds.  She  is  already 
beginning  to  wax  wanton  and  will  marry.  They  say  that  the  Know  Nothing 


426 

V 

church  ought  not  to  be  burthened  with  the  support  of  such.  But  the  younger 
widows  refuse ;  (that  is  to  take  on  the  charity  of  the  Church)  for  when  they 
have  begun  to  wax  wanton,  they  will  marry ;  having  condemnation  because 
they  have  cast  off  their  first  faith.  And  with  all  this  they  learn  to  be  idle, 
wandering  about  from  North  to  South,  and  not  only  idle,  but  tattlers  also,  and 
busy-bodies  in  other  men's  matters,  speaking  things  which  they  ought  not.  I 
will,  therefore,  (says  the  Grand  Council)  that  the  young  women  marry  and 
bear  children/'  Sam's  widow  needs  not  the  slightest  encouragement  on  this 
score,  for  it  is  reported  that  she  was  discovered  recently  ogling  a  young  .Demo- 
cratic gentleman  of  the  Know  Nothing  family  at  the  funeral  who  owned  ne- 
groes !  !  ! 

Sam  and  his  wife,  it  is  well  known,  married  each  other  for  money,  at  first,  or 
for  "  quills/'  as  they  say.  But,  alas  !  they  were  both  deceived,  "  deceiving  and 
being  deceived1;"  and  when  they  came  together,  they  found  each  other  perfectly 
featherless  ! ! !  Love  had  jumped  out  of  the  window,  and  they  had  commenced 
quarreling,  and  if  Death  had  not  parted  the-m,  they  would  have  soon  parted 
themselves.  As  a  Had  Nothing  had  married  a  Know  Nothing,  the  public 
thought  it  was  a  first  rate  match  at  first,  and  the  conjugal  knot  for  brevity  was 
written  thus,  "  00." 

The  widow  Know  Nothing  declares  now,  that  she  is  determined  never  to 
marry  a  man  for  office  again ;  it  is  too  perishable  a  property — she  means  to 
marry  next  time  for  "  darkeys."  This  will  please  the  public  and  all  parties 
south.  She  will  never  be  caught  running  off  secretly  again  with  a  man,  but 
means  to  stand  boldly  before  the  parson  and  be  married  publicly  in  the  Church, 
in  the  day  time,  and  will  be  choice  and  exclusive  in  nothing  but  inviting  per- 
sons to  the  wedding,  or  the  banquet.  She  is  said  to  be  gone  North  now,  look- 
ing out,  a  remarkable  gay  widow — it  is  thought  that  she  puts  out  the  idea, 
however,  of  marrying  for  negroes,  merely  to  marry,  and  reallv  dislikes  negro 

Sroperty,  (as  she  is  a  Northern  lady,)  and  as  soon  as  she  is  married,  will  go 
orth  and  settle  in  a  free  State.  We  understand  that  such  a  match  is  about 
being  made  up  now,  by  some  of  the  family  in  Philadelphia.  In  the  mean  time, 
the  widow  Know  Nothing  is  putting  on  the  most  coquetish  airs  imaginable, 
even  in  the  church,  which  she  enters  with  a  lofty  head  and  a  most  significant 
waddle.  But  the  Democracy,  because  the  widow  of  Sam  is  haughty  and- walks 
with  a  stretched-forth  neck  and  wanton  eyes,  walking  and  mincing  as  she  goes, 
and  making  a  tinkling  with  her  feet ;  therefore,  the  Democracy  will  smite  with 
a  scar  the  crown  (the  Grand  Council)  of  her  head  and  discover  her  secrets ;  in 
that  day,  will  take  away  the  bravery  of  her  tinkling  ornaments  about  her  feet;< 
and  her  curls  and  her  round  ties  like  the  moon  ;  the  chains,  and  the  bracelets, 
and  the  muffles;  the  bonnets  and  the  ornaments  of  the  legs,  and  the  head- 
bands and  the  tabets  and  the  ear  rings;  the  rings  and  nose  jewels ;  the  chan- 
geable suits  of  apparel,  and  the  mantles,  and  the  crimples  and  the  crisping-pins, 
the  glasses  and  the  fine  linen,  and  the  hoods  and  the  veils.  '  And  it  shall  come 
to  pass  that  instead  of  a  sweet  smell,  there  shall  be  a  stink ;  and  instead  of  a 
girdle,  a  rent ;  and  instead  of  well-set*  hair,  baldness ;  and  instead  of  a  stoma- 
cher, a  girding  of  sackcloth  ;  and  burning  instead  of  beauty.  Wherefore,  let 
us  Democrats  walk  honestly  as  in  the  day,  not  in  rioting  and  drunkenness,  not 
in  chambering  and  wantonness,  not  in  strife  and  envying.  Let  us,  therefore, 
cast  off  the  works  of  darkness.  For  when  they  speak  great  swelling  words  of 
vanitjr  ("  American  Nationality,"  Protestant  civilization,"  "  National  Union," 
"  National  Republican,"  "Grand  President,"  u  Grand  Council,"  "American 
Platform,")  they  allure  through  the  lusts  of  flesh  (for  office)  through  much 
wantonness,  those  that  were  clean  escaped  from  them,  who  live  in  error;  while 
they  promise  (the  slaves)  liberty,  they  themselves  are  the  servants  of  corrup- 
tion. But  we  warn  the  Democratic  family  of  the  mouth  of  this  "  strange  wo- 
man/' which  is  as  a  "  deep  pit,"  or  a  "  culvert."  Listen  to  the  counsel  of  the 


427 

"Wiseman:"  "  My  son  attend  unto  my  wisdom  and  bow  thine  ear  to  mine 
understanding ;  2.  That  thou  mayest  regard  discretion,  and  that  thy  lips  may 
keep  knowledge;  3.  For  the  lips  of  a  strange  woman  drop  as  honey-comb,  and 
her  mouth  is  smoother  than  oil ;  but  her  end  is  bitter  as  wormwood  and  sharp 
as  a  two-edged  sword  ;  her  feet  go  down  to  death  ;  her  steps  take  hold  on  Hell ; 
lest  thou  should  ponder  the  path  of  life,  her  ways  are  movable  that  thou  canst 
not  know  them.  Hear  me  now,  O  ye  children,  depart  not  from  the  word  of  my 
mouth  ;  remove  thy  way  far  from  her,  come  not  nigh  the  door  of  her  Lodge." 
Her  ways  are  moveable  !  I  ! 

Sain  was  decently  interred,  at  the  Polls  in  Virginia,  where  he  died  ;  and  many 
of  the  Democratic  family  attended  the  funeral  and  assisted  at  the  burial.  His 
obsequies  were -conducted  with  all  the  honor  and  solemnity  due  to  his  character 
and  station.  The  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  a  minister  of  the  Know 
Nothing  denomination;  and  the  text  was  taken  from  Job  3,  3.  Let  the  day 
perish  wherein  I  was  born,  and  the  night  it  is  said  there  is  a  man  child  conceived, 
(with  the  following  inclusive:)  11.  Why  died  I  not  from  my  mother's  womb? 
13.  For  now  should  I  have  lain  still  and  be  quiet,  I  should  have  slept ;  then 
had  I  been  at  rest.  14.  WTith  Kings  and  Counsellors  of  the  earth,  which  have 
built  destitute  places  for  themselves.  16.  Or,  as  a  hidden  untimely  birth,  I 
had  not  been  ;  as  infants  which  never  saw  light.  6,  5.  Doth  the  wild  ass  bray 
when  ne  hath  grass  ?  or  loweth  the  ox  over  his  fodder  ?  My  brethren  have 
dealt  deceitfully  as  a  brook,  and  as  a  stream  of  brooks  they  pass  away.  17. 
What  time  they  wax  warm  they  vanish.  18.  The  paths  of  their  way  are  turned 
aside  ;  they  go  to  "  nothing"  and  perish. 

17.5.  But  as  you  for  all,  do  ye  return  and  come  now;  for  I  cannot  find  one 
"Wise  man"  among  you.  19.15.  They  that  dwell  in  my  house  count  me  for 
a  stranger :  I  am  an  outcast  in  their  sight.  19.  All  my  inward  friends  abhor 
me;  and  they  whom  I  love  have  turned  against  me.  20.4.  Knowest  not  thou 
this  of  old,  since  man  was  placed  upon  the  earth?  5.  That  the  triumphing  of 
the  wicked  is  short,  and  the  joy  of  the  hypocrite  but  for  a  moment.  15.  He 
hath  swallowed  riches,  and  he  shall  vomit  them  up  again.  God  shall  cast  them 
out  of  his  belly ;  19.  Because  he  hath  oppressed  and  hath  forsaken  the  poor ; 
20.  Surely,  she  shall  not  be  quiet  in  his  belly.  21.  There  shall  none  of  his 
meats  be  left.  23.  When  he  is  about  to  fill  his  belly,  God  shall  ca'st  the  fury 
of  his  wrath  upon  him,  and  shall  rain  it  upon  him  while  he  is  eating.  127. 
This  is  the  portion  of  a  wicked  man  and  the  heritage  of  oppressors.  15.  Those 
that  remain  of  him  shall  be  buried  in  death,  and  his  widow  shall  not  weep. 
29.2.  0  that  I  were  as  in  months  passed;  30.9.  But  now  I  am  their  song; 
yea,  I  am  a  by-word  ("  Sam")  to  them  :  They  abhor  me,  they  flee  from  me. 

With  many  words  did  the  preacher  exhort  the  residue  of  "  Sam"  to  work  out 
their  salvation  with  fears  and  trembling,  knowing  that  the  Grand  Council 
"  worked"  in  them  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  own  good  pleasure  ;  to  make  their 
calling  and  election  sure  in  185G.  He  encouraged  the  family  with  the  hope  of 
the  resurrection  of  Sam.  Our  "  Gnat,"  said  he,  was  Clay  born,  and  the  Dem- 
ocratic decree  had  gone  forth,  to  dust  he  should  return,  yet  he  shall  resurrect. 
As  to  brother  Flournoy,  there  was  Stan-Hope  in  his  name,  and  there  should  be 
"  hope"  in  his  death,  that  it  was  needful  that  Sam  should  put  off  this  vile 
body,  that  he  might  come  forth  with  a  more  glorious  body  and  name.  He 
predicted  a  millennium  in  1856,  when  "  all  parties,"  and  the  Devil  of  Democ- 
racy should  be  chained  a  thousand  years,  and  Know  Nothiugism  have  free 
scope  and  be  glorified."  "  Sam  should  swallow  Democracy  and  live  forever." 
Those  services  were  introduced  by  singing,  "  Hark  from  the  tombs,"  which 
was  chanted  with  awful  solemnity ;  the  whole  congregation  of  Know  Nothings 
•were  in  tears.  The  second  hymn,  was  the  llesurrection  Hymn,  and  raised  by 
"  our  brother  Nat  Claiborne  :" 


428 

And  must  this  body  die, 

This  feeble  frame  decay, 
And  must  these  active  limbs  of  mine 

Lie  mouldering  in  the  "  Clay  ?" 
Arrayed  in  glorious  grace, 

Shall  these  vile  bodies  shine, 
And  every  shape  and  every  face 

Look  heavenly  and  div?ine.  * 

Then  came  the  third  hymn,  raised  by  father  Beale : 

On  Jordan's  stormy  banks  I  stand, 
And  cast  a  wishful  eye,  t    . 

To  Canaan's  fair  and  happy  land, 
Where  my  possessions  lie. 

i 

Services  closed  by  singing  S.  M.  Doxology,  and  the  benediction  was  pro- 
nounced : 

Give  Federal (e  Sam"  the  praise, 

Give  glory  to  his  son, 
And  to  the  children  of  his  grace 

Be  equal  honor  done. 

The  congregation  was  then  dismissed. 

What  rendered  the  services  peculiarly  interesting,  was,  Brother  Tazewellj 
who  had  arrived  to  a  state  of  assurance  and  had  not  doubted  of  his  election  for 
some  time,  stmck  up  in  some  distant  corner  of  the  church : 

When  I  can  read  my  title  clear, 

To  mansions  in  the  skies, 
I'll  bid  farewell  to  every  fear, 

And  wipe  my  weeping  eyes. 

The  whole  congregation  chimed  in  and  sung  with  great  animation  at  the  pros- 
pect of  the  revival  of  Sam. 

The  deceased  left  a  will,  in  which,  after  distributing  offices  among  all  his 
children,  he  left  the  residue  of  his  estate  to  his  widow  Know  Nothing  dowager. 

This  will  was  made  before  his  death,  (as  he  was  in  bad  health)  and  never 
altered.  In  a  codicil  to  the  will,  he  expressed  a  wish,  that  if  his  widow  had  a 
child,  (which  was  expected)  that  after  her  death,  her  property  should  go  to  it, 
and  if  it  died  under  age,  it  should  revert  to  the  Whig  family.  Messrs.  Flour- 
noy,  Beale,  Patton,  Claiborne,  Tazewell  and  Watkins  were  appointed  executors 
in  Virginia,  by 'the  "  Grand"  court.  They  have  just  wound  up  Sam's  matters, 
and  find  that  he  has  nothing  to  give,  and  a  great  many  of  his  children  have  been 
taken  into  the  Democratic  family  for  support. 

In  the  meantitne  the  widow  Know  Nothing  is  in  Philadelphia,  expecting 
every  day  to  have  a  little  one :  and  speculation  is  rife  what  sort  of  a  thing  it 
will  be.  Some  think  it  will  prove  an  abortion,  others  premature  and  it  won't 
live.  Some  think  it  will  be  black,  others  think  it  will  be  mulatto.  Some  think 
it  will  be  white  on  one  side  of  its  face,  and  black  on  the  other  :  and  that  it  will 
turn  one  side  or  the  other  North,  or  South,  as  it  suits.  Some  think  she  will 
have  twins  differing  in  some  particulars,  but  alike  in  the  main,  enough  to  show 
that  they  are  old  Sam's  children.  They  are  now  disputing  about  the  name. 
They  are  trying  to  pick  out  d  very  popular  name,  as  the  old  lady  says,  they 
mean  to  make  him  President  after  a  while,  if  Le  lives  to  be  grown.  They  say 


429 

lie  must  not  Lave  any  double  name  ;  but  "  National"  Sam,  "  American"  Sam, 
4<  Protestant  Republican"  Sam,  or  some  "  Grand"  general  name,  that  will  give 
Sam  a  free  pass  throughout  the  United  States.  I  think  they  will  call  him  after 
his  grand-father,  "  National"  Republican  Sam.  Sani  will  beget  a  son  in  his 
own  likeness. 

ROANOKE. 


[From  the  Petersburg  South  Side  Democrat.] 
LETTER  FROM  MR.  WISE. 

We  publish  the  following  interesting  correspondence  between  Mr.  Wise  and 
the  committee  appointed  at  a  late  meeting  of  the  Petersburg  democracy,  to  in- 
vite him  to  a  barbecue  to  be  given  in  this  city  at  such  day  as  he  might  desig- 
nate. 

[CORRESPONDENCE.] 

PETERSBURG,  Virginia,  May  31st,  1855. 

Sir : — At  a  meeting  of  the  Democracy  of  Petersburg  on  the  30th  inst.,  we 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  invite  you  to  an  old  fashioned  Virginia  barbe- 
cue, to  be  given  on  such  day  as  you  may  appoint.  It  is  with  the  greatest  satis- 
faction that  we  now  perform  the  duty.  Your  inappreciable  services  in  the  re- 
cent canvass  have  inspired  the  democracy  of  this  city,  and  the  adjoining  coun- 
try, with  an  earnest  desire  to  see  you,  and  to  extend  to  you  their  thanks  for 
your  eminent  services  and  gallant  bearing  during  the  contest,  and  their  earnest 
congratulations  at  the  signal  success  that  has  attended  them. 

The  importance  to  free  government  of  the  principles  involved  in  the  late 
election,  and  their  triumphant  assertion,  demands  something  more  than  an  ordi- 
nary celebration  of  the  event: 

The  Democracy  of  the  Cockade  City,  the  only  Democratic  city  in  the  Com- 
monwealth, are  proud  of  their  right  to  be  the  first  to  entertain  as  their  guest 
their  distinguished  and  gallant  leader.  fc 

Permit  us  to  conclude  by  expressing  to  you,  as  individuals,  our  high  admira- 
tion of,  and  regard  for  your  private  as  well  as  your  public  virtues,  and  the  hope 
that  you  will  find  it  compatible,  not  merely  with  your  feelings  and  wishes,  but 
with  your  convenience  also,  to  comply  with  the  request  of  a  portion  of  your 
friends  and  constituents. 

Very  respectfully, 

R.  K.  MEADE,  THOMAS  WALLACE, 

F.  E.  RIVES,  B.  B.  VAUGHAN, 

J.  J.  THWEATT, 

Committee. 

[REPLY.] 

ONANCOCK,  Virginia,  June  9th;  1855. 

Gentlemen  : — In  reply  to  yours  of  the  31st  ult.,  I  beg  you  to  present  to  the 
Democracy  of  Petersburg  my  most  grateful  thanks.  May  Heaven  forever  bless 
the  Cockade  City  and  the  South  Side  counties  around  her,  for  doing  their  full 
part  in  defending  the  faith  and  the  altars  of  Virginia.  There  is  no  section 
whose  people  I  would  be  prouder  to  greet,  none  whose  good  opinions  I  am  more 
desirous  to  deserve.  Petersburg  is  with  the  country  and  the  country  is  with 


430 

her.  Her  name,  her  honor,  her  interests,  shall  be  enshrined  by  the  Democracy 
— that  steadfast,  homestead  Democracy  of  Virginia,  which  is  too  intelligent, 
too  conscientious,  and  has  too  much  at  stake  not  to  be  conservative.  But,  gen- 
tlemen, however  grateful  I  feel  to  you,  you  must  allow  me  the  indulgence  of 
remaining  quietly  at  home.  I  would  have  sacrificed  much  more  than  I  did  in 
the  late  canvass  to  prevent  defeat  under  my  lead,  but  I  assure  you  the  labors  I 
underwent  nearly  cost  me  my  life.  I  was  absent  nearly  five  months  from  my 
children  and  Mrs.  Wise,  whose  health  now  requires  my  constant  nursing.  My 
domestic  affairs  too,  need  every  every  moment  of  my  time  until  I  must  leave 
for  Richmond.  I  therefore  decline  no  less  than  three  such  invitations  as  yours 
by  this  mail.  If  I  accept  one,  I  must  all,  and  I  cannot  accept  any  without 
great  inconvenience.  But  let  me  say  to  you,  that  I  hope  our  friends  will  seize 
the  moment  to  strengthen  the  Democratic  cause.  Events  are  coming,  you  may 
rely  on  it,  for  which  we  ought  to  be.  prepared.  How  ?  As  early  as  is  prudent 
reorganize,  by  having  a  conference  of  our  friends  throught  the  State. 

I  am,  faithfully  yours, 

HENRY  A.  WISE. 

To  R.  K.  Meade,  Thomas  Wallace,  Francis  E.  Rives,  B.  B.  Vaughau,  J.  J. 
Thweatt,  Esqrs. 


From  the  Enquirer. 

LETTER  FROM  HENRY  A.  WISE. 

We  copy  from  the  last  Elizabeth  City  (N.  C.)  Democratic  Poineer,  the  fol- 
lowing eloquent  letter,  addressed  by  the  Hon.  Henry  A.  Wise  to  the  Committees 
of  Gates  and  other  counties,  who  had  invited  him  to  address  the  people  at 
Gatesyille  during  the  late  campaign.  The  Pioneer  says  :  "  We  publish  in 
another  column  a  letter  from  the  Hon.  Henry  A.  Wise,  in  reply  to  an  invita- 
tion to  attend  the  late  Democratic  Masa  Meeting  near  Gatesville.  We  regret 
exceedingly  that  the  gentleman  who  received  it  failed  to  place  it  in  our  hands 
at  an  earlier  day.  But,  though  the  occasion  is  past,  which  called  it  forth  it 
loses  none  of  its  interest  thereby.  It  is  characteristic  of  its  author — bold,  able 
and  withering.  It  gives  a  passing  notice  to  those  Know  Nothing  emissaries 
who  went  to  Virginia  to  electioneer  during  the  recent  canvass  there,  and  ex- 
presses the  earnest  wish  of  the  author  for  an  opportunity  to  scourge  them  at 
their  own  doors  in  return.  But  the  whole  letter  is  full  of  interest.  Read  it, 
and  if  any  regret  is  felt  after  rising  from  its  perusal,  it  will  be  that  you  did  not 
have  an  opportunity  of  hearing  its  distinguished  author  "  scourge"  Know 
Nothingism  on  the  stump." 

ONLY,  (Near  Onancock,)  VA.,  ") 
July  1st,  1855.  j 

James   0.   Skinner,  Esq. : 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  delayed  a  reply  to  yours  of  the  18th  ult.,  in  order  to  try 
to  make  arrangements  to  accept  the  kind  and  pressing  invitation  of  the  Com- 
mittees of  Gates,  Perquimans,  Pasquotank,  Chowan,  and  Currituck,  in  North 
Carolina,  -to  participate  with  them  in  a  Democratic  Mass  Meeting  to  be  held  in 
the  county  of  Gates,  sometime  between  the  10th  of  July  and  the  1st  of  Au- 
gust next,  the  precise  day  to  be  fixed  by  my  appointment.  I  have  the  strongest 
desire  to  meet  your  Democracy.  It  holds  the  brighter  than  golden  links  which 
bind  the  two  elder  sister  States  of  the  South,  North  Carolina  and  Virginia 


431 

together.  Those  links  are  of  our  earliest  history,  of  our  revolution  for  inde- 
pendence, of  our  past  political  struggles  for  republican  freedom,  of  common 
sacrifices  and  co-operation  in  the  past  and  of  common  hopes  for  the  future.  The 
Federal  party  of  old  and  the  Fanatical  party  of  the  present  day  (the  last  is 
worse  than  the  first,)  never  tried  and  never  tended  to  unite  themselves  with  the 
Southern  States,  or  parties  or  men,  but  rather  with  Northern.  Whenever  De- 
mocracy has  been  dominant  in  North  Carolina,  that  State  has  always  been 
united  with  Virginia,  which  has  always  been  Democratic  ;  and  whenever  either 
Federalism  or  Fanaticism  has  prevailed  there,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  have 
'been  divided  from  each  other,  both  in  councils  and  in  action.  I  would  gladly 
see  them  inseparable — inseparable  as  Macon  was  from  Jefferson  and  Madison. 
Our  fathers  were  as  Jonathans  and  Davids  to  each  other,  and  I  would  have 
their  children  so  united  as  to  preserve  the  union  of  all,  North  and  South,  by 
their  inseparable  union  with  each  other  !  No,  not  for  selfish)  or  sectional  ends 
would*  I  bind  them  together,  but  for  national,  constitutional,  State  rights, 
Union  abiding  ends,  I  would  have  them  so  solid  a  phalanx  of  freedom  standing 
side  by  side  and  sustained  by  all  their  sisters  of  the  conservative  school,  that  no 
influence,  no  llixin"  shall  be  able  to  assail  or  destroy  the  institutions  of  our 
confederacy.  Those  institutions,  State  and  Federal,  have  been  sorely  and  in- 
sidiously invaded  of  late.  The  invaders  were  daring  enough  to  touch  the  sacred 
soil  of  this  blessed  mother  Commonwealth.  They  mustered  emissaries  from 
every  quarter — from  abroad,  from  Exeter  Hall  in  old  England,  from  Canada, 
from  New  England,  from  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Tennessee;  and  I 
regret  especially  to  be  compelled  to  admit  that  some  of  the  most  venomous, 
desperate,  most  unscrupulous  and  audacious  came  here  from  the  South  of  us — 
from  North  Carolina — to  corrupt  the  popular  mind,  to  instil  poison  and  sow 
Dragon's  teeth  among  us.  They  dared  not  intermeddle  in  our  canvass  publicly, 
on  the  "  stump,"  in  debate,  before  the  people,  but  they  skulked  to  secret  con- 
claves, and  by  tlie  light  of  "  dark  lanterns"  which  "  burnt  a  gloom,"  they  im- 
plored our  voters  to  save  them  and  their  plots  of  mischief  from  exposure  and 
explosion.  They  urged  in  their  agony  of  midnight  harangues  that  the  battle 
was  with  them  for  life  or  death — that  if  they  did  not  succeed  they  would  sink 
down  to  lower  depths  of  infamy — that  if  victory  did  not  crown  their  conspiracy 
they  would  be  dit^honored  and  disgraced,  would  be  a  by-word  and  a  reproach, 
politically  forever  !  They  cowered  before  the  lance  of  Democracy  in  Virginia, 
and  the  monstroas  treason  was  here  hurled  to  its  despair.  A  Pandemonium 
has  lately  been  held  in  Philadelphia,  and  there  it  was  plainly  proved  that  not 
the  worst  enemies  of  the  South  were  from  the  North.  The  Sams  of  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina  were  no  less  traitorous  .to  our  Constitution  and  laws,  Fede- 
ral Union  and  State  Rights,  and  homes  and  altars  than  were  the  priestcraft 
party  of  the  North,  who  would  not  seemingly  keep  them  company  or  abide  their 
councils.  To  expose  these  Southern  emissaries  in  your  midst,  I  would  like,  at 
their  own  doors,  to  scourge  them  for  their  nightly  prowling  about  our  doors  in 
the  late  Virginia  canvass.  But  these  would  be  the  least  of  my  aims  in  attend- 
ing your  District  Mass  Meeting.  I  would  be  glad  to  implore  you  in  person  to 
be°true  to  the  faith  of  the  Fathers  of  this  Republic ;  to  protect  the  fames  of 
our  Protestant  churches;  to  forbid  the  bans  between  Church  and  State,  which  a 
subtle  and  wily  priestcraft  is  contriving  under  the  false  cry  of  proscribing  pope- 
ry j  to  fight  on  and  fight  ever  to  have  this  land  continue  forever  to  be  the 
"  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave  ;"  to  contend  for  Constitutions  and 
Bills  of  Rights,  and  Statutes  to  reign  over  us,  and  not  to  subject  us  to  the 
higher  law  of  a  secret  oligarchy,  worse  than  that  of  any  German  Gehime  Ge- 
riciit ! — to  free  us  from  the  "  dagger  and  the  cord"  of  political  assassination  ! — 
to  preserve  the  dignity  and  individuality  and  independence  of  voters  at  the 
polls  t — 10  save  the  laws  from  a  conspiracy  against  their  operation  ! — to  save  the 
South  from  an  Old  England  and  New  England  combination,  which  would  shave 


432 

the  American  Samson  of  his  strength,  knowing  that  cotton  is  his  hair,  and  that 
cotton  cannot  be  cultivated  but  by  African  slave  labor  in  the  land  of  the  lagoon 
and  the  alligator,  and  which  is,  therefore,  now  striving  to  abolish  African 
slavery  in  the  South,  or  to  dissolve  the  blessed  union  of  these  United  States, 
now  so  strong,  ly  their  power  to  pull  the  cotton  string,  that  they  need  no  stand- 
ing army,  no  navy,  no  tax  for  either,  whilst  all  the  world  besides  is  necessarily 
armed  and  taxed  for  the  co^t  of  war  !  This  is  not  half,  this  is  not  a  beginning 
of  what  I  would  discourse  you  and  all,  North  and  South,  about  in  these  strange 
times,  when  old  things  seem  to  be  passing  away  and  all  things  seem  to  be 
coming  new.  I  would  go  back  to  the  old.  I  would  "  recur  to  fundamental  princi- 
ples," to  the  teachings  of  the  Revolution,  to  the  faith  of  the  fathers,  to  the 
religion  of  the  simpler  and  purer  times  of  the  Republic.  But  I  can't  by  pen 
or  by  word,  or  in  public  meeting  any  where,  for  a  long  time  to  come,  I  fear,  in- 
dulge the  wish  to  Enlarge  upon  and  illustrate  and  inculcate  these  themes.  I 
wish  you  would  rise  to  their  full  height.  Organize,  assemble,  be  watchful  and 
be  prepared  to  meet  the  enemy  whenever  and  however  he  approaches.  I  regret 
I  cannot  venture  to  accept  your  invitation,  but  I  will  always  be  found  doing 
what  I  can,  wherever  I  may  be  placed,  to  further  the  patriotic  ends — the  coun- 
try's ends  you  aim  at  with  me. 

I  beg  you  to  assure  your  committee  of  my  profoundest  acknowledgment,  and 
to  accept  for  them  and  yourself  individually  my  sincere  thanks,  and  believe 
me. 

Yours  in  the  bonds  and  brotherhood  of  a  sound  and  conservative  Democracy. 

HENRY  A.  WISE. 


MR.  WISE  AND  THE  NEW  YORK  HARDS  AND  SOFTS. 

The  following  letter,  addressed  by  Mr.  Wise  to  a  friend,  has  been  handed  to 
us  for  publication.  As  it  is  an  explanation,  by  Mr.  Wise,  of  the  letter  which 
he  addressed  to  "  The  Young  Men's  Democratic  Union  Club  of  the  City  of  New 
York,"  and  which  has  been  the  subject  of  very  extensive  criticism  by  journals 
in  and  out  of  Virginia,  we  cannot  in  justice  to  him  refuse  the  request  that  it 
be  laid  before  our  readers.  It  will  be  perceived  that  the  sentiments  contained 
in  this  letter  very  nearly  correspond  with  those  in  an  editorial  upon  the  same 
subject  which  appeared  in  the  Enquirer  some  days  since : 

ONLY,  NEAR  ONANCOCK,  VIRGINIA, 
July  30th,  1855. 

My  Dear  Sir : — Yours  of  the  24th  inst.,  calling  my  attention  to  an  editorial 
of  the  Richmond  Examiner  of  that  day,  headed  "  The  New  York  Herald  and 
ourselves  again — Gov.  Wise  and  the  Van  Bwren  Democracy  "  was  not  received 
until  yesterday.  It  was  missent  to  Old  Point  Comfort,  and  I  can't  account  for 
such  negligence  in  the  mails.  Fortunately,  this  morning,  for  the  first  time  since 
it  was  written,  I  saw  my  letter  in  print,  to  which  this  editorial  refers.  I  inclose 
it  to  you,  and  ask  for  its  republication  ia  the  Enquirer,  in  order  that  every  fair- 
minded  person  may  judge  of  the  justice  of  the  Examiner  to  me. 

I  was  addressed  by  neither  Hards  nor  Softs  from  New  York.  A  most  patri- 
otic letter  came  to  me  from  "  The  Young  Men's  Democratic  Union  Club,"  of 
the  City  of  New  Yt>rk,  congratulating  the  Democracy  of  Virginia  upon  their  re- 
cent triumph  over  a  common  enemy,  and  breathing  nothing  but  a  greeting  sym- 
pathy with  our  success.  Was  I  to  doubt  or  distrust  any  portion  of  our  fellow 
countrymen  who  thus  openly  committed  themselves  to  the  same  cause  with  our- 
selves? Was  I  to  stop  and  enquire  : — Tell  me  first,  gentlemen,  are  you  Hards 


433 

or  Softs  ?  I  must  distinguish  between  you  in  my  reply. — Certainly,  such  a  course 
of  response  would  have  been  unbecoming  and  ungracious.  And,  if  they  had 
avowed  themselves  either  Hard  or  Soft,  was  it  not  enough  that  they  cordially 
congratulated  the  result  of  the  Virginia  election  ?  Would  not  that  of  itself 
show  the  current  and  direction  of  their  sentiments  and  sympathies;  and  would 
not  both  be  such  as  we  could  approve  most  heartily  ?  But  when  you  see  that 
they  were  a  Young  Men's  Club,  and  a  Democratic  Union  Club,  aiming  to  pre- 
serve the  Union  of  the  States,  and  to  restore  the  union  of  the  factions  of  the 
party  in  their  own  State,  I  ask,  was  it  for  me  to  meddle  in  any  local  and  per- 
sonal divisions  of  our  friends  in  a  sister  State  ?  No.  I  addressed  them,  as  you 
see,  hurriedly  and  hastily,  but  warmly  and  cordially  as  I  would  address  them 
again.  And  by  reading  the  letter  all  may  see  what  it  was  and  what  it  is  in 
which  I  "  cordially,  then,  with  all  my  heart  and  all  my  head"  united,  and  with 
whom  I  united.  Again,  I  repeat,  that  my  "  heart  and  soul  are  with  the  lYouny 
Men's* Democratic  Union  Club'"  of  New  York,  in  their  patriotic  efforts  to  unite 
the  Democracy  in  their  State  and  everywhere,  again  on  the  National  platform 
of  '51  and  '52.  I  will  know  no  Hards  and  no  Softs  in  Democracy.  All  are 
Democrats,  or  they  are  not.  If  Democrats,  they  will  not  repudiate  the  sentiments 
of  my  letter;  and  if  Democrats,  they  will  not  foment  dissensions  in  the  Demo- 
cratic camp,  in  the  very  face  of  Democracy's  most  formidable  foe. 

I  have  not  a  word  of  comment  to  make  on  the  Examiner's  article.  If  divi- 
sions must  come  amongst  us  in  Virginia,  they  shall  not  come  through  me;  and 
I  say :  "  Woe  unto  him  through  whom  they  shall  come  !"  The  public  is  wit- 
ness of  what  I  have  borne  in  silence  and  patience,  before  and  during  the  late 
canvass.  •  1  mean  to  forbear  to  the  last  extremity,  to  promote  the  harmony  and 
to  unite  the  whole  strength  of  our  party  in  Virginia,  and  everywhere,  for  the 
defence  of  the  rights  of  the  States  and  of  the  Union  of  the  States;  for  the 
maintainance  of  the  Constitution  apd  laws  of  the  Federal  Government;  for  the 
muniments  of  individual  inalienable  rights  of  the  citizens  of  the  States,  and  to 
prevent  the  Samson  of  America  from  being  shorn  of  a  single  hair  of  his  strength 
by  the  treason  and  madness  which  would  "abolish  African  slavery  or  dissolve 
the  Union/'  under  the  lead  of  the  minions  and  money  of  a  "Foreign  Influ- 
ence." Certainly  the  Examiner  will  unite  in  these  ends.  You  are  welcome  to. 
publish  this. 

Yrours;  hastily  but  truly, 

HENRY  A.  WISE, 


We  submit  the  following  correspondence  to  our  readers  without  comment, 
feeling  assured  that  they  will  come  to  right  conclusions  in  the  premises,  without 
any  aid  or  explanation  from  us  : 

CORRESPONDENCE. 

lion.   Henry  A.  Wise: 

Sir  : — The  strictures  of  the  Richmond  Examiner  upon  your  letter  of  reply 
to  the  invitation  of  the  "  Young  Men's  Democratic  Union  Club,"  of  this  city, 
to  address  them  upon  the  occasion  of  their  last  anniversary,  anti  the  false  posi- 
tion in  which  it  labors  to  place  you,  make  it  my  duty,  as  the  presiding  officer  of 
that  association,  to  convey  to  you  in  a  few  plain,  but  earnest  and  heartfelt  words, 
the  feelings  which  prompted  our  invitation,  and  the  sentiments  awakened  by 
your  reply. 

The  great  purpose  of  our  association,  and  chief  article  of  its  constitution,  is 
the  union  of  the  Democratic  party.  To  this  end — as  essential  to  the  permanent 
28 


434 

and  happy  union  of  the  States ;  to  the  preservation  of  all  their  rights  as  sepa- 
rate and  distinct  sovereignties,  co-ordinate  in  authority  and  dignity  ;  and  to  the 
just  limitation  of  both  State  and  Federal  powers  within  the  boundaries  of  a 
strict  construction  of  the  Constitution — all  our  efforts  are  directed.  On  that 
old  Democratic  basis  we  united  as  a  political  association  in  1852,  and  upon  that 
basis  we  stand,  and  expect  always  to  stand.  You  can  conceive,  therefore,  sir, 
the  regret  with  which  we  saw  the  division  in  the  Democratic  party  of  this  State, 
and  the  painful  solicitude  with  which  we  have  watched  its  development  in  sec- 
tional organization  and  divided  effort.  But  this  strange  and  novel  antagonism 
between  brethren  of  our  own  household  excited  in  us  no  other  feelings  than 
mingled  shame  and  sorrow  at  their  suicidal  folly,  and  a  patient  determination  to 
stand  steadily  upon  the  high  vantage  ground  of  principles  preferred  by  both, 
and  await  the  moment  when  better  councils  and  kinder  influences  should  re-unite 
them  against  the  common  enemy. 

Your  triumph  in  Virginia,  which  was  in  fact  the  triumph  of  our  own  old 
faith  over  the  Proteus  of  Whig  Abolitionism,  in  alliance  with  the  new  and  per- 
nicious heresy  of  Know  Nothingism,  appeared  to  us  to  offer  the  very  point  and 
occasion  of  re-union.  Every  Democrat,  of  every  faction,  professed  to  rejoice  in 
it.  Our  joy  was  unfeigned  ;  and  we  were  glad  to  believe  the  sentiment  as  hon- 
est as  it  appeared  to  be  universal.  Why,  then,  we  asked  ourselves,  should  not 
all,  claiming  to  be  Democrats,  join  in  the  exhibition  of  their  satisfaction  at  a 
result  so  honorable  to  our  arms;  and,  forgetting  the  mere  personal  and  sectional 
quarrels,  notoriously  engendered  by  low  ambition  tand  the  lust  of  office,  seize 
the  auspicious  moment  and  heartily  co-operate  for  a  common  good  ?  Had  they 
done  so,  your  victory  in  Virginia  would  have  been  but  the  initiative  in  a  series 
of  brilliant  triumphs,  and  the  whole  field  of  the  Union,  swept  by  the  irresisti- 
ble columns  of  the  conservative  Democracy,  would  have  ceased  to  be  insulted 
by  the  presence  either  of  an  open  or  covert  foe  to  that  Union  which  we  cherish 
as  our  best  inheritance,  or  the  principles  which  ensure  its  perpetuity.  It  was 
not  the  fault  of  the  Young  Men's  Democratic  Union  Club  if  that  golden  oppor- 
tunity was  neglected.  But  our  object  is  Union,  not  war.  We  desire  to  reflect 
upon  no  man.  We  are  willing  to  believe  it  rather  an  unfortunate  mistake  than 
a  wilful  error. 

You,  sir,  however,  understood  us.  You  appreciated  our  motives,  and  shared 
our  hopes.  You  answered  our  invitation  to  assist  us  in  the  undertaking 
promptly,  warmly — right  from  the  heart.  You  replied  rather  with  the  generous 
impulsiveness  of  friendship  than  the  calculating  coldness  of  the  politician.  And, 
sir,  give  us  leave  to  say,  however  old-fashioned  the  notion  may  appear  to  the 
trading  politicians  of  the  times,  even  in  politics,  the  heart  is  often  wiser  than 
the  head.  The  sentiment  which  came  warm  and  glowing  from  your  heart,  found 
and  kindled  an  answering  spark  in  ours.  We  thanked  you,  then,  with  a  spon- 
taneous and  irresistible  impulse,  a  true  Democratic  confidence,  for  your  hearty 
and  comfortable  words.  We  thank  you  again  for  their  frank  and  manly  repeti- 
tion ; — and  we  tell  you  that  in  every  purpose  which  animates  you  or  any  other 
Democrat,  the  end  of  which  is  peace,  union,  the  conservation  of  the  rights  of 
the  States,  the  integrity  of  the  constitution  and  the  federal  power,  the  defeat  of 
sectionalism,  fanaticism,  and  every  pretended  principle  which  would  elevate  it- 
self above  the  Constitution,  and  usurp  the  rights  of  State,  territory  or  citizen — 
which  would,  in  short,  disturb  the  nice  adjustment  and  harmonious  proportions 
of  our  social  ancl  political  structure — the  Young  Men's  Democratic  Union  Club 
of  New  York  are  with  you,  and  with  them,  cordially — with  all  their  heart  and 
all  their  head. 

You  say  well,  therefore,  "  that  all  may  see  what  it  was  and  what  it  is  in 
which  you  cordially  unite."  It  is  something  "  tangible  to  feeling  as  to  sight;" 
at  once  the  ethical  and  material  good  of  this  great  liepublican  Confederation  of 
thirty-one  sovereign  States,  distinct  yet  blended ;  obeying,  like  the  planets,  the 


435 

law  which  ordains  them  forever  to  revolve  around  a  common  centre,  yet  never 
centralizing;  gravitating  to  each  other  in  the  magnificent  harmony  of  Republi- 
can order  and  unity,  but  never  blending  into  the  portentous  consolidation  pre- 
cursive  of  despotic  power. 

It  is  Democracy — the  Democracy  of  Jefferson  and  Jackson — with  which  you 
unite*  It  was  the  union  of  that  Democracy  we  aimed  at,  and  will  never  cease 
to  aim  at.  It  was  to  an  occasion  dedicated  to  the  purposes  of  that  Union  we 
invited  you.  And  if  the  apparent  egotism  of  the  illustration  may  be  pardoned 
for  its  truth's  sake,  I  think  my  election  as  presiding  officer  of  the  Association, 
on  the  very  anniversary  to  which  you  were  invited,  afforded  a  very  plain  and 
unanswerable  argument  for  its  entire  freedom  from  sectional  prejudice  or  pas- 
sion. A  Virginian  by  birth,  although  for  many  years  identified  with  the  Em- 
pire State  in  interest  and  affection,  I  can  never  forget  to  love  the  Old  Dominion, 
nor  adopt  any  part  of  a  political  creed  not  catholic  enough  to  embrace  both 
North  and  South.  Neither  my  birth-place' nor  my  sentiments  were  a  secret  from 
any  member  of  the  Association,  and  they  did  me  the  honor  to  elect  me  with  a 
full  knowledge  that  I  recognized  neither  sectionalism  nor  fanticism  as  elements 
of  the  faith /or  the  Constitution  of  the  Democratic  party. 

Let  me  assure  you,  as  well  as  the  "  Examiner,"  in  conclusion  of  a  letter 
already  trespassing  too  much  upon  your  patience,  that  the  Young  Men's  Demo- 
cratic Union  Club  of  New  York  acknowledge  no  higher  law  than  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States;  no  holier  bond  than  the  union  of  the  States;  no 
worthier  purposey  than  the  consolidation  and  success  of  that  party  upon  whose 
well-tested  principles  they  believe  the  whole  glorious  edifice  can  alone  securely 
rest.  In  the  letter  of  the  Constitution  they  find  the  only  rule  of  political  faith 
and  practice  which  can  bind  their  country  in  a  golden  band  and  brotherhood  of 
justice ;  and,  whether  the  suicidal  knife,  which  aims  to  sever  it,  be  raised  by 
mad  fanaticism,  or  hell-engendered  ambition  ;  whether  it  be  levelled  at  one  por- 
tion of  the  Union  or  the  other — before  the  bosom  which  it  threatens — before 
the  rights  it  would  destroy — before  the  sovereignty  or  the  citizen  it  would  im- 
molate upon  the  altar  of  its  insanity — they  trust  always  to  see  the  Democratic 
party  throw  the  shield  of  its  principles  and  the  protection  of  its  power ;  and 
their  highest  $im  and  ambition  is  to  be  instrumental,  however  humbly,  in  uni- 
ting every  true-hearted  Democrat  behind  that  invulnerable  defence. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir, 

Most  truly  and  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

S.  WALLACE  CONE, 

President  of  the  Young  Men's 
Democratic  Union  Club,  N.  Y 

P.  S. — You  are  at  liberty  to  make  whatever  use  you  may  think  proper  of  the 
above. 

S.  W.  C. 


ONLY,  NEAR  ONANCOCK,  YA.,  ) 
AUGUST  23,  1855.      )" 
To  S.  WALLACE  CONE, 

President  of  the  Young  Men's  Democratic  Union  Club,  New  York  : 

Dear  Sir  : — Yours  of  the  14th  instant  reached  me  most  opportunely.  Before 
this  you  will  have  seen  that  the  Richmond  Examiner  has  handsomely  acknowl- 
edged its  mistake.  It  is  well,  perhaps,  that  it  mistook  your  meaning  and  mine. 


436 

Attention  has  been  drawn  to  your  noble  and  patriotic  purposes,  and  they  will 
be  approved  and  be  assisted  by  the  entire  Democracy  of  the  South.  Those 
who  love  and  would  abide  by  the  wise  federal  Constitution  and  the  sacred  Union 
of  our  States,  in  the  South,  know  and  feel  that  we  have  "a  host  of  freedom, 
which  is  the  host  of  God,"  for  our  friends  in  the  North.  We  will  not  tolerate 
the  idea  of  a  separation  from  you  for  an  instant,  and  we  will  depend  upon  your 
faith  and  your  devotion  .to  co-operate  with  us  in  defending  the  good  work  of  our 
fathers  against  internal  as  well  as  external  foes.  We  will,  North  and  South, 
defend  the  Rights  of  the  States,  and  the  most  precious  of  these  :  the  Rights  of 
each  State  to  the  Blessed  Union  of  the  States.  We  will  defend  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  Union  as  the  only  standard  of  State  Rights.  And  we  will  defend 
the  individual  and  inalienable  rights  of  man  : — his  rights  of  property  and  his 
person,  all ;  his  finite  rights  which  pertain  to  poor  mortality,  and  above  all  his 
infinite  right,  the  only  one  "  not  of  the  earth  earthy,"  his  heaven  reaching 
right,  which  pertains  to  immortality — his  right  of  religious  liberty — his  freedom 
of  conscience — his  right  to  easement  in  the  way  to  God  ! 

Thus  I  understood  you,  thus  I  took  your  greeting,  and  thus  I  greeted  you 
back.  Carp  who  will,  I  will  grasp  your  hands  as  a  brother  upon  the  pledges  to 
these  rights,  for  which  I  am  willing  to  stake  "life,  fortune  and  sacred  honor." 
But  no  one  will  object.  Petty  jealousies  will  be  laid  aside,  manly  patriots  will 
summon  sober  reason  to  their  sides,  and  we  will  triumph  in  the  right.  God 
grant  our  country  and  its  friends  His  guidance  and  His  rule  ?  Yours,  devoted- 
ly, with  all  my  head  and  heart. 

HENRY  A.  WISE. 


THE  DOWDELL  FESTIVAL  IN  ALABAMA. 

[From  the  Montgomery  Advertiser  and  Gazette.] 

d 

In  a  brief  notice  of  the  Dowdell  festival,  written  for  our  last  issue,  we  pre- 
sented an  abstract  of  the  speech  of  our  distinguished  townsman,  Mr.  Yancey, 
which  the  reader  has  doubtless  perused  with  interest.  We  should  like  also  to 
present  a  sketch  of  the  speeches  delivered  by  the  other  orators  of  the  occasion; 
but  we  are  unable  to  do  so,  for  the  reason  that  no  notes  were  taken  of  them. 

One  of  the  most  intelligent  and  patriotic  of  Alabama's  sons,  (not  a  public 
man,  however,)  in  a  private  letter,  says  :  "  Our  gifted  and  noble  friend,  Yan- 
cey, is  right  in  theory,  as  far  as  he  goes,  except  that  he  has  not  quite  faith 
enough  in  the  National  Democracy.  I  want  Southern  union  and  self-reliance, 
in  order,  first,  to  strengthen  and  build  up  the  conservative  national  Democracy; 
and,  secondly,  in  the  '  last  resort/  to  enable  us  to  sustain  ourselves  against  the 
world  ;  but  let  us  live  in  the  Union  if  we  may.  All  the  Northern  Democratic 
leaders  are  with  us  on  practical  issues." 

We  concur  with  our  correspondent  in  the  opinion  that  Mr.  Yancey  underesti- 
mates the  assistance  the  South  is  likely  to  derive  from  the  National  Democracy 
of  the  North.  Mr.  Yancey  thinks  that  our  gallant  friends  in  the  North  are 
already  rendered  powerless  by  the  predominance  of  Abolition  sentiments  in  that 
quarter.  We,  on  the  contrary,  have  strong  hopes  that  a  reaction  has  com- 
menced in  several  of  the  free  States  in  favor  of  the  true  principles  of  the  gov- 
ernment. From  the  tone  of  the  press,  and  other  indications,  we  think  that  Mr. 
Bright  will  be  sustained  in  Indiana,  and  Mr.  Douglas  in  Illinois.  We  have 
strong  hopes,  also,  of  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  New  Hampshire,  and  Michi- 


437 

gan,  through  the  influence  of  their  conservative  statesmen  and  the  "  sober, 
second  tRought"  of  their  people.  We  maybe  too  sanguine,  but  we  cannot 
withhold  the  expression  of  our  opinion  that  the  South  has  much  to  expect  from 
the  National  Democracy  of  the  North. 

But  Mr.  Yanccy  is  right  in  impressing  upon  the  minds  of  the  Southern 
people  the  idea  of  self-reliance.  "Forewarned,"  let  us  be  "forearmed  and 
well  prepared"  for  future  emergencies. 

In  connection  with  the  proceedings  at  the  Oak  Bowery  Dinner,  we  would  call 
attention  to  the  letters  of  Gov.  Wise,  Gov.  Winston,  Mr.  Bullock,  and  Mr. 
Gwin,  in  reply  to  the  Committee  of  Invitation.  They  were  not  received  in 
time  to  be  read  at  the  dinner,  but  they  will  be  perused  with  pleasure  by  the  re- 
publicans who  were  present,  as  well  as  by  many  who  were  not. 

The  letter  of  Mr.  Wise  will  attract  particular  attention.  The  opening  sen- 
tence of  his  letter  is  in  response  to  a- complimentary  passage  in  the  note  of  invi- 
tation. The  whole  letter  is*  eloquent  and  spirit-stirring.  We  understand  that 
one  of  the  regular  toasts  prepared  for  the  occasion  was  in  these  words  : 

tl  HENRY  A.  WISE  :  The  Knight  sans  peur  sans  reproche — who  met  '  Sam  '— 
the  redoubtable  Sam — Sam  the  Sampson  on  the  plains  of  Virginia,  and  sent 
him,  like  Caius  Marius,  '  to  a*Ynarsh  in  Italy ' — a  son  of  whom  the  grand  old 
4  mother  of  States  and  statesmen '  might  well  have  been  proud  in  her  best  days; 
when  the  national  coronal  was  lustrous  with  her  jewels — a  Tribune  of  the 
people  !  He  deserves  the  highest  office  in  the  nation,  and  if  he  lives  will  at- 
tain it." 

[LETTER  FROM  MR.  WISE.] 

Only,  near  Onancoclc,  Va.,  ) 
August  23, 1825.      ) 

Gentlemen  : — Yours  of  the  13th  inst.  came  to  hand  yesterday. 

I  stand  on  the  shore  of  my  "  Ocean  home,"  and  meet  Alabama,  coming 
greeting,  with  arms  and  bosom  open,  with  expanding  chest  and  dilating  nostril, 
as  I  have  often  met  Heaven's  sweet  airs  and  Ocean's  waves  as  they  came  with 
inspiring  and  re-invigorating  freshness.  The  blessed  child  State  seems  to  rush 
to  the  arms  of  the  mother  State,  and  Virginia  takes  Alabama  close  home  to  her 
bosom,  and  embraces  her  with  motherly  pride  and  affectionate  joy.  I  did  not 
for  a  moment  doubt  or  distrust  her.  She  is  too  Southern,  too  conservative,  too 
Constitution-loving,  too  true  to  State  Rights,  and  too  fondly  cherishes  the  most 
precious  of  State  Rights — the  Union  of  the  States — and  prizes  too  inestimably 
the  inalienable  rights  of  individual  man — his  finite  rights  of  property  and  rights 
of  person,  and  above  all  his  infinite  right — the  only  one  not  "  of  the  earth, 
earthy " — the  only  right  of  poor  humanity  pertaining  to  immortality — the 
Heaven-high  right  of  Religious  Liberty — the  soul-saving  right  of  Freedom  of 
Conscience.  She  is  too  true  to  the  American  Revolution,  and  to  the  memories 
and  faith  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic,  ever  to  have  betrayed  the  great  cause, 
the  holy  mission  of  America  upon  Earth  !  She  was  too  intelligent  to  be  duped 
by  a  wor?e  than  veiled  prophet ;  she  had  too  much  integrity  to  countenance  po- 
litical imposture ;  she  was  too  Protestant  and  too  Christian  to  allow  the  ways 
to  God  to  be  barred  and  bolted  by  sectarian  bigotry  and  intolerance ;  she  loved 
the  Churches  of  her  faith  too  well  to  allow  them  to  be  corrupted  by  a  touch  of 
party  political  power,  and  by  leaving  the  spiritual  for  the  carnal  kingdom ;  and 
she  was  too  patriotic  to  permit  the  liberties  of  the  State  to  be  destroyed  by  an 
union  of  Church  and  State,  brought  about  by  a  Priestcraft  Power  ambitiously 
aspiring  to  lay  its  hands  on  temporal  things,  and  to  control  conscience,  and  will 
and  reason,  and  to  make  laws,  and  to  debate  "  what  we  shall  eat  and  what  we 


438 

shall  drink,  and  wherewith  we  shall  be  clothed  ! "  The  hypocrites  who  skulked 
in  the  shades  between  "  midnight  and  one  hour* before  day-break,"  with  "  dark- 
lantern  "  in  hand,  making  night  hideous  with  howls  of  "  down  with  the  Pope  1" 
were  dragging  the  robes  of  Christ's  righteousness  through  the  mire  of  party 
politics  to  set  up  a  Protestant  Popery  here,  in  America,  instead  of  leaving  Ca- 
tholic Popery  to  die  of  itself  in  Italy  !  The  impostors  who  exultingly  boast 
that  a  Americans  shall  rule  America  " — as  if,  from  Washington's  days  down  to 
these  days  of  "isms,"  America  has  not  been  all  the  time  ruled  by  Americans — 
exclaim  against  "  Foreign  influence,"  and  are  letting  in  that  European,  that 
British-born  intruder,  whom  they  call  "  Sam  " — the  most  insidious  foreign  foe 
who  has  ever  entered  the  back  door  of  our  country,  like  a  thief  in  the  night ! 

The  Old  World  is  ravaged  by  war,  and  yet  we  need  no  standing  armies,  no 
navy,  and  to  pay  taxes  for  none.  Why  ?  It  is,  in  three  words,  because — 
"  Cotton  is  King  ! "  Uncle  Sam,  not  Sam,  holds  the  British  Lion,  and  the 
Gallic  Cock  and  Russian  Black  Eagle  by  cotton  strings,  which  he  may  pull  at 
any  time.  Cotton  is  Power,  Cotton  is  Peace-Maker ;  Cotton  is  the  hair  of  the 
Sampson  of  the  United  States  of  North  America,  and  Cotton  can  be  planted, 
and  hoed,  and  gathered,  and  ginned,  and  packed  and  sent  to  market,  in  the  land 
of  the  Southern  sun,  by  African  slave  labor  alone.  Hence  the  cry,  that  "  Af- 
rican slavery  shall  be  abolished,  or  the  Ameridtb  Union  shall  be  dissolved." 
Exeter  Hall  has  so  whispered  to  Williams  Hall,  of  Boston,  and  New  England 
Preachers  of  Christian  Politics  have  joined  the. British,  the  Old  England  policy 
and  party  cry,  that  the  Nebraska  Bill  shall  be  repealed — no  slave  territory  shall 
be  admitted  as  a  State — slavery  shall  be  abolished,  or  the  Union  shall  be  dis- 
solved !  Either  alternative  would  shave  our  Sampson  of  his  strength. 

The  Kansas  and  Nebraska  Bill  repealed  the  Missouri  Compromise,  which  was 
the  first  act  to  violate -Washington's  injunction  not  to  recognize  geographical 
lines — which  was  the  first  to  make  a  border  between  the  North  and  the  South — 
which  was  the  first  to  begin  a  separation  of  the  States  !  Now,  the  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  Bill  simply  restores  us  to  statu  quo  ante  1819,  '20,  where  Washing- 
ton and  Hancock,  Adams  and  Jefferson,  Virginia  and  Massachusetts,  and  the 
old  Thirteen,  stood.  It  brought  us  back  to  the  Constitution.  The  question  is, 
shall  it  be  repealed,  and  a  heart-burning  statute  be  restored  to  the  place  of  the 
Constitution  ?  Virginia  votes  no,  North  Carolina  no,  Georgia,  glorious  Geor- 
gia, no,  Alabama  no.  The  entire  slaveholding  states  will,  notwithstanding  the 
hesitancy  of  gallant  but  blood-stained  Kentucky,  all  unite  in  shouting,  as  a 
host  of  Freedom,  as  friends  of  America — 

"  African  slavery  shall  not  be  abolished  ! 

"  The  American  Union  of  States  shall  not  be  dissolved  ! " 

Then  let  us  abide,  under  the  ^Egis  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Laws.  To 
defend  these,  I  will  stake  "  life,  fortune  and  sacred  honor,"  against  internal  as 
well  as  external  foes. 

The  South  is  full  of  emissaries  from  abroad,  and  they  must  be  guarded 
against.  We  have  a  host  of  patriotic  friends  in  the  North,  and  they  must  be 
cherished  as  well-beloved  brothers.  There  are  patriots  there  who  will  rally  to 
rescue  and  restore  the  sacred  things  which  are  in  danger,  and  I  implore  you,  for 
their  sakes,  for  our  own,  to  favor  no  sectional  war,  to  countenance  no  alienation 
of  feeling  from  the  North,  but  to  rely  on  reason  and  argument,  and  a  moral 
sense  of  right,  and  to  adhere  ourselves  to  the  Constitutional  compact.  This 
will  save  us  and  save  all,  if  anything  will;  and  if  nothing  will,  we  will  be  in- 
nocent. We  will  not  bear  the  world's  curse  of  aiding  to  destroy  the  only  hopes 
of  mankind  for  the  light,  and  love  and  charity  of  human  freedom.  And  if  the 
worst  comes  to  the  worst,  "  God  will  speed  the  right." 


439 

I  cannot  leave  home  before  January  next,  and  could  not  be  in  time  for  your 
feast  to  your  gallant  Representative,  the  Hon.  J.  F.  Dowdell.  Feast  him  well, 
and  let  him  roll  the  people's  good  cheer  like  a  sweet  morsel  under  his  tongue, 
and  let  that  tongue  ever  speak  the  sentiments  of  Truth  and  Justice  to  the 
People,  and  let.  them  ever  repay  him  with  their  "  sweet  voices." 

I  cordially  greet  you  back,  and  am 

Yours,  devotedly, 

HENRY  A.  WISE. 

To  WM.  F.  SANFORD,  JNO.  II.  THOMAS,  CHRISTOPHER  DAVIS,  and  others, 
Committee. 


HENRY  A.  WISE  TO  THE  BOSTON  NEGRO  STEALERS. 

"  ONLY,  NEAR  ONANCOCK, 
Accomac  County,  Va.,  Oct.  5,  1855. 

Gentlemen  : — On  my  return  home,  after  an  absence  of  some  days,  I  found 
yours  of  the  19th  ult.,  "respectfully  inviting  me  to  deliver  one  of  the  lectures 
of  the  course  on  slavery,  at  Tremont  Temple,  in  the  city  of  Boston,  on  Thurs- 
day evening,  January  10th,  18-56 }  or,  if  that  time  will  not  suit  my  engage- 
ments, you  request  that  I  will  mention  at  once  what  Thursday  evening,  between 
the  middle  of  December  and  the  middle  of  March  next,'  will  best  accommodate 
me." 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  desire  to  pay  you  due  respect,  yet  you  compel  me  to  be 
very  plain  with  you,  and  to  say  that  your  request,  in  every  sense,  is  insulting 
and  offensive  to  me.  What  subject  of  slavery  have  you  "  initiated"  lectures 
upon  ?  I  cannot  conceal  it  from  myself  that  you  have  undertaken,  in  Boston, 
to  discuss  and  decide  whether  my  property,  in  Virginia,  ought  to  remain  mine 
or  not,  and  whether  it  shall  be  allowed  the  protection  of  laws,  federal  and  State, 
wherever  it  may  be  carried  or  may  escape  in  the  United  States ;  or,  whether  it 
shall  be  destroyed  by  a  higher  law  than  the  constitutions  and  statutes  ! 

Who  are  you,  to  assume  thus  such  a  jurisdiction  over  a  subject  so  delicate  and 
already  fixed  in  its  relation  by  a  solemn  compact  between  the  States,  and  by 
States  which  are  sovereign?  I  will  not  obey  your  summons  nor  recognize  your 
jurisdiction.  You  have  no  authority  and  no  justification  for  thus  calling  me  to 
account  at  the  bar  of  your  tribunal,  and  for  thus  arraigning  an  institution  es- 
tablished by  laws  which  do  not  reach  you  and  which  you  cannot  reach,  by  cal- 
ling on  me  to  defend  it. 

You  send  me  a  card,  to  indicate  the  character  of  the  lecturers.     It  reads  : 

"  Admit  the  bearer  and  lady  to  the  Independent  Lectures  on  Slavery.  Lec- 
ture committee,  S.  G.  Howe,  T.  Gilbert,  George  F.  Williams,  Henry  T.  Parker, 
W.  Washburn,  B.  B.  Mussey,  W.  B.  Spooner,  James  W.  Stone." 

It  is  endorsed  : 

"  Lectures  at  the  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  1854-'5.  November  23,  Hon. 
Charles  Sumner,  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  poet.  December  7,  lion.  Salmon  P. 
Chase,  of  Ohio.  December  14th,  Hon.  Anson  Burlingame.  December  21, 
Wendell  Phillips,  Esq.  December  28,  Cassius  M.  Clay,  Esq.,  of  Kentucky. 
January  4,  Hon.  Horace  Grecley.  January  11,  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Ikeeher. 
January  18,  Hon.  John  P.  Hale.  January  25,  Ralph  Waldo  Emmerson,  Esq. 
February  8,  Hon.  Nathaniel  P.  Banks,  Jr.  February  15,  Hon.  Lewis  D. 
Campbell,  of  Ohio.  February  22,  Hon.  Sam.  Houston,  of  Texas.  March  1, 
Hon.  David  Wilmot,  of  Pennsylvania.  March  8th;  Hon.  Charles  W.  Upham/' 


440 

All  Hbnoralles  and  Squires,  except  those  who  are  Reverends  !  The  card  does 
verily  indicate  their  characters  by  simply  naming  them.  And  your  letter,  gen- 
tlemen, is  franked  by  ll  C.  Summer,  U.  S.  S."  With  these  characteristics,  I 
am  at  no  loss  to  understand  you  and  your  purposes. 

You  say,  "  during  the  next  season,  a  large  number  of  gentlemen  from  the 
South  will  be  invited,"  &c.,  &c.  I  regret  it,  if  any  others  can  be  found  in  the 
slaveholding  States  to  accept  your  invitation.  You  plead  the  example  of  Gen. 
Houston.  It  is  the  last  I  would  follow.  I  have  no  doubt  that  you  accorded 
very  respectful  attention  to  him  last  winter,  and  were  very  grateful  for  his  ser- 
vices in  your  cause. 

You  offer  "  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  to  be  paid  to  the  lecturer,  he  bear- 
ing his  own  expenses."  Let  me  tell  you  that  Tremont  Temple  cannot  hold 
wealth  enough  to  purchase  one  word  of  discussion  from  me,  there,  whether 
mine,  here,  shall  be  mine  or  not;  but  I  am  ready  to  volunteer,  without  money 
and  without  price,  to  suppress  ,any  insurrection,  and  repel  any  invasion  which 
threatens  or  endangers  the  State  Eights  of  Virginia,  or  my  individual  rights 
under  the  laws  and  constitutions  of  my  country,  or  the  sacred  Union,  which 
binds  Slave  States  and  Free  States  together  in  one  bond  of  National  Confedera- 
cy, and  in  separate  bonds  of  Independent  Sovereignties  ! 

In  short,  gentlemen,  I  will  not  deliver  one  of  the  lectures  of  the  course  on 
Slavery,  at  the  Tremont  Temple,  in  Boston,  on  Thursday  evening,  January 
10th,  1856;  atid  there  will  be  no  Thursday  evening  between  the  middle  of 
December  and  the  middle  of  March  next,  or  between  that  and  doomsday,  which 
will  best  accommodate  me  for  that  purpose. 

I  give  you  an  immediate  answer,  and  at  my  earliest  convenience,  indicate  to 
you  that  "  the  particular  phase  of  the  subject"  that  I  will  present  is,  delibe- 
rately :  TO  FIGHT  IF  WE  MUST. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

HENRY  A.  WISE. 

To  S.  G-.  Home,  Phys.  and  Sup't  Blind  Inst. 
Jno.  M.  Clark,  High  Sheriff. 
Sarn'l  May,  Merchant. 
Philo  Sanford,  Ex-Treasurer  State. 
N.  B.  Shurtlett,  Phys.  and  Antiquarian. 
Jos.  Story,  Pres't  Com.  Council. 
Thos.  Russell,  Judge. 
Jas.  W.  Stone,  Phys. 


From  the  Boston  Advertiser,  (Whig.) 
LETTER  FROM  MR,  WISE. 

We  take  pleasure  in  laying  before  our  readers  the  subjoined  letter  from  Hon. 
Henry  A.  Wise,  the  Governor  elect  of  the  ancient  Commonwealth  of  Virginia, 
addressed  to  the  Lecture  Committee  of  the  Mercantile  Library  Association,  in 
answer  to  an  invitation  to  lecture  in  this  city  before  that  association  during  the 
coming  winter.  The  truly  national  tone  of  this  letter  must  renew  in  the  mind 
of  the  reader  the  patriotic  feelings  which  of  old  knit  together  the  colonies  of 
Massachusetts  and  Virginia  in  times  of  darkness  and  trouble ;  and  will  cause  a 
regret  that  Mr.  Wise's  preparations  for  the  duties  of  the  important  office  on 
which  he  is  about  tfo  enter,  will  prevent  his  accepting  the  invitation,  and  will  de- 
prive us  of  the  pleasure  of  welcoming  to  Boston  so  distinguished  a  guest,  who 


441 

(as  he  informs  us  in  the  letter)  has  never  yet  visited  any  part  of  New  Eng- 
land. 

Tins  letter  is  the  more  significant,  because  another  committee  in  behalf  of 
the  "  lectures  on  slavery,"  in  their  indiscreet  zeal,  by  calling  upon  Mr.  Wise 
to  lecture  upon  slavery  in  Boston,  succeeded  in  pestering  him  into  writing  a 
letter,  which  we  are  free  to  say  we  regretted  to  see  in  print,  though  we  can 
easily  understand  the  feeling  of  annoyance  that  gave  rise  to  its  sharpness  of 
expression.  Whatever  ill  feeling  (if  any)  the  former  letter  may  have  engen- 
dered in  the  minds  of  our  right-thinking  citizens,  will  be  dispelled  on  the  peru- 
sal of  that  which  we  publish  below  : 

ONLY,  NEAR  ONANCOCK,  VA.,  Nov.  11,  1855. 

Gentlemen  : — Yours  of  the  2d  inst.  was  awaiting  my  arrival  at  home  yester- 
day, from  a  temporary  absence  at  Washington  City. 

I  gratefully  acknowledge  the  compliment  of  your  invitation  to  deliver  one  of 
a  course  of  lectures,  during  the  present  winter,  before  the  Mercantile  Library 
Association  of  Bosston. 

I  am  well  assured  of  the  highly  respectable  character,  and  of  the  laudable 
objects  of  your  literary  association,  and  no  body  of  the  kind  could  have  been 
more  honored  than  you  have  been  by  the  illustrious  orators  and  statesmen  who 
have  shed  upon  your  lectures  the  lights  of  their  great  minds.  I  have  no  doubt 
too  of  the  "  cordial  welcome"  I  would  receive  from  "  very  many"  of  your  hos- 
pitable citizens;  but  it  is  not  in  my  power,  gentlemen,  to  accept  your  invitation. 
The  situation  of  my  private  affairs,  and  the  duty  of  preparing  for  mouths  to 
come  for  new  scenes  of  public  service,  will  engross  all  my  time  and  attention 
the  whole  of  the  coming  winter.  I  have  been  compelled  to  decline  every  call 
of  the  same  kind  from  many  quarters  in  my  own  State,  and  other  States  besides 
yours. 

I  sincerely  regret  this  the  more,  because  I  have  never  yet  set  my  Joot  on  the 
beloved  soil  of  that  portion  of  my  country  called  New  England.  This  has  not 
been  owing  to  any  antagonism  on  my  part  towards  that  favored  section.  Mas- 
sachusetts especially,  I  have  been  taught  to  venerate  and  cherish  as  the  elder 
sister  of  Virginia.  When  I  reflect  upon  their  attitudes  and  relations  in  the 
darkness  and  gloom  of  the  night  of  revolution — when  I  listen  to  their  hails, 
sister  to  sister — Virginia  to  Massachusetts,  Massachusetts  to  Virginia — in  the 
"  times  which  tried  men's  souls" — when  I  watch  the  fires  kindling  on  the 
heights  of  Boston,  and  see  Virginia  going  forth  across  the  rivers  and  over  the 
land,  by  the  sea,  leading  her  best  beloved  son  by  the  hand,  dripping  blood  and 
tears  at  every  step  there  and  back,  leaving  him  there  on  post  to  guard  your  very 
city,  and  to  make  the  oppressors  evacuate  it! — and  when  I  contrast  this  picture 
with  the  present  state  of  things  in  our  confederacy,  which  makes  you  assure  me 
"  that  the  feelings  of  the  people  of  Massachusetts  towards  my  State  are  not 
those  of  antagonis-m,"  I  gush  forth  in  anguish  and  ask — Why  a  necessity  for 
such  assurance?  Why  any  antagonism  between  these,  the  devoted  States  of 
Hancock  and  Washington  ?  May  God  in  his  mercy  and  in  love  gdide  them,  as 
of  yore  !  May  they  ever  be  cemented  in  union  by  the  blood  of  the  revolution  ! 
And  whenever  another  night  of  gloom  and  trial  shall  come,  may  they  hail  and 
cheer  each  other  on  again  to  victory,  for  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

Yours  truly, 

3ENRY  A.  WISE. 

To  CHARLES  G.  CHASE  and  others,  committee,  &c. 


442 


POWERFUL  LETTER  FROM  THE  HON.  H.  A.  WISE  TO  THE  NA- 
TIONAL DEMOCRATIC  MEETING  IN  NEW  YORK. 

ONLY,  NEAR  ONANCOCK, 
Thursday,  October  18,  1855. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  gratefully  acknowledge  yours  of  the  10th,  post-marked  the 
13th,  and  regret  that  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  accept  your  invitation  to  attend 
and  address  a  mass  meeting  of  the  National  Democratic  party  of  the  City  and 
County  of  New  York,  at  the  Metropolitan  Theatre,  on  Monday,  the  22d  inst. 
The  situation  of  my  family  is  such  that  I  cannot  leave  home  before  some  time 
after  the  22d  instant,  and  I  could  not,  from  the  date  of  receiving  your  letter, 
reach  New  York  by  that  day  in  person ;  but  I  give  you  a  fervent,  and  I  would 
gladly  make  it  an  effectual  response. 

I  have  carefully  examined  the  platform  which  you  inclosed  of  your  late  Con- 
vention, held  at  Waiting  Hall  in  the  City  of  Syracuse,  August  23, 1855,  and  I 
hail  the  National  Democracy  of  New  York  as  brethren  worthy  to  be  accredited  in 
faith  and  accepted  in  fellowship  by  every  patriot  in  the  land.  You  are  national, 
not  in  the  sense  of  consolidation,  but  in  the  constitutional  sense  ]  you  are  na- 
tional, as  opposed  to  exclusive  and  sectional ;  and  you  are  national,  not  like  the 
party  of  " ebony  and  topaz,"  not  like  the  "light-houses  in  the  skies"  of  the 
younger  Adams  in  1828,  nor  like  the  "  fusion  of  confusion"  party  in  these 
days  of  later  "  isms ;"  not  "  National  Republican,"  but  you  are  "  National 
Democratic."  You  assert  your  devotion  to  the  Constitution  ;  reindorse,  in  the- 
ory and  practice,  the  resolutions  of  the  Democratic  National  Conventions  of  1848 
and  1849,  and  you  obey  the  lesson  of  the  fathers  by  recurring  to  frugality  and 
economy,  and  to  all  "  the  fundamental  principles  of  free  government"  in  the 
administration  of  public  affairs.  In  all  these  I  heartily  concur,  and  unite  still 
further  with  you  upon  the  doctrine  of  State  Rights  and  strict  construction  of 
the  Constitution  as  applied  to  all  questions,  and  particularly  to  domestic  State 
questions,  and  the  principle  of  non-intervention  by  Congress,  so  as  not  to  deprive 
States  of  their  sovereign  rights,  individuals  of  their  private  rights,  and  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Territories  of  their  just  and  natural  political  powers. 

The  Constitution,  and  not  any  temporary  and  temporizing  compromise  stat- 
ute, is  the  true  and  only  standard  of  national  right.  The  Constitution,  in  its 
strict  sense,  and  not  according  to  the  latitudinarian  construction  of  a  loose  fed- 
eral majority  j  the  Constitution,  which  leaves  all  powers  not  expressly  granted 
where  it  found  them,  the  reserved  rights  of  the  sovereign  States;  the  Constitu- 
tion, which  created  certain  federal  relations  and  rights  of  private  citizens,  among 
the  most  important  of  which  is  perfect  equality  between  citizens  of  the  res- 
pective States  en  the  common  grounds  of  federal  jurisdiction  ;  perfect  comity 
between  the  citizens  of  State  and  States,  and  common  property  between  them 
in  the  national  domain  and  dominion  ;  the  Constitution  is  the  law  of  our  Con- 
federacy. It  is  no  respecter  of  persons  ;  it  holds  all  alike,  and  equally  under 
its  protecting  guardianship  wherever  it  applies.  It  pries  not  into  your  private 
possession,  nor  into  mine.  It  knows  not  whether  you  own  one  species  of  pro- 
perty or  I  another.  It  recognizes  us  only  as  citizens  of  co-equal  State-  sove- 
reignties, who  are  confederated  under  its  shield,  and  it  provides  protection  for 
whatever  right  belongs  to  either  of  us  on  ground  which  belongs  to  both.  The 
mere  municipal  authority,  the  Congress  cannot  deprive  States  and  their  citizens 
of  this  equality,  this  comity,  and  this  common  property  of  the  Confederacy. 

If  you  may  go  to  the  common  Territory  with  what  is  rightfully  yours  in  New 
York,  I  may  meet  you  there  with  whatever  is  lawfully  mine  in  Virginia.  Con- 
gress may  not  say  that  I  shall  not  migrate  with  slave  property  and  hold  it  there ; 
for  if  they  may  say  that,  they  may;  in  like  manner,  say  that  you  shall  not  go 


443 

there  with  horses  and  household  goods,  and  hold  them  ;  and  if  they  may  declare 
against  the  right  of  either,  they  may  invade  inalienable  rights,  and  enact  laws 
not  within  the  competency  of  legislation. 

The  sovereign  act  of  defining  what  shaH  and  what  shall  not  be  tenable  pro- 
perty by  the  citizen,  can  be  determined  only  by  the  conventional  power  of  the 
people,  forming  organic  law — a  Constitution  changing  a  Territory  into  a  State. 
Until  the  new  State  comes  into  being,  no  power  upon  earth  can  lawfully  deprive 
you  of  your  horses  and  household  goods,  or  me  of  my  slave  in  Kansas,  unless 
the  private  property  be  taken  for  public  use  with  just  compensation.  And, 
gentlemen,  you  say  truly  "  that  the  peace  and  quiet  of  the  corn  try  demand  that 
it  should  be  left  to  the  people  of  the  Territories  to  determine  for  themselves," 
what  their  Constitution  of  Government  shall  be,  not  only  in  respect  to  slavery, 
but  every  other  local  question.  The  public  peace  is  endangered  by  this  "  dis- 
turbing subject/'  It  is  a  practical  question  of  right,  and  threatens  to  be  one 
of  force.  Force  has  already  been  exerted  "  on  the  border,"  and  in  the  face  of 
this  danger  there  is  an  organized  "  Fusion"  which  must,  if  persisted  in,  compel 
a  resort  to  arms  in  order  to  resist  evil  spirits,  combined  to  repeal  the  "  Kansas 
Nebraska  bill,  arid  to  re-establish  the  Missouri  Prohibition." 

Prior  to  1819-20,  the  Constitution  reigned  supreme  on  this  subject.  It  was 
then  invaded  by  a  repealable,  partial,  sectional  statute,  called  the  Missouri 
Compromise.  It  was  the  first  separation  of  the  States — it  first  sectioned  the 
country  like  a  survey  of  the  public  lands — it  first  said  to  the  people  the  divi- 
ding language  of  Lot  and  Abraham — to  some  "  go  North"  to  some  "  go  South" 
— it  was  the  first  line  which  divided  North  from  South,  more  in  feeling  than  in 
fact.  Did  it  not  make  a  geographical  demarcation — a  line  of  latitude,  the 
boundary  of  legal  limitations,  and  determine  that  what  was  constitutional  on 
one  side  of  it,  should  be  unconstitutional  on  the  other  side  of  it  ?  No,  said  its 
friends  at  the  time  of  its  passage,  it  leaves  slavery  to  be  governed  by  the  law 
of  climate.  It  is  a  climatory  not  a  territorial  or  sectional  line.  It  means  to 
"  follow  nature,"  to  let  Jack  Frost  be  king  of  the  subject;  as  slavery  was  pro- 
fitable South,  and  as  frost  pinched  negroe's  toes  and  fingers  too  sharp  north  of 
36.30  for  it  to  be  profitable  there,  the  question  never  should  be  raised  con-sla- 
Tery  south,  nor  pro-slavery  north  of  that  line  of  latitude.  Well  admitting  this 
to  be  a  more  consistent  and  rational  construction  of  the  "  agreement  to  disa- 
gree," did  the  "  fanatics  of  fusion"  so  abide  it?  Never  !  In  every  phase  of 
the  Compromise,  first  and  last,  they  have  broken  its  letter  and  spirit.  Inces- 
santly they  have  raised  the  question  con-slavery  South  and  North,  East  and 
West  everywhere.  In  the  States  and  Territories  and  District,  in  the  Indian 
country  on  the  trade  in  transitu  between  States,  Districts  and  Territories,  on 
the  acquisition  of  territory,  on  the  organization  and  admission  of  States  into 
the  Union,  on  questions  of  peace  and  war,  ever,  everywhere,  always,  in  season 
and  out  of  season,  they  have  raised  the  question  against  slavery,  until  they 
have,  on  various  occasions,  nearly  raised  the  very  demon  of  civil  war  and  disu- 
nion !  They  have  harbored  English  emissaries  ;  raised  foreign  funds  ;  wielded 
associated  influence  and  capital  ;  wearied  Congress  with  petitions  ;  fatigued  the 
public  mind  with  compromises;  filled  it  with  reviling  and  abuse;  pensioned 
press,  pulpit,  preacher,  teacher ;  run  underground  railroads ;  spirited  away 
runaways;  have  scattered  broadcast  tales  of  holy  horrors;  painted  on  the 
stage,  scenes  ;  written  log-cabin  novels;  lectured,  ranted,  rioted,  until  they  have 
made  us  a  divided  people,  until  they  have  cut  the  continent  in  two  by  a  line  of 
border  feuds  ;  until  they  have  separated  our  churches ;  set  us  apart  socially,  at 
the  watering  and  other  places,  and  until  they  have  engendered  a  sectional  an- 
tagonism more  becoming  enemies  in  hostile  array,  than  tolerant  neighbors  even, 
much  less  u  united  brethren" — children  of  one  father — children  of  a  common 
country,  the  only  children  the  Father  of  that  country  ever  had,  whose  farewell 
is  still  our  warning  ! 


444 

Within  the  year  I  have  stood  on  the  rock  of  Point  Pleasant  overlooking  the 
grave  of  Cornstalk,  the  battle  ground  between  the  Indian  and  the  Long  Knife, 
fattened  by  the  blood  of  the  conquest,  whereby  Virginia  secured  the  eminent 
domain  of  the  whole  Northwest  Territory.  There  before  me  spread  out  that 
vast  domain,  now  a  giant  group  of  civilized  sovereignties,  empires  of  power,  a 
compact  tier  of  free  States  !  Who  made  them  free  States  ?  Their  mother 
slave  State.  Virginia,  by  her  deed  of  cession,  on  her  own  conditions,  with  a 
liberality  large  as  a  love  of  continental  country,  made  Ohio  and  her  sisters  of 
the  Northwest  Territory  free  States.  Her's  was  no  Wilmot  Proviso.  It  was  a 
whole  and  entire  grant  to  freedom,  the  first  ever  made  upon  earth  like  it,  and 
made  before  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  formed.  After  "  a  more 
perfect  Union"  was  formed,  a  permanent,  uniform,  universal,  organic  law  began 
to  reign.  It  left  the  domestic  institutions  with  the  States.  It  defines  the  only 
cases  where  the  Federal  authority  can  intervene.  One  of  the  cases  is  that  of  a 
slave  flying  from  one  State  to  another,  he  shall  be  restored  to  his  master.  By 
a  double  tier  of  laws,  Federal  and  State,  by  constitutional  and  by  statute  laws, 
the  master  may  reclaim  him.  And  yet,  gentlemen,  though  thus  fortified  by 
laws,  organic  and  legislative,  State  and  Federal,  I  might  as  well  have  a  thousand 
dollars  floating  on  a  chip  in  the  Ohio  river,  as  to  own  a  slave  worth  that  sum 
on  the  Virginia  shores  of  that  river  !  What  then  ?  The  laws  do  not  reign  ! 
The  very  free  soil  which  Virginia  first  consecrated  on  the  continent  is  made  the 
underground  for  the  railroads  of  her  runaways  ! 

Gentlemen,  Mr.  Webster  once  asked  a  group  of  Southern  members  of  Con- 
gress, of  whom  I  was  one,  with  an  effect  I  can  never  forget:  "  Shall  your 
children  be  aliens  to  ray  children — shall  my  children  be  aliens  to  your  children  ?" 
And  now  whilst  Fusionists  are  "  ding-donging"  us  about  aliens  and  foreign  in- 
fluence, I  ask,  in  the  language  of  Scripture  :  "  Who  is  our  brother  '!"  Shall 
Ohio  be  alien  and  enemy  to  Virginia  ? — shall  Virginia  be  alien  and  enemy  to 
Ohio  ? — Should  Ohio  be  thus  a  land  of  refuge  from  her  mother  State  ? — Was 
it  for  this  that  the  North  West  was  ceded  ? — that  Ohio  was  made  perpetually 
free  by  Virginia  ?  Bitter,  bitter  reflections  for  a  Virginia  son,  proud  of  what 
his  mother  State  has  done  for  liberty  and  union  !  I  looked  up  and  down  the 
Ohio  and  Kanawha  river  valleys,  and  saw  the  richest  soil  and  minerals — the 
most  beautiful  lands  I  have  ever  known  God's  sun  to  shine  upon,  or  heaven's 
dews  to  water;  lands  more  valuable  for  slave  labor  than  any  others  to  be  found 
in  our  limits.  And  yet  no  slave  can  safely  be  carried  there  to  labor.  And 
what  the  State  of  Ohio  is  to  the  frontier  tier  of  counties  on  those  rivers,  they 
soon  must  become  to  the  counties  behind  them  in  the  interior  of  Virginia,  be- 
cause no  tie,  no  interest,  no  association  of  slavery  can  exist  there.  Thus,  like 
the  cancer,  "  Freesoil  and  Fusion"  are  eating  into  our  very  vitals.  Thus  are 
we  constricted  in  our  rights  of  property,  in  our  peace  and  personal  safety  ! 
With  this  example,  can  you  wonder  that  the  State  of  Missouri  should  be  deeply 
excited  and  interested  by  the  attempt  of  associated  wealth  and  influence — per- 
haps foreign  influence  in  part —  to  constrict  her  border  in  like  manner  by  a  cor- 
don of  if  Fusion  and  Freesoil  ?"  Tell  me,  gentlemen,  would  any  foreign  power 
be  allowed  to  insult  and  endanger  the  whole  nation  as  the  slave-holding  States 
and  their  citizens  are  outraged  in  every  offensive  form  by  the  Fusionists  of  the 
North  ?  Tell  me  not  they  are  weak  and  harmless,  when  they  can  send  so  many 
Senators  and  Representatives  to  Congress — when  they  can  form  the  most  formi- 
dable political  parties — so  long  as  they  can  seize  and  hold  such  States  as  the 
venerable  mother  State  of  Hancock  and  desecrate  Faneuil  Hall — so  long  as  they 
can  carry  Ohio — so  long  as  they  can  distract  and  divide  and  dwarf  in  the  Union 
the  very  Empire  State  of  New  York!  What,  then,  is  to  be  done?  The 
"envy,  hatred,  malice  and  all  uncharitableness"  which  this  engenders  cannot 
continue  to  smoulder. much  longer  without  bursting  out  into  a  general  and  de- 
vouring flame.  The  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  repealed  the  odious  mark  whence  ma- 


445 

lice  and  mischief  hurled  incendiary  torches  across  the  border  line.  It  removed 
a  heart-burning  statute  of  sectionalism  and  attempted  to  restore  peace  under 
the  aegis  of  the  Constitution.  But  the  cry  is  now  :  "  Repeal  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill  and  restoration  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  !"  This  raises  the 
issue  :  "  Shall  the  Constitution  reign  as  it  did  reign  from  the  year  1789  to  the 
years  1819-20  ?"  With  head  and  heart,  might  and  soul,  I  unite  with  you  for 
the  reign  of  the  Constitution  over  all  compromises  !  No  higher,  no  lower  law 
than  the  Constitution. 

Are  the  Fusionists,  indeed,  fatally  bent  on  dissolution  of  the  Union,  or  a 
civil,  sectional  war  ?  I  tell  you  solemnly,  that  depends  upon  the  strength, 
nerve,  virtue  and  wisdom  of  the  sound,  conscientious,  conservative  patriots  in 
the  North.  If  you  can  come  to  the  aid  of  the  Constitution,  at  this  crisis,  big 
with  the  fate  of  the  Union,  it  may  be  saved.  God  Almighty  grant  it!  The 
Union,  I  say  to  you,  as  I  have  said  to  the  South,  as  I  have  said  first  and  said 
last  and,  delight  to  repeat — the  Union  is  one  of  the  most  precious  rights  of  the 
States.  I  never  meant  thereby  to  express  the  sentiment  implied  by  the  plat- 
form of  the  Pandemoniums  at  Philadelphia — that,  per  se,  it  is  the  most  pre- 
cious of  rights,  and  must  be  preserved  at  every  sacrifice.  I  never  uttered 
such  error  as  that ;  but  I  do  say  that  the  Union  is  the  sacred  palladium  of  our 
highest  and  holiest  rights.  It  is,  if  you  please,  not  of  itself  liberty,  it  is  not 
equality,  it  is  not  sovereignty,  it  is  not  independence — it  is  not  especially,  the 
end  of  our  government,  but  it  is  the  means  by  which  all  the  ends  we  ought  to  aim 
at  are  secured,  and  it  is  the  means  which  Washington  relied  on  as  indispensa- 
ble to  our  existence  as  a  people.  It  is  the  "  E  Pluribus  Unum"  by  which  one 
is  made  thirty-one  in  strength,  by  which  Virginia's  sovereignty  is  fortified  thir- 
ty-fold. Measured  by  what  it  is  capable  of  attaining,  by  what  it  binds  and 
holds  fast,  by  what  it  has  done  and  may  do  yet  for  this  people  and  all  men,  it  is 
inestimable.  It  achieved  the  American  Revolution,  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, the  Constitution,  settlement  of  the  public  lands,  the  land  system,  the 
peace  policy,  the  second  war  for  u  free  trade  and  sailor's  rights,"  the  principles 
of  neutral  rights,  the  long  line  of  measures  for  development  and  progress  of  the 
human  species,  the  acquisitions  from  Mexico,  and  is  the  bulwark  of  freedom 
and  the  hope  of  the  oppressed  throughout  the  world.  It  does  not  consist  in 
the  mere  confederacy  or  joining  of  States.  It  consists  in  the  Constitution,  in 
the  love  and  affection  and  brotherhood  of  our  people  throughout  the  country. 
If  these  links  be  broken  it  is  dissolved.  If  broken  and  it  binds  at  all,  it  will 
bind  as  a  chain  and  it  will  gall  as  a  chain,  and  it  will  cease  to  bind  when  fetters 
find  foes  who  will  not  be  bound  by  them.  I  for  one  had  rather  see  the  conti- 
nent shaken  by  earthquakes  than  to  see  the  Union  of  these  States  dissolved, 
but  it  is  simply  the  mo'ans  of  innumerable  and  inestimable  ends  of  good;  and  if 
it  ceases  to  subserve  them,  to  secure  liberty,  equality,  sovereignty,  indepen- 
dence, peace,  power,  and  pre-eminence  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  let  it 
meet  its  fate  1  Why  make  a  sacrifice  to  save  it?  We  will  not  count  its  cost — 
no  mere  material  interest  could  weigh  it  down  in  the  scales;  but  it  is  with  the 
political  union  of  the  States  as  it  is  with  the  matrimonial  union  of  persons;  the 
oath  of  the  altar,  love,  truth,  constancy,  fidelity  require  devotion,  devotion  to 
the  last  extremity — to  bear  and  forbear — to  make  any  and  every  honorable 
sacrifice — to  count  mere  interest  nothing;  but  if  honor  be  touched,  then  on 
the  instant,  to  dissolve  the  bands  which  bind  to  infamy,  though  it  break  the 
bands  which  bind  to  life  !  And,  I  ask,  will  not  the  slave  States  be  dishonored  if 
they  allow  themselves  to  be  provincialized  by  being  excluded  from  equality  in 
the  Union  !  The  Fusionists  intend  that  they  shall  be  so  dishonored.  Their  intent 
shall  never  be  executed  !  We  will  cling  to  the  Constitution,  and  when  that  is 
assailed,  we  will  defend  it  with  all  the  means  which  God  and  nature  have  put 
into  our  hands ;  and  when  these  fail,  the  Union,  the  eagle,  the  flag,  will  be  but 
emblems  of  a  past  Republic,  destroyed  by  a  weakness  and  wickedness  unparal- 


446 

leled  in  the  folly  and  crime  of  mankind  !  We  demand  nothing  else  but  good 
faith  in  keeping  the  covenants  of  the  Constitution.  We  demand  not  that  any 
other  people  should  be  slaveholders.  We  will  certainly  not  force  a  slave  upon 
their  service.  But  we  do  demand  to  be  "  let  alone" — to  be  left  undistured  in 
our  rights,  and  unmolested  to  enjoy  the  property  protected  by  our  laws.  If 
we  are  not  allowed  to  be  and  remain  at  peace,  we  must  prepare  for  war.  The 
hypocrites  and  knaves  who  are  trading  on  the  pious  attachment  of  our  people  to 
the  Union  will  find,  when  it  is  too  late,  that  slaveholders  can  be  driven  to  self- 
defence,  and  that  they  can  trust — but  I  forbear  !  We  will  unite  to  prevent 
horrors  which  it  is  painful  to  imagine  in  the  worst,  even,  of  contingencies  to 
come.  ^ 

As  to  the  secret  t(  Americans" — the  Know  Nothings — day  has  broke  upon 
them.  And  it  is  amusing  to  see  Sam's  bats  and  owls  of  midnight,  flitting  and 
flapping,  blind,  about  in  the  sunlight.  They  are  seeking  sorrily  to  skulk  from 
light  and  sight — here  some  flap  back  to  poor,  deserted  Whiggery,  and  there 
some  escape  to  the  "  Republican"  fusion.  The  day  has  dissolved  the  charm. 
The  true  bird  of  America,  Jove's  own  eagle,  is  on  a  wing  that  never  tires,  in 
the  lambent  light  of  the  mid-heavens.  Uncle  Sam  has  roused  himself  and 
shaken  off  the  slumber  and  stupor  of  the  night  dreams,  and  is  at  his  active 
work  in  broad  day. 

The  devil  baited  the  hooks  of  some  preachers  with  the  politics  of  the  Pope's 
big  toe ;  and  the  hooks  of  some  politicians  with  the  unco-righteousness  of  a 
knavish  priestcraft,  and  set  them  bobbing  together  for  the  souls  of  dupes,  for 
the  corruption  of  the  Church,  and  for  the  destruction  of  the  State.  No  heat 
but  one  could  have  ever  welded  such  a  fusion.  In  the  Shades  they  were  taught 
their  parts  by  the  gloom  light  of  the  Dark  Lantern  !  But — 

"  The  sun  is  in  the  heavens,  and  life  on  earth  \" 

Day  has  caught  them  in  their  incantations,  and  light  is  dispelling  their  myste^ 
ries.  The  next  you  will  see  of  Sam,  he  will  be  on  his  knees  praying  againsfc 
slavery  and  John  Barleycorn.  He  has  dropped  Pope  Pius  Nonus,  and  has  jus 
discovered,  after  all  he  has  said  about  .his  Holiness'  supremacy,  that  every  na- 
turalized Catholic  takes  an  oath  expressly  to  renounce  all  allegiance  to  any  and 
every  prince,  power,  potentate,  king,  sovereign  or  state,  and  particularly  to  the 
prince,  power,  potentate,  king,  sovereign  or  state,,  of  which  he  was  before  a 
subject.  And  he  begins  to  admit  that  if  an  extra-judicial  oath  may  bind  a 
Know-Nothing  to  passive  obedience  and  non-resistance  to  an  unseen,  intangible, 
irresponsible,  secret  oligarchy,  that  perchance,  we  may  rely  on  the  judicial 
oaths  of  naturalized  citizens  to  renounce  allegiance  to  all  supremacy  whatever 
except  the  sovereignty  of  the  United  States  of  North  America. 

I  give  you  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  in  opposition  to  the  sumptuary  laws 
which  have  of  late  years  disgraced  the  codes  of  some  of  our  States.  Why, 
some  Legislatures  seem  to  have  lost  the  horn-books  of  personal  liberty  !  They 
are  for  free  soil  and  free  negroes,  but  war  upon  the  liberties  of  free  white  men ! 
They  seem  to  have  never  known  that  there  were  such  things,  first  invented  in 
North  America,  as  bills  of  rights,  defining  thoso  which  are  inalienable  and  fix- 
ing the  limits  of  legislation  !  Where  was  the  principle  of  Liquor  laws  to  stop? 
No  where  short  of  invading  every  inalienable  right  of  individual  man.  If 
municipal  law  cannot  touch  vested  rights,  much  less  can  it  invade  the  natural 
rights  of  the  individual  person.  In  such  a  dominion  as  that  of  England,  they 
may  hardly  dare  to  confine  the  rights  of  the  person  to  "air,  to  light  and  to 
flowing  water,"  at  this  day  ;  but  here  there  never  was  a  moment,  since  colonial 
times,  when  the  rights  of  persons  were  not  infinitely  extended  beyond  these 
out  of  the  reach  of  legislation.  Oh  !  but  they  say  that  such  laws  are  sanitary, 
not  sumptuary.  And  who  made  them  Hospitalers  of  Hygeia,  health  nurses  for 
the  people  ?  Health  is  about  as  private  a  possession,  about  as  "intus  ct  in  cute," 


447 

personal  as  any  man  can  be  endowed  with.  Who  created  a  government  to 
turn  Quack  and  proscribe  physic  ?  "  Physic  to  the  dogs  !"  There  are  other 
things  which  destroy  health  besides  alcohol.  Eating  as  well  as  drinking,  glut- 
tony as  well  as  drunkenness  hurts  health.  Will  any  one  say  that  legislation 
may  take  charge  of  my  table,  and  my  diet  .and  appetite,  a.nd  say  what  I  shall 
eat  ?  If  they  may  prohibit  a  man  from  buying  and  selling  whiskey,  may  they 
not  prohibit  his  planting  and  sowing  on  his  own  fee-simple  soil,  of  bis  buying 
and  selling  the  corn  and  rye  from  which  the  whiskey  is  distilled  ?  Again, 
French  corsets  have  hurt  more  the  health  of  whole  generations,  have  crippled 
for  their  own  lives  and  for  their  posterity  too,  more  women  and  children  than 
ever  John  Barleycorn  slew  of  men  !  Shall  a  Hiss  committee  be  allowed  by  law 
to  inspect  Madame' s  and  Miss's  chambers,  and  see  whether  whalebone  and  hard 
cord  encompass  ladies'  waists  too  tight?  The  idea  would  be  ridiculous,  if  it 
was  not  so  insufferably  tyrannous.  You  cannot  legislate  men  to  morality ;  you 
must  educate  them  to  liberty  and  virtue.  Manners  and  morals  must  begin  at 
the  mother's  knee ;  must  be  trained  in  the  schools,  and  home  and  domestic 
teaching  must  give  to  the  country  pupils  fit  for  the  schools,  and  the  schools 
must  give  to  the  country  a  people  who  will  require  no  such  despotic  laws.  They 
don't  suit  a  people  fit  to  be  free;  they  corrupt  and  demoralize  a  people  already 
fit  to  be  slaves.  The  last  source  I  would  appeal  to,  for  temperance  in  eating 
and  drinking,  is  a  Legislature,  Federal  or  State.  0  !  ye  Metropolitan  high 
livers  !  what  talcs  Champagne  and  London  Dock,  and  canvas  backs,  and  terra- 
pins, and  oysters  could  tell  upon  your  example  of  abstemiousness  and  self-de- 
nial 1  How  your  temperance  tells  upon  your  livers  !  and  your  legislation,  too, 
at  times  !  The  truth  is,  all  these  "  isms"  come  from  the  same  nidus  of  the 
same  cocatrix.  They  come  from  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  who  would  take 
care  of  others'  consciences ;  they  are  inventions  of  ambitious  priestcraft — or 
men  who  have  a  little  religion  to  .help  their  secular  affairs,  and  who  are  a  little 
worldly  to  help  their  religious  affairs — of  "  preachers  of  Christian  politics," 
who  are  subtlely  aspiring  to  civil,  secular  and  political  power — of  men  who  don't 
"  render  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are  Caesar's,"  nor  "  unto  God  the  things 
which  are  God's" — of  hypocrites  who  would  superserviceably  cut  off  an  ear  for 
their  Master  with  the  sword,  without  his  orders  and  against  his  law,  and  who 
would  deny  Him  thrice  before  the  cock  crew  once.  And  these  are  aided  by 
cowardly  and  knavish  politicians,  who  either  fear  or  fawn  upon  their  secret  and 
sinister  influences.  We  have  only  to  drive  out  all  such  from  the  temple,  as  the 
dove-sellers  were  driven  out  by  the  Master  whose  "  pure  and  undefiled  religion 
before  God  and  the  Father  is,  to  visit  the  widow  and  the  fatherless,  and  to  keep 
one's  self  unspotted  from  the  world  !" 

Finally,  gentlemen,  according  with  you,  as  I  do,  in  the  leading  principles  of 
your  platform,  I  cordially  accept  your  invitation  to  unite  with  you  in  engrafting 
them  upon  the  policy  of  the  country.  And  I  especially  concur  with  you  in  the 
sentiment  that  it  is  upon  principle  alone  we  ought  to  unite;  and  that  all  coali- 
tions between  those  who  essentially  differ  on  cardinal  points,  are  unprincipled 
and  demoralizing.  And  here  I  might  pause;  but,  long  as  this  letter  is,  I  have 
a  word  more  to  say.  I  hope  I  have  answered  your  kind  compliment  in  its  own 
spirit,  without  enquiring  whether  your  have  any  alias — any  other  name  under 
Heaven  by  which  you  are  known  among  men  than  that  of  National  Democrats. 
I  have  purposely  omitted  to  do  so. 

Like  yourselves,  another  body  of  Democrats  of  New  York,  lately,  approached 
me  fairly  and  openly,  and  I  responded  gratefully  to  them  as  I  do  to  you.  I 
was  soon  upbraided  with  having  given  "  aid  and  comfort"  to  a  certain  party 
called  "  Softs."  Now,  some  one  may  say  that  I  have  likewise  given  in  adhe- 
sion to  the  Hards  of  New  York.  Well,  all  I  can  say  for  myself  is,  that  I  don't 
mean  to  know  any  Hard  or  Soft  names  for  my  friends  who  will  unite  with  me 
in  "  the  mission  of  the  Democracy  to  proclaim  and  maintain  the  great  doctrine 


448 

of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  to  uphold  and  enforce  the  constitution \in  its 
sublime  principles  of  justice  and  equality." 

You  must  not  wonder  that  your  Democratic  friends  in  Virginia  are  often  con- 
fused by  names  and  things  in  New  York.  We  wish  to  see  a  united  Democracy 
there  on  the  old  grounds  of  Jefferson  and  Jackson.  We  hear  of  Hard,  and 
Soft,  and  Half  Shells,  and  the  ideas  we  form  of  them  can  be  best  illustrated  by 
a  subject  of  natural  history.  We  have  in  our  waters  gentlemen,  a  crustaceous 
animal  called  a  crab — a  sea  fish,  with  fins  and  claws  at  both  ends,  and  it  can 
run  either  end  foremost.  Poke  at  him  this  way  and  he  runs  that — that  way 
and  he  runs  this  !  He  is  remarkable,  gentlemen,  for  his  transformations.  At 
one  time  catch* him  and  crack  his  claw  and  his  shell  is  hard,  very  hard,  hard 
enough  for  barnacles  to  grow  upon  his  back,  and  it  will  not  separate  or  be  de- 
tached from  the  inner  cuticle.  In  that  state  he  is  the  Hard  Crab  proper.  At 
another  time,  catch  him  arid  crack  his  claw — when 'he  is  hard,  be  sure  to  crack 
his  claw,  gentlemen,  and  you  will  find  that,  though  his  outer  shell  is  still  very 
hard,  yet  it  will  separate  and  can  be  detached  from  the  inner  cuticle  or  film  over 
the  muscles.  He  is  then  called  the  "Peeler,"  his  shell  will  peal  off  from, 
without  breaking,  the  inner  shell.  Later,  catch  him  and  you  need  not  crack 
his  claw  to  see  what  he  is,  for  his  outer  shell  is  then  opening  at  every  suture, 
and  the  crab  is  swelling  out  of  its  Hard  and  taking  upon  itself  its  Soft  shell. 
In  that  state  he  is  called  a  "  Buster,"  bursting  his  shell.  And  as  "  Peeler" 
or  "  Buster"  he  is  very  fat,  and  a  bait  fit  to  catch  the  very  "  monarchs  of  the 
deep"  with  !  Later  still,  he  has  slipped  out  of  his  hard  shell,  by  a  sort  of  pe- 
ristaltic motion,  and  left  it  along  the  strand,  and  has  become  wholly  a  soft  crab. 
In  that  state  he  is  good  bait  too,  and  is  preyed  upon  by  hard  crabs  and  other 
fishes,  and  he  is  inert  and  can  hardly  crawl  out  of  harm's  way.  Then,  again, 
this  same  crab,  gentlemen,  begins  to  harden  from  soft  to  hard  again,  as  he  had 
before  softened  from  hard  to  soft.  Found  in  this,  his  second  intermediate  state, 
he  has  become  poor  but  more  active,  is  not  so  good  for  bait,  and  he  is  called  a 
lt  Buckram,"  for  that  he  is  so  like  the  fabric  of  that  name,  and  his  shell  i?  then 
flexible  like  vellum.  So  that  you  see  we  have  an  idea  of  some  Hards  who  are 
"  Peelers,"  tending  to  Soft,  and  of  some  Softs  who  are  "  Buckrams,"  tending 
to  Hards.  And  there  is  such  a  Hardening  to  Soft,  and  such  a  Softening  to 
Hard,  that  we  cannot  distinguish  the  politicians  of  New  York  as  w^  do  crabs — 
sometimes  by  sight,  sometimes  by  touch,  and  sometimes  by  cracking  their  claws. 
But  this  I  do  say,  that  I  think  I  can  see  you  are  Democrats;  that  I  can  distin- 
guish you,  unmistakably,  by  the  platform  of  principle  you  have  put  forth,  arid 
I  am  anxious  and  ready  to  stand  by  and  with  and  for  any  portion  of  the  De- 
mocracy of  New  York  who  will  unite  on  the  platform  of  civil  and  religious  lib- 
erty, as  defined  "by  the  constitution  and  bills  of  rights  of  our  State  and  Federal 
governments,  and  as  defended  by  our  State  sovereignties  and  our  Federal  Union. 
I  cannot  and  will  not  unite  with  any  Wilmot  Proviso,  with  any  dark  lantern, 
or  with  any  sumptuary  law  party ! 

And  how  is  it  that  New  York  is  divided  against  herself  in  this  great  cause, 
"  which,  down  the  tide  of  time,  unborn  ages  yet  will  honor  and  admire  ?"  She> 
the  Empire  State — she,  the  centre  of  commerce — she,  the  city  set  upon  a  hill, 
to  waste  her  strength,  to  expend  her  substance,  to  dwarf  her  influence,  to  lower 
her  dignity,  to  eclipse  the  light  of  her  own  fame  and  glory  by  distracting  divi- 
sions, by  disastrous  discord,  by  confusion  of  her  friends  and  fusion  of  her  foes ! 
llally  arid  rescue  !  Shall  the  spoils  separate  us  from  each  other  and  .from  our 
country  1  No  !  nor  principalities,  nor  powersp nor  things  present,  nor  things  to 
come.  We  will  strike  together,  and  strike  honia  for  our  God,  our  Country  and 
our  Constitution  ! 

Yours,  in  the  faith, 

HENRY  A.  WISE. 

To  Alexr  C.  Morton,  Chairman,  &c.  &c. 


449 
THE  KNOW  NOTHING  PHILADELPHIA  PLATFOM. 

NOTES   AND   COMMENTS. 

On  the  14th  June,  1855,  an  Astrologer  announced  in  the  papers  that  there 
was  to  be  a  grand  conjunction  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  the  planet  Saturn,  which 
portended,  among  other  things,  fires,  diseases,  accidents,  and  loss  of  reputation 
to  the  vulgar.  This  dire  conjunction  brought  forth,  also,  the  platform  of  the 
Know  Nothing  Convention.  Who,  after  this,  shall  doubt  the  influence  of  the 
stars  !  Saturn  is  of  course  the  planet  that  presides  over  the  destinies  of  Sam, 
their  initials  being  the  same.  But  Saturn  alone  could  do  nothing;  he  was  com- 
pelled to  call  in  the  assistance  of  the  sun  and  moon,  and  then,  with  <(  a  long 
pull,  a  strong  pull,  and  a  pull  altogether/'  Sam  was  delivered  of  a  Platform. 
But  the  operation  broke  him  in  two  : 

Parturient  montes  ;  nascitur  ridiculus  mus. 

From  all  parts  of  the  country  came  the  picked  men  of  the  party.  There 
was  assembled  the  very  flower  of  Know  Nothingism,  the  quintessence,  the  adar 
(jnl  of  that  inimitable  Order.  The  convention  was  the  mirror  of  Sambodum. 
But  this  was  not  enough  :  the  cream  of  this  incomparable  galaxy  was  skimmed 
off  and  set  apart  to  elaborate  a  scheme  of  principles  wherewith  to  butter  the 
brains  of  the  people.  And  now,  with  the  aid  of  the  sun,  moon  and  Saturn,  to 
say  nothing  of  his  rings  and  his  moons,  here  it  is. 

On  looking  it  over,  however,  the  first  impression  that  is  felt,  is  a  doubt  as  to 
its  authenticity.  In  all  fairness,  the  opinion  of  the  public  gave  the  Know 
Nothings  credit  for  that  common  degree  of  ability  that  is  found  in  the  ordinary 
proceedings  of  the  most  unpretending  meetings  of  citizens,  everywhere  in  our 
country.  There  are  some  very  respectable  truisms,  trite  and  hackneyed  by  fre- 
quent repetition,  indeed,  in  the  platform.  But  they  are  out  of  plaeo,  vaguely 
expressed,  and  utterly  insignificant  where  they  stand.  They  do  not  save  the 
rest  of  the  document ,  they  infuse  no  life  into  the  inert  pile.  Yet,  since  there 
is  every  appearance  of  its  official  character,  and  meetings  of  Know  Nothings 
have  endorsed  it,  let  us  regard  it  as  authentic. 

I.  The  fivst  Article  is  decidedly  misplaced  in  a  declaration  of  political  princi- 
ples. Any  one  in  the  least  imbued  with  religious  feeling,  must  be  shocked  to 
see  the  Deity  called  down,  as  it  were,  to  preside  over  a  deliberation  such  as  this 
Know  Nothing  Convention  must  have  presented.  For,  in  reading  this. article, 
the  mind  recalls  a  certain  other  platform  of  more  ancient  date  and  higher  sanc- 
tion, having  as  a  clause  of  its  first  article  :  "  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of 
the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain  ;  for  the  Lord  will  not  hold  him  guiltless  that  taketh 
his  name  in  vain."  What  right  had  the  Convention  to  disregard  the  common- 
est decencies  which  even  the  irreligious  observe  before  the  sober  eye  of  the 
public  ?  Besides,  did  it  not  occur  to  any  one  of  that  assembly  that  it  ill  be- 
came the  state  of  mortality  to  assume  that  tone  of  patronizing  superiority  to- 
wards the  Supreme  Being,  which  would  be  offensive  and  impertinent,  towards 
a 'mere  man  whose  dignity  of  character,  age  or  station  entitled  him  to  particu- 
lar respect  ? 

But  what,  in  the  name  of  all  the  darkness  of  Egypt,  is  to  be  understood  by 
"  every  step  by  which  we  have  advanced  to  the  character  of  an  independent 
nation?"  or,  again,  by  "some  token  of  providential  agency"  It  is  scarcely 
possible  even  to  speak  of  this  first  article  without  the  appearance  of  profane*- 
ness.  But  surely  the  observation  may  be  made  that  there  would  have  been-,  a# 
least,  some  meaning  in  a  "  token  of  providential  favor"  There  is  no  Know 
Nothing  but  must  have  had  an  opportunity  of  hearing  that  not  only  our  career 
29 


450 

as  a  nation  is  conducted  by  providential  agency,  but  the  very  least  occurrence 
that  takes  place  is  the  result  of  that  agency.  Not  a  sparrow  can  fall  to  the 
ground  without  it. 

Whatever  reason  can  be  supposed  to  have  led  to  this  "  acknowledgment,"  by 
that  same  reason  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and 
a  state  of  future  reward  and  punishment,  or  eternal  responsibility,  ought  to  have 
been  inserted  in  the  Platform.  And  their  non-appearance  is,  in  view  of  the 
first  article,  a  fair  and  irresistible  presumption  that  the  Know  Nothing  leaders 
knew  they  could  not  obtain  a  concurrence  of  the  majority  of  the  body  to  these 
points ;  or,  that  they  themselves  were  not  willing  to  profess  them. 

II.  The  second  Article  of  their  creed  is  composed  of  as  much  froth  and  fus- 
tian, and  as  many  long  words  of  three,  four  and  five  syllables,  about  patriotism, 
the  revolution,  £c.,  &c.,  as  could  be  packed  into  the  space  assigned.  "  Senti- 
ments of  profoundly  intense  American  feeling  !  "  (Quotha  I)  This  is  piling 
up  the  agony  to  some  purpose  :  not  content  with  a  feeling,  or  the  sentiment  of 
a  feeling,  they  must  have  a  profoundly  intense  feeling  to  have  a  sentiment  of,  to 
be  put  under  development  and  cultivation,  like  a  tender  exotic  under  a  glass 
bell,  to  be  put  into  the  second  article  of  the  Platform — and  no  where  else.  For 
out  of  this  article  there  is  mighty  little  account  made  of  "  emulation  and  ven- 
eration," or  "  patriotism  and  heroism,"  or  "  institutions  and  constitutions." 
Their  passionate  attachment  is  to  the  emoluments  of  the  offices  they  are  longing 
for,  and  most  of  them  would  and  will,  in  time  to  come,  be  seen  kicking  the 
National  Platform  from  Dan  to  Beersheba,  if  a  five,  three  or  two  thousand  dol- 
lar office  is  danced  before  their  eyes,  as  no  small  portion  of  them  are  even  now 
kicking  and  trampling  upon  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States. 

,  III.  The  third  Article  is,  "  The  maintenance  of  the  Union  of  thes'e  United 
States."  Well  done  !  Is  it  really  possible  that  Sam,  in  his  High-mightiness 
will  condescend  to  let  us  preserve  the  Union  ?  We  ought  to  be  thankful.  But 
not  too  fast — there  is  a  qualification  :  "  as  the  paramount  political  good."  This 
spoils  all.  The  beginning  was  excellent  and  complete  in  itself.  Sam  was  not 
willing,  however,  to  leave  us  the  Union  simply  and  unconditionally.  The  ex- 
istence of  the  clique  of  political  agitators,  who  are  endeavoring  to  create  a  new 
party,  alone  is  a  danger  to  our  Union.  The  prominence  they  assign  to  this 
question  of  the  maintenance  of  the  Union,  is  most  inauspicious.  And  their 
evident  determination  to  agitate  the  subject,  is  an  imminent  peril  to  that  Union, 
which  it  behooves  every  good  citizen  of  the  republic  to  watch  "with  the  utmost 
solicitude.  Fortunately,  the  party  has  at  every  turn  added  something  to  the 
public  indignation,  that  its  first  rumored  existence  created.  And  this  attitude 
will  only  serve  to  increase  it.  Their  attack  is  very  insidious ;  for  thus  they 
proceed.  The  Union,  they  say,  is  in  clanger,  it  must  be  maintained,  we  must 
maintain  it.  Then,  as  it  becomes  necessary  to  make  the  people  believe  all  this, 
they  magnify  whatever  they  can  force  into  an  opposition  to  the  Union,  or  what- 
ever they  can  bring  forward  as  a  source  of  disunion,  thereby  creating  and  ex- 
tending the  very  peril  they  pretend  to  put  down.  Sly  Sam,  he  is  quite  a  Nic 
Macchiavelli  on  a  small  scale.  It  was  in  this  manner  the  Convention  at  Phila- 
delphia gave  that  importance  to  the  fanatics  of  the  North  which  otherwise  they 
could  not  have  attained.  It  enabled  them  to  assume  the  appearance  of  a  digni- 
fied minority  retiring  undismayed,  from  the  injustice  of  force  and  numbers. 
By  such  tricks  the  Know  Nothings  would  justify  all  this  outcry  about  Union. 
They  are  endeavoring  to  get  up  something  like  an  opposition  to  it  that  they  may 
appear  to  have  something  to  battle  with  on  that  ground. 

IV.  More  fine  speeches.  Obedience  to  the  Constitution  !  "A  habit  of  re- 
verential obedience  to  the  laws !"  When  the  Know  Nothings  recognise  that  it 
is  necessary  for  them  solemnly  to  assure  the  people  that  they  will  obey  the  Con- 
stitution and  laws,  it  is  a  case  for  the  merry  to  laugh  at,  and  the  grave  to  pity. 
But  mark  the  difference  !  There  is  no  devotion  or  loyalty  to  the  Constitution 


451 

expressed  here ;  nothing  but  a  cold  obedience,  very  much  as  when  men  obey 
and  submit  to  laws  that  condemn  them.  But  they  have  a  tender  and  sacred  re- 
gard for  certain  acts  of  statesmanship,  &c.  What  is  meant  by  this  ?  What- 
ever particular  act  may  be  referred  to,  it  is  plain  the  Know  Nothings  set  above 
the  laws,  the  compact  of  Union,  and  the  Constitution  in  their  political  devo- 
tions, certain  acts  of  statesmanship,  as  a  fixed  and  settled  national  policy.  There 
is  a  lurking*  peril  here,  skillfully  concealed,  it  is  true,  and  which,  to  develope, 
would  require  more  space  than  we  can  give  to  the  whole  platform. 

V.  Here  they  show  what  they  mean  by  reverence  for  the  laws.     They  only 
require  that  the  laws  be  radically  revised.     Not  so  bad  for  Sam  !     When  he  is 
about  to  declare  himself  in  opposition  to  anything,  he  first  displays  any  amount 
of  respect  and  veneration  for  it. 

VI.  In  Article  sixth,  the  Know  Nothings  continue  to  show  their  regard  for 
the  laws  by  repealing,  modifying,  &c.,  another  whole  class  of  them.     Most  ex- 
cellent Sam  !     While  the  people  are  growing  more  jealous  of  Federal  tenden- 
cies, here  is  a  Convention  sending  out  its  decrees  to  the  State  Legislatures. 

Those  who  framed  our  Constitution  never  intended  that  a  body  called  the  Na- 
tional Council,  should  assume  the  part  of  dictator,  pronounce  upon  the  details 
of  legislative  enactments  in  the  States ;  the  action  of  Congress ;  the  regulation 
of  the  Executive  ;  the  Constitution  and  the  Union ;  a  national  system  of  educa- 
tion; the  limitation  of  the  religious  rights  or  opinions  of  the  people  j  and  set 
forth  a  peculiar  sectarian  definition  of  the  Supreme  Being.  It  is  fortunate  that 
this  body,  insignificant  in  itself,  should  have  been  rendered  still  more  so,  by  a 
violent  disruption  and  secession  ;  fortunate  that  its  members  are  such  political 
ciphers  that  their  ukase  possesses  no  shade  of  authority. 

Our  American  form  of  government  recognizes  no  such  thing  as  a  National 
Council.  Let  the  Know  Nothings  disguise  themselves  as  they  will,  they  never 
hit  upon  the  true  American  feeling,  tone,  look  and  bearing.  Least  of  all  can 
they  do  so  by  reviving  the  old  Whig  attempts  to  "  palsy  the  will  of  the  constitu- 
ent/' such  as  is  this  of  a  National  Council. 

VII.  If  the  reader  has  any  inclination  to  risibility,  it  will  be  almost  impossi- 
ble to  read  the  7th  Article  without  a  smile  or  even  a  genuine,  frank,  hearty 
laugh.     This  article  is  specially  adapted  to  assist  digestion.     "  Corrupt  means 
of  forcing  upon  people  political  creeds  !"     Was  ever  a  creed  forced  upon  people 
before  in  this  land   with  such   violence  as  Know  Nothingism  ?     Some  curious 
experiments  were  once  made  by  a  naturalist  in  forcing  turkies  to  swallow  iron 
balls  covered  with  strong  and  sharp  prickles.     The  operations  of  Sam  are  very 
similar  to  those  experiments ;  and  his  platform  to  those  iron  balls.     When  the 
turkies  were  killed,  it  was  found  that  the  action  of  their  internal  organs  had 
completely  worn  down  the  iron  spikes,  so  that  no  sign  of  them  remained.    Most 
of  the  principles  of  this  platform  appear  to  be,  in  the  same  way,  worn  down  by 
the  individual  moral  gizzards  of  those  who  assume  to  belong  to  that  party.     Sam 
further  professes  admiration  for  the  maxim  that  "  Office  should  seek  the  man, 
and  not  man  the  office."     Is  not  this  an  exquisitely  touching  specimen  of  Ar- 
cadian  simplicity  and  verdant  innocence  ?     What  high  esteem  Sam  has  shown 
for  this  sentiment  and  the  will  of  the  people  in  the  case  of  Franklin  Pierce  and 
Henry  A.  Wise ! 

VIII.  If  in  the  8th  Article  the  National  Council  had   commenced  by  say- 
ing,  "  Blue  is  yellow  :  to  conclude,  therefore,  blue   is  red,"   they  would   have 
been  quite  as  logical  as  they  are  in  what  they  do  say.     But  if  Sam  will  be  ab- 
surd, he  is  unfortunate  in  always  being  so  when  on  the  subject  of  religion.     He 
may  rest  assured  that  Americans  intend  to  govern  America  without  requiring 
his  permission.     And   the  proof  is,  that  no  share  of  administration  will  be  en- 
trusted to  the  Grand  Mogul  or  his  adhereuts;  for  we  Americans  have  a  natural 
antipathy  for  despotism. 


452 

IX.  This  is  one  of  the  prickles  which  Know  Nothing  gizzards  will  soonest 
wear  down. 

X.  Here  is  the  first  and  only  principle  in  the  platform  that  properly  belongs 
to  an  exposition  of  political  views  by  a  party.     It  is,  moreover,  expressed  in  a 
sensible,  straightforward  manner.     It  is  fairly  "opening  a  plain  issue  for  public 
opinion,  which  the  people  will  settle  to  their  satisfaction.     Sam  would  do  well 
to  press  this  matter  vigorously. 

XL  The  first  two  lines  here  are  excellent  in  themselves.  But  tne  principle 
they  contain  is  not  altogether  proper  for  a  party  platform.  However,  the  thing 
is  to  good  in  itself,  that  this  would  matter  little.  But  Sam,  with  his  usual  pro- 
pensity for  spoiling  his  own  work  when  not  already  bad,  immediately  proceeds 
to  overlay  it  with  a  mass  of  verbiage  that  completely  alters  its  first  significance. 
The  question  of  the  Bible  in  schools  is,  in  particular,  misplaced  in  a  platform  of 
party  principles. 

But  on  behalf  of  the  good  people  of  these  United  States,  one  request  is  to 
be  made  of  the  Know  Nothings.  Let  them  think,  act  and  speak  as  they  will ; 
let  them  rage  on  to  their  satisfaction  about  Catholic  and  Foreigner ;  but  let 
them  not  meddle  with  education.  Their  party  is  going  to  pieces  before  it  is 
fairly  built  up,  but  a  threat  like  this  would  cut  -short  the  slender  chances  of 
popularity  they  have  remaining.  A  rush  of  fanatics  from  Boston  and  New 
York  would  be  let  loose  to  propagate  Abolitionism,  Bloomerism,  Fourierism, 
and  every  pestilent  .device  of  the  denizens  of  those  menageries  of  monomaniacs, 
throughout  all  our  borders.  The  newspaper  is  the  whole,  or  almost  the  whole 
education  of  numbers;  and  a  noble  system  of  morals,  religion,  politics,  histo- 
rical, philosophical  and  social  science,  and  taste  in  literature  and  art,  might  be 
diffused  by  a  well-conducted  press.  The  newspaper  is  a  school,  without  seeming 
so,  which  may  disseminate  throughout  the  community  a  spirit  of  high  refine- 
ment and  cultivation,  maintaining  that  due  balance  between  different  important 
subjects  which  it  is  so  difficult  to  adjust;  rendering  rightful  honor  to  rare  ex- 
amples of  morality  and  piety,  and  so  spreading  the  emulation  of  these  quali- 
ties ;  keeping  alive  among  the  people  a  correct  understanding  of  the  political 
principles  upon  which  our  constitution,  laws  and  social  characteristics  are  foun- 
ded, in  which  lie  the  sources  of  our  independence  and  happiness  as  men  and  as 
a  nation ;  and  reflecting  an  image  of  the  progress  of  the  useful  and  finer  arts 
which  belong  to  true  civilization  and  enlightenment.  The  career  of  Benjamin 
Franklin,  which  commenced  with  a  newspaper,  to  end  with  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  may  be  referred  to  here  as  an  illustration  of  this  subject.  But 
rako  up  New  England,  New  York  and  Pennsylvania— rake  up  the  Know  No- 
thing press  everywhere,  and  it  will  appear  what  Sam  is  likely  to  do  in  this 
matter,  to  say  nothing  of  the  stupendous  system  of  deception  he  has  saved  from 
the  ruins  of  the  Whig  party. 

XII.  Another  pretended  defence  of  the  Union.  Sam,  however,  has  so  little 
of  our  national  character  in  his  composition,  that  he  is  incapable  of  barely  un- 
derstanding what  union  means.  His  essential  instincts  are  against  union. 
From  the  first  it  was  necessary  to  bind  his  adherents  by  oath  to  keep  them 
united  together,  and  to  veil  their  proceedings  in  secrecy  to  hide  their  dissen- 
nions.  No  sooner  do  the  Know  Nothings  attempt  to  come  out  as  a  national 
party,  than  they  divide  in  two.  Is  not  this  a  fine  sample  of  union  ?  They 
have  sown  dissension  between  Protestant  and  Catholic.  Is  this  their  idea  of 
union  ?  They  have  arrayed  native  against  foreigner,  parent  against  son.  la 
this  union  ?  They  have  even  formed  a  plan  of  dividing  American  from  Ameri- 
can by  secret  organization.  They  have  built  a  wall  between  North  and  South, 
where  there  was  only  a  narrow  ditch  before.  They  have  introduced  a  quarrel 
between  the  people  and  the  executive,  where  before,  it  was  understood  and 
agreed,  that  the  executive  was  the  people,  that  it  stood  for  and  represented  them. 
They  have  carried  the  harsh  and  bitter  spirit  of  division  into  the  matter  of  edu- 


463 

cation.  But  to  pursue  the  enumeration  no  farther,  we  ask  again,  are  not  these 
fine  samples  of  Sam's  conception  of  union '( 

Are  the  Know  Nothings  entitled  to  prate  about  maintaining  the  Union  ?  As 
well  might  a  man  born  blind  attempt  to  paint  the  rainbow,  the  finest  natural 
emblem  of  the  covenant  of  union,  as  Sam  to  persuade  the  people  to  entrust  this 
Union  of  sovereign  States  to  his  care. 

Sam  makes  the  following  astounding  announcement :  "  There  can  be  no  dis- 
honour in  submitting  to  the  laws".  Now  this  looks  so  like  a  very  commonplace 
truism,  every  citizen  should  respect  the  laws,  that  at  first  it  appears  to  be  mere 
filling  up.  But  wishing  to  do  Sam  justice,  a  closer  examination  leads  to  the 
question  :  why  did  he  give  it  this  peculiar  form  of  expression  ?  Then,  looking 
to  see  what  laws  in  particular  are  referred  to,  it  appears  that  existing  laws  on 
the  subject  of  slavery  are  meant.  This  lets  in  a  flash  of  light.  And  now  we 
fully  conceive  this  brilliant  sentiment:  " There  can  be  no  dishonor  in  submit- 
ting to  the  laws'' — oh,  no ;  the  dishonor  lies  upon  the  head  of  those  who  made 
the  laws.  This  is  what  Sam  intends  by  his,  at  first,  unaccountable  mention  of 
dishonor. 

And  now,  how  is  Sam  going  to  submit  to  these  laws  ?  His  platform,  Arti- 
cles IV.,  V.,  VI.,  the  reader  has  not  forgotten,  shows  that  his  way  of  submit- 
ting to  the  laws  is  to  set  about  a  "  radical  and  essential"  "  revision,"  "  modifi- 
cation" and  "  repeal"  of  the  laws.  A  word  to  the  wise. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  in  the  National  Council  the  words  Union,  Constitu- 
tion, and  some  others  were  incessantly  repeated,  but  still  less  that  the  word  by 
far  most  frequently  uttered,  and  most  vehemently  by  every  fragment  of  that 
disunited  body,  was  Treason.  If  every  part  pronounced  this  of  the  rest,  is  it 
too  much  to  make  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  council  of  it,  to  be  applied  to  the 
whole  body  ? 

XIII.  Is  a  very  pretty  sentiment. 

XIV.  Here  Sam  fulfils  a  prediction  we  made  long  ago.     His  self  importance 
made  him  altogether  too  talkative  to  refrain  from  letting  out  his  secret  on  the 
least  occasion.     He  now  gives  up  the  attempt.     And,  like  Samson  of  old,  the 
Delilah  of  hope  having  fondled  the  mystery  out  of  him,  will  cut  off  his  locks  ; 
and  he  will  lose  the  only  source  of  his  strength.     No  more,  tying  together  of 
foxes  by  the  tail;  no  more  slaughters  with  the  jawbone  of  an  ass  !     Alas,  poor 
Sammy ! 


From  the  Union. 
FOREIGN-BORN  CITIZENS  IN  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION. 

The  writer  of  this  communication  is  a  native  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
and  his  ancestors,  for  not  less  than  six  generations,  were  also  natives  of  this 
country.  This  circumstance  will  tend  to  show  that  he  can  have  no  natural  bias 
or  prejudice  in  favor  of  foreigners.  In  common  with  other  native  citizens,  he 
has  sometimes  heard  with  regret  of  newly-arrived  foreigners  interfering  with  or 
assuming  an  undue  importance  in  our  elections,  and  lacking  that  modest  defer- 
ence to  intelligent  native-born  citizens  that  common  sense  urges  as  due  to  them, 
and  which  is  also  due,  to  a  certain  extent,  to  the  intelligent  foreign-born  citizens 
of  long  residence  among  us.  But  is  it  prudent  or  just  for  this  cause  to  join  in 
a  general  and  indiscriminate  crusade  against  all  foreigners  ?  As  regards  the 
prudence  of  such  a  course,  are  we  not  suffering  now,  in  the  high  prices  of  all 
kinds  of  edible  products,  for  the  want  of  thousands  of  brawny  arms  to  subdue 
our  almost  countless  acres  of  uncultivated  land?  And,  as  regards  its  justice, 
are  we  not  morally  bound  to  look  to  our  history,  and  to  reflect  that  this  is  a 


454 

country  which,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  Indian  tribes,  is  made  up  of  emi- 
gration— of  Penn  and  his  peaceful  colonists,  to  Pennsylvania ;  of  the  Pilgrim 
fathers,  driven  to  Plymouth  Rock ;  of  Calvert  and  his  followers,  seeking  reli- 
gious liberty  on  the  shores  of  Maryland ;  of  the.  Huguenots,  taking  refuge  in 
South  Carolina;  and  of  innumerable  companies  of  colonists  ever  since,  fleeing 
from  religious  and  political  persecutions,  and  finding  an  asylum  in  this  hitherto 
happy  country  ?  In  the  language  of  Hezekiah  Niles'  patriotic  song — 

(S  'Tis  my  now  native  land,  happy  land  of  the  free ; 
5Tis  the  last  hope  of  all  men — of  sweet  liberty  !" 

Yes  !  the  liberty  of  conscience,  the  liberty  of  speech,  and  the  liberty  of  parti- 
cipating in  "  the  pursuit  of  happiness/'  so  long  as  there  is  no  trenching  on  the 
rights  of  a  neighbor. 

But  I  do  not  propose  to  enter  into  an  argument  on  the  propriety  of  a  general 
disfranchisement  of  foreigners — a  subject  which  has  already  been  so  ably  ar- 
gued as  to  leave  those  who  favored  extreme  disqualification  with  hardly  any 
ground  to  stand  upon — but  siinpl/to  show  how  large  a  debt  we  had  contracted 
towards  persons  of  foreign  birth  for  the  liberty  we  now  enjoy — liberties  achieved 
by  those  gallant  spirits,  mostly  native,  but  many  of  them  foreign,  who  in  our 
revolutionary  war  battled  for  American  independence,  and  the  rights  of  civil 
and  religious  freedom. 

I  have  no  immediate  means  of  determining  what  number  of  valiant  men  born 
out  of  the  country  drew  the  sword  and  shouldered  the  musket  in  our  revolution- 
ary contest;  but  no  man  can  read  any  history  of  that  important  period  of  our 
national  existence  without  being  satisfied  that  there  were  thousands  so  engaged. 
We  have,  however,  abundant  evidence  to  show  that  many  of  those  persons  ren- 
dered themselves  illustrious  by  their  heroic  deeds,  and  that  the  record  of  "  the 
times  that  tried  men's  souls"  has  woven  for  them  an  imperishable  chaplet.  I 
will  cite  the  names  of  a  few  : 

Commodore  John  Barry,  born  in  the  county  of  Wexford,  Ireland,  command- 
ed the  ship  Black  Prince,  that  was  converted  into  a  vessel  of  war,  and  subse- 
quently he  was  appointed  by  Congress  to  command  the  brig  Lexington,  of  16 
§uns;  then  the  Ilaleigh,  of  32  guns;  then  the  frigates  Alliance  and  the  United 
tates ;  and  in  a  number  of  actions  shed  lustre  on  the  young  flag  of  America. 

Judge  George  Bryan,  born  in  Dublin,  Ireland.  His  father  having  given  him 
a  sufficiency  to  establish  him  in  mercantile  business,  at  the  age  of  21  he  em- 
barked for  Philadelphia,  where  he  remained  until  his  death.  He  was  a  delegate 
to  Congress  in  1775,  in  which  he  became  known  for  his  advocacy  of  petitions 
and  remonstrances  against  the  arbitrary  measures  of  Great  Britain.  Soon  after 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  he  was  elected  Lieutenant  Governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  afterwards  Governor  of  that  State.  Subsequently  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Legislature,  and  then  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania — 
such  was  then  the  gratitude  of  the  American  people  for  the  services  of  foreign- 
born  citizens. 

Captain  James  Chrystie,  born  in  Edinburg,  Scotland,  in  1777  was  promoted 
to  the  command  of  a  company,  which  he  held  until  the  end  of  the  war.  On 
the  discovery  of  Arnold's  plot  at  West  Point,  Gen.  Washington  selected  Cap- 
tain Chrystie  for  an  important  service,  and  said  to  him  :  "  Captain  Chrystie,  you 
are  to  receive  no  written  orders  from  me.  The  business  is  that  you  proceed  with 
all  possible  expedition  to  West  Point,  and  examin-e  particularly  the  state  of  that 
garrison  in  every  respect;  and  to  visit  all  the  intermediate  posts  for  the  same 
purpose.  Make  this  known  to  no  one  but  the  commanding  officer  at  each  post ; 
and  you  are  to  enjoin  on  them  the  secrecy  of  the  grave;  commit  nothing  to  wri- 
ting." Here  the  General  paused.  "  Has  your  excellency -any  further  orders  ?" 
enquired  Captain  Chrystie.  "  Yes/'  replied  the  General,  "  one,  and  a  very  se- 


455 

rious  one ;  that  is,  Captain  Chrystie,  that  on  this  occasion  you  are  not  to  let  me 
hear  of  your  being  taken  prisoner.  Do  you  understand  me  ?"  "  Perfectly  well," 
replied  Captain  Chrystie,  "  you  shall  not  hear  of  that  event."  Captain  Chrystie 
proceeded  alone,  and  executed  this  commission  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  and 
made  such  a  report  as  set  the  mind  of  General  Washington  perfectly  at  ease. 

Charles  Clinton,  born  in  Ireland,  (father  of  George  Clinton,  afterwards  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States,)  died  in  1773,  in  the  83d  year  of  his  age,  con- 
juring his  .sons  in  his  last  moments  to  stand  by  the  liberties  of  their  country. 

Major  Willian  Croghan,  born  in  Ireland,  was  engaged  in  the  battles  of  Bran- 
dywine,  Germantown  and  Monmouth.  He  was  the  father  of  Col.  George  Cro- 
ghan, the  gallant  defender  of  Fort  Saudusky  in  our  second  war  with  Great 
Britain. 

Colonel  William  Richardson  Davie,  born  in  White  Haven,  England,  com- 
manded a  battalion  of  dragoons  with  much  credit  during  the  revolutionary  war; 
and  subsequently  rose  to  great  eminence  at  the  bar  in  North  Carolina,  and  was 
sent  as  ambassador  to  France  by  the  elder  President  Adams. 

Major  General  Horatio  Gates,  born  in  England,  was  called  from  his  retire- 
ment in  Virginia,  and  recommended  to  Congress  by  General  Washington.  His 
great  services,  especially  at  Saratoga,  have  made  his  name  a  household  word. 

Major  William  Gwinn,  born  in  Ireland,  joined  the  revolutionary  army  in 
1776,  and  .  served  with  credit.  He  died  in  Baltimore  county  in  1819,  in  the 
70th  year  of  his  age. 

Alexander  Hamilton,  born  in  the  island  of  St.  Croix,  in  the  "West  Indies, 
was  distinguished  through  the  revolutionary  war  for  his  high  qualifications  in 
military  science — especially  at  Yorktown — and  was  our  first  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury. 

General  William  Irvine,  born  in  Ireland,  joined  the  revolutionary  army  in 
1774  ;  and  was  an  active  member  of  a  public  meeting  recommending  Congress 
to  assemble,  denouncing  the  Boston  port  bill,  expressing  a  sympathy  with  the 
sufferers,  and  declaring  their  willingness  and  determination  to  make  any  sacri- 
fices necessary  for  the  support  of  American  rights.  He  was  appointed  a  colonel 
of  a  regiment,  in  command  of  which  he  was  captured  in  an  attempt  to  surprise 
a  vanguard  of  the  British  army.  After  his  release  he  became  the  commanding 
General  of  the  second  Pennsylvania  brigade. 

Andrew  Irvine,  a  brother  to  the  foregoing,  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  revolu- 
tionary war. 

Colonel  (afterwards  General)  James  Jackson,  born  in  Devon,  England,  was 
distinguished  for  his  military  services  in  the  South  during  the  revolutionary 
war.  He  died  in  the  city  of  Washington  on  the  19th  of  January,  1806,  while 
attending  to  his  duties  as  a  Senator  of  the  United  States. 

Major  John  James,  born  in  Ireland,  was  distinguished  for  his  military  ser- 
vices in  the  South. 

Commodore  John  Paul  Jones,  born  in  Galway  county,  Scotland.  His  match- 
less naval  prowess  and  courage  told  with  terrible  effect  on  the  mother  country. 

Major  General  Baron  De  Kalb,  born  in  Germany,  received  eleven  wounds  in 
the  battle  of  Camden.  To  a  British  officer,  who  condoled  with  him,  he  said  : 
"  L  thank  you  for  your  generous  sympathy,  but  I  die  the  death  I  always  prayed 
for — the  death  of  a  soldier  fighting  for  the  rights  of  man."  He  survived  but  a 
few  days.  Congress  resolved  that  a  monument  should  be  erected  to  his  memory 
in  the  town  of  Annapolis,  State  of  Maryland. 

Thacfdeus  Kosciusko,  born  in  Poland — his  fame  classic  in  two  hemispheres. 

General  Hugh  Mercer,  born  in  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  distinguished  himself  in 
the  battles  of  Trenton  and  Princeton. 

Major  General  Richard  Montgomery,  born  in  Ireland,  fell  in  the  attack  on 
Quebec,  December  31,  1775,  aged  38.  In  a  debate  in  the  British  Parliament, 
the  death  of  this  gallant  general  was  lamented  in  strains  of  the  most  pathetic 


456 

eloquence  that  ever  were  heard  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Three  of  the  prin- 
cipal orators,  Mr.  Burke,  Mr.  Fox,  and  Colonel  Barrc,  vied  with  each  other  in 
the  panegyric  of  that  hero.  General  Burgoyne,  though  he  expressed  a  strong 
zeal  against  the  American  cause,  in  a  very  handsome  manner  did  justice  to  his 
merits,  and  said  that  all  his  virtues  were  abundantly,  rewarded  when  they  were 
thus  "  praised,  wept  and  honored  by  the  muse  he  loved."  Lord  North,  the 
prime  minister,  censured  the  unqualified  liberality  of  the  praises  bestowed  on 
General  Montgomery  by  the  gentlemen  of  the  opposition,  because  they  were 
"bestowed  on  a  rebel ;  and  said  he  couM  not  join  in  lamenting  his  death  as  a 
public  loss.  He  admitted  that  he  was  brave  ;  that  he  was  able ;  that  he  was 
humane ;  that  he  was  generous ;  but  still  he  was  only  a  brave,  able,  humane 
and  generous  rebel ;  and  said  that  the  verse  of  the  tragedy  of  Cato  might  be 
applied  to  him  : 

"  Curse  on  his  virtues,  they've  undone  his  country." 

Robert  Morris,  born  in  Liverpool,  England,  was  the  superintendent  of  our 
finances  during  the  revolutionary  war,  and  his  credit  supplied  the  country  when, 
the  military  chest  had  been  drained  of  its  last  dollar. 

Major  General  William  Moultrie,  born  in  England,  was  distinguished  for  his 
heroic  services  in  the  revolutionary  war,  and  especially  for  his  defence  of  the 
city  of  Charleston.  He  was  afterwards  Governor  of  South  Carolina. 

Thomas  Paine,  born  in  England,  was  the  author  of  "  Common  Sense,"  "The 
Crisis/'  "  Rights  of  Man/'  &c.  Whatever  his  faults,  he  rendered  powerful 
aid  by  his  pen  to  the  revolutionary  cause. 

Count  Pulaski,  born  in  Poland,  was  mortally  wounded  in  defence  of  the  city 
of  Savannah,  where  Congress  has  erected  a  monument  to  his  memory. 

Major  General  Frederick  William  Steuben,  born  in  Prussia,  was  a  volunteer 
in  the  action  at  Monmoufch,  and  commanded  in  the  trenches  at  Yorktown  on 
the  day  which  terminated  our  revolutionary  struggle  with  Great  Britain. 

Major  General  Gilbert  Lafayette,  born  in  France.  In  "  Dunlap's  Pennsyl- 
vania Packet/'  printed  in  Philadelphia,  of  August  19,  1777,  I  find,  in  a  letter 
from  an  American  in  Paris  to  a  gentleman  in  Pennsylvania,  dated  April  10, 
1777,  the  following  announcement : 

44  This  letter  will  be  put  into  your  hands  by  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  of  a 
noble  and  ancient  family  in  France,  connected  by  birth  and  marriage  with  the 
first  in  the  kingdom,  and  in  possession  of  an  estate  of  upwards  of  fourteen  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling  per  annum,  beloved  and  almost  adored  by  his  numerous 
acquaintance  ;  but  preferring  glory  to  every  enjoyment  which  these  in  the  arms 
of  a  young  and  beautiful  wife  and  young  family,  could  give  him,  he  courts  dan- 
ger in  defence  of  our  cause,  which  is  here  universally  celebrated  as  the  cause  of 
mankind." 

He  came  and  lent  us  his  powerful  aid,  shedding  his  blood  in  defence  of  our 
liberties.  From  Brandywine  to  Yorktown  his  name  shines  conspicuous  in  our 
annals. 

Fellow-citizens,  in  the  Representatives'  Hall  of  yonder  capitol  there  are  two 
portraits — one  of  GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  the  Father  of  his  Country,  the  other 
of  GILBERT  LAFAYETTE,  who  crossed  the  ocean  to  strike  for  freedom.  Will 
you,  with  sacrilegious  hand  and  base  ingratitude,  tear  down  the  latter  from 
those  walls  in  obedience  to  a  senseless  fanaticism  against  foreigners  ?  I  trust 
not.  f.  J. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  May  8,  1855. 


457 


From  the  Richmond  Enquirer. 
KNOW  NOTHINGISM  UNVEILED. 

"We  comply  with  the  request  of  patriotic  Democrats  in  North  Carolina  and, 
to-day  publish  at  length  the  Constitution  of  the  "  National  Council  of  the 
United  States  of  North  America,"  and  the  State  Council  of  North  Carolina, 
with  the  Ritual,  Degrees  and  all  the  other  paraphernalia  of  the  most  mischie- 
vous and  dangerous  oligarchy  that  ever  conspired  against  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  The  election  in  the  old  North  State  is  rapidly  approaching,  and  our 
friends  are  making  a  gallant  fight.  They  feel  confident  that  the  people  of 
North  Carolina  cannot  hesitate  as  to  their  duty,  when  they  shall  be  enlightened 
as  to  the  trickery  and  monstrous  purposes  of  a  Secret  Order,  whose  inevitable 
tendency  is  to  destroy  all  individual  freedom  of  action,  and  to  make  Americans 
the  blind  and  servile  instruments  of  an  irresponsible,  Jesuitical,  proscriptive 
and  tyrannical  oligarchy.  In  North  Carolina  the  Democracy  are  waging  un- 
compromising war  upon  Know  Nothingism,  exposing  its  dark  movements  and 
purposes,  and  appealing  to  the  intelligence,  honesty  and  patriotism  of  the 
people.  By  such  a  course  the  Democracy  of  Virginia  laid  "  Sam"  low — a 
similar  result  will  be  seen  in  North  Carolina.  All  that  the  people  want  is  light 
— and  a  flood  of  it  is  shed  upon  the  subject  by  the  following  publication  of  of- 
ficial Know  Nothing  documents.  They  explain  themselves,  and  require  no 
comment : 

Constitution  of  the  National  Council  of  the   United  States  of  North  Ame- 
rica. 

ARTICLE  FIRST. 

Tins  organization  shall  be  known  by  the  name  and  title  of  THE  NATION- 
AL COUNCIL  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  NORTH  AMERIQA,  and 

its  jurisdiction  and  power  shall  extend  to  all  the  States,  Districts  and  Territo- 
ries of  the  United  States  of  North  America. 

ARTICLE  SECOND. 

The  object  of  this  organization  shall  be  to  protect  every  American  citizen  in 
the  legal  and  proper  exercise  of  all  his  civil  and  religious  rights  and  privileges ; 
to  resist  the  insidious  policy  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  all  other  foreign  in- 
fluence against  our  republican  institutions  in  all  lawful  ways ;  to  place  in  all 
offices  of  honor,  trust,  or  profit,  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  or  by  appointment, 
none  but  native  born  Protestant  citizens,  and  to  protect,  preserve  and  uphold 
the  union  of  these  States  and  the  Constitution  of  the  same. 

ARTICLE  THIRD. 

Sec.  1. — A  person  to  become  a  member  of  any  Subordinate  Council  must  be 
twenty-one  years  of  age ;  he  must  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being 
as  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  Universe.  He  must  be  a  native  born  citi- 
zen ;  a  Protestant,  either  born  of  Protestant  parents,  or  reared  under  Protestant 
influence ;  and  not  united  in  marrriage  with  a  Roman  Catholic  ;  provided,  ne- 
vertheless, that  in  this  last  respect,  the  State,  District  or  Territorial  Councils 
shall  be  authorized  to  so  construct  th'eir  respective  Constitutions  as  shall  best 
promote  the  interests  of  the  American  cause  in  their  several  jurisdictions;  and 
provided,  moreover,  that  no  member  who  may  have  a  Roman  Catholic  wife  shall 


458 

fee  eligible  to  office  in  this  Order ;  and  provided,  further,  should  any  State, 
District  or  Territorial  Council  prefer  the  words  "  Roman  Catholic"  as  a  disqua- 
lification to  membership,  in  place  of  u  Protestant"  as  a  qualification,  they  may 
so  consider  this  Constitution  and  govern  their  action  accordingly. 

Sec.  2. — There  shall  be  an  interval  of  three  weeks  between  the  conferring 
of  the  First  and  Second  Degrees ;  and  of  three  months  between  the  conferring 
of  the  Second  and  Third  Degrees — provided,  that  this  restriction  shall  not  ap- 
ply to  those  who  may  have  received  the  Second  Degree  previous  to  the  first  day 
of  December  next ;  and  provided,  further,  that  the  Presidents  of  State,  Dis- 
trict, and  Territorial  Councils  may  grant  dispensations  for  initiating  in  all  the 
Degrees,  officers  of  new  Councils. 

Sec.  3. — The  National  Council  shall  hold  its  Annual  meetings  on  the  first 
Tuesday  in  the  month  of  June,  at  such  place  as  may  be  designated  by  the  Na- 
tional Council  at  the  previous  Annual  meeting,  and  it  may  adjourn  from  time  to 
time.  Special  meetings  may  be  called  by  the  President,  on  the  written  request 
of  five  delegations  representing  five  State  Councils ;  provided,  that  sixty  day's 
notice  shall  be  given  to  the  State  Councils  previous  to  said  meeting. 

Sec.  4. — The  National  Council  shall  be  composed  of  seven  delegates  from 
each  State,  to  be  chosen  by  the  State  Councils ;  and  each  District  or  Territory 
where  a  District  or  Territorial  Council  shall  exist,  shall  be  entitled  to  send  two 
delegates,  to  be  chosen  from  said  Council — provided,  that  in  the  nomination  of 
candidates  for  President  and  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  each  State 
shall  be  entitled  to  cast  the  same  number  of  votes  as  they  shall  have  members 
in  both  Houses  of  Congress.  In  all  sessions  of  the  National  Council,  thirty- 
two  delegates,  representing  thirteen  States,  Territories  or  Districts,  shall  consti- 
tute a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  business. 

Sec.  5. — The  National  Council  shall  be  vested  with  the  following  powers  and 
privileges  : 

It  shall  be  the  head  of  the  Organization  for  the  United  States  of  North 
America,  and  shall  fix  and  establish  all  signs,  grips,  passwords,  and  such  other 
secret  work,  as  may  seem,  to  it  necessary. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  decide  all  matters  appertaining  to  National  Poli- 
tics. 

It^shall  have  the  power  to  exact  from  the  State  Councils,  quarterly  or  annual 
statements  as  to  the  number  of  members  under  their  jurisdictions,  and  in  relor 
tion  to  all  other  matters  necessary  for  its  information. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  form  State,  Territorial  or  District  Councils,  and  to 
grant  dispensations  for  the  formation  of  such  bodies,  when  five  Subordinate 
Councils  shall  have  been  put  in  operation  in  any  State,  Territory,  or  District, 
and  application  made. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  determine  upon  a  mode  of  punishment  in  case  of 
any  dereliction  of  duty  on  the  part  of  its  members  or  officers. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  adopt  cabalistic  characters  for  the  purpose  of 
writing  or  telegraphing.  Said  characters  to  be  communicated  to  the  Presidents 
of  the  State  Councils,  and  by  them  to  the  Presidents  of  the  Subordinate 
Councils. 

It  shall  have  the  power  to  adopt  any  and  every  measure  it  may  deem  neces- 
sary to  secure  the  success  of  the  Organization;  provided,  that  nothing  shall  be 
done  by  the  said  National  Council  in  violation  of  the  Constitution ;  and  pro- 
vided further,  that  in  all  political  matters,  its  members  may  be  instructed  by 
the  State  Councils,  and  if  so  instructed,  shall  carry  out  such  instructions  off  the 
State  Councils  which  they  represent  untfl  overruled  by  a  majority  of  the  Na- 
tional Council. 


459 

% 
ARTICLE  FOURTH. 

The  President  shall  always  preside  over  the  National  Council  when  present, 
and  in  his  absence  the  Vice  President  shall  preside,  and  in  the  absence  of  both 
the  National  Council  shall  appoint  a  President  pro  tempore  ;  and  the  presiding 
officers  may  at  all  times  call  a  member  to  the  chair,  but  such  appointment  shall 
not  extend  beyond  one  sitting  of  the  National  Council. 

ARTICLE  FIFTH. 

Sec.  1. — The  officers  of  the  National  Council  shall  be  a  President,  Yice 
President,  Chaplain,  Corresponding  Secretary,  Recording  Secretary,  Treasurer, 
and  two  Sentinels ;  with  such  other  officers  as  the  National  Council  may  see  fit 
to  appoint  from  time  to  time  ]  and  the  Secretaries  and  Sentinels  may  receive 
such  compensation  as  the  National  Council  shall  determine. 

Sec.  2. — The  duties  of  the  several  officers  created  by  this  Constitution  shall 
be  such  as  the  work  of  this  Organization  prescribes. 

ARTICLE   SIXTH. 

Sec.  1. — All  officers  provided  for  by  this  Constitution,  except  the  Sentinels, 
shall  be  elected  annually  by  ballot.  The  President  may  appoint  Sentinels  from 
time  to  time. 

Sec.  2. — A  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast  shall  be  requisite  to  an  election  for 
an  office. 

Sec.  3. — All  officers  and  delegates  of  this  Council,  and  of  all  State,  District, 
Territorial  and  Subordinate  Councils,  must  be  invested  with  all  the  Degrees  of 
this  Order. 

Sec.  4. — All  vacancies  in  the  elective  offices  shall  be  filled  by  a  vote  of  the 
National  Council,  and  only  for  the  unexpired  term  of  the  said  vacancy. 

ARTICLE  SEVENTH. 

Sec.  1. — The  National  Council  shall  entertain  and  decide  all  cases  of  appeal 
and  it  shall  establish  a  form  of  appeal. 

Sec.  2. — The  National  Council  shall  levy  a  tax  upon  the  State,  District,  or 
Territorial  Councils,  for  the  support  of  the  National  Council,  to  be  paid  in  such 
manner  and  at  such  times  as  the  National  Council  shall  determine. 

ARTICLE  EIGHTH. 

This  National  Council  may  alter  and  amend  this  Constitution  at  its  regular 
Annual  meeting  in  June  next,  by  a  vote  of  the  majority  of  the  whole  number 
of  the  members  present.  (CINCINNATI,  Nov.  24,  1854.) 


RULES  AND  REGULATIONS. 

Rule  one. — Each  State,  District  or  Territory,  in  which  there  may  exist  five 
or  more  Subordinate  Councils  working  under  dispensations  from  the  National 
Council  of  the  United  States  of  North  America,  or  under  regular  dispensations 
from  some  State,  District  or  Territory,  are  duly  empowered  to  establish  them- 
selves into  a  State,  District  or  Territorial  Council,  and  when  so  established,  to 
form  for  themselves  Constitutions  and  By-Laws  for  their  government,  in  pur- 
suance of,  and  in  consonance  with,  the  Constitution  of  the  National  Council  of 


460 


the  United  States ;  provided,  however,  that  all  District,  or  Territorial  Constitu- 
tions shall  be  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  National  Council  of  the  United 
States.  (June,  1854.) 

Rule  two. — All  State,  District  or  Territorial  Councils,  when  established,  shall 
have  full  power  and  authority  to  establish  all  Subordinate  Councils  within  their 
respective  limits;  and  the  Constitutions  and  By-Laws  of  all  such  Subordinate 
Councils,  must  be  approved  by  their  respective  State,  District  or  Territorial 
Councils.  (June,  1854.) 

Rule  three. — All  State,  District  or  Territoral  Councils,  when  established  and 
until  the  formation  of  .Constitutions,  shall  work  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
National  Council  of  the  United  States.  (June,  1854.) 

Rule  four. — In  all  cases  where,  for  the  convenience  of  the  Organization,  two 
State  or  Territorial  Councils  may  be  established,  the  two  Councils  together  shall 
be  entitled  to  but  thirteen  delegates*  in  the  National  Council  of  the  United  States 
— the  proportioned  number  of  delegates  to  depend  on  the  number  of  members 
in  tjie  Organizations;  provided,  that  no  State  shall  be  allowed  to  have  more 
than  one  State  Council,  without  the  consent  of  the  National  Council  of  the 
United  States.  (June,  1854.)  f 

Rule  five. — In  any  State,  District  or  Territory,  where  there  may  be  more 
than  one  Organization  working  on  the  same  basis  (to  wit,  the  Lodges'  and 
"Councils")  the  same  shall  be  required  to  combine;  the  officers  of  each  Or- 
ganization shall  resign,  and  new  officers  be  elected ;  and  thereafter  these  bodies 
shall  be  known  as  State  Councils,  and  Subordinate  Councils,  and  new  Charters 
shall  be  granted  to  them  by  the  National  Council.  (June,  1854.) 

Rule  six. — It  shall  be  considered  a  penal  offence  for  any  brother  not  an  officer 
of  a  Subordinate  Council,  to  make  use  of  the  sign  or  summons  adopted  for  pub- 
lic notification,  except  by  direction  of  the  President;  or  for  officers  of  a  Coun- 
cil to  post  the  same  at  any  other  time  than  from  midnight  to  one  hour  before 
daybreak,  and  this  rule  shall  be  incorporated  into  the  By-laws  of  the  State, 
District  and  Territorial  Councils.  (June,  1854.) 

Rule  seven. — The  determination  of  the  necessity  and  mode  of  issuing  the 
posters  for  public  notification  shall  be  entrusted  to  the  State,  District  or  Terri- 
torial Councils.  (June,  1854.) 

Rule  eight. — The  respective  State,  District  or  Territorial  Councils  shall  be 
required  to  make  statements  of  the  number  of  members  within  their  respective 
limits,  at  the  next  meeting  of  this  National  Council,  and  annually  thereafter,  at 
the  regular  annual  meeting.  (June,  1854.) 

Rule  nine. — The  delegates  to  the  National  Council  of  the  United  States  of 
North  America,  shall  be  entitled  to  three  dollars  per  day  for  their  attendance 
upon  the  National  Council,  and  for  each  day  that  may  be  necessary  in  going  and 
returning  from  the  same ;  and  five  cents  per  mile  for  every  mile  they  may  ne- 
cessarily travel  in  going  to,  and  returning  from,  the  place  of  meeting  of  the 
National  Council ;  to  be  computed  by  the  nearest  mail  route  :  which  shall  be 
paid  out  of  the  Treasury  of  the  National  Council.  (November,  1854.) 

Rule  ten. — Each  State,  District  or  Territorial  Council,  shall  be  taxed  four 
cents  per  annum,  for  every  member  in  good  standing  belonging  to  each  Subor- 
dinate Council  under  its  jurisdiction  on  the  first  day  of  April,  which  shall  be 
reported  to  the  National  Council,  and  paid  into  the  National  Treasury,  on  or 
before  the  first  day  of  the  annual  session,  to  be  held  in  June ;  and  on  the  same 
day  in  each  succeeding  year.  And  the  first  fiscal  year  shall  be  considered  as 
commencing  on  the  first  day  of  December,  1854,  and  ending  on  the  fifteenth 
day  of  May,  1855.  (November,  1854.) 

Rule  eleven. — The  following  shall  be  the  Key  to  determine  and  ascertain  the 
purport  of  any  communication  that  may  be  addressed  to  the  President  of  a 

*NOTE. — See  Constitution,  Art.  3,  Sec.  4,  p.  5. 


461 

State,  District  or  Territorial  Council  by  the  President  of  the  National  Council, 
who  is  hereby  instructed  to  communicate  a  knowledge  of  the  same  to  said  offi- 
cers : 

ABCDEFGHIJKLM 

1     7     13    19   25     2     8     14   20  26    3     9     15 

NOPQRSTUVWXYZ 

21    4    10    16   22     5  11    17    23     6     12    18   24 

Rule  twelve. — The  clause  of  the  article  of  the  Constitution  relative  to  beli 
in  the  Supreme  Being  is  obligatory  upon  every  State  and  Subordinate  Council, 
as  well  as  upon  each  individual  member.     (June,  1854.) 

Rule  thirteenth. — The  following  shall  be  the  compensation  of  the  officers  of 
this  Council  : 

1st.  The  Corresponding  Secretary  shall  be  paid  two  thousand  dollars  per  an- 
num, from  the  17th  day  of  June,  1854. 

2d.  The  Treasurer  shall  be  paid  five  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  from  the 
17th  day  of  June,  1854. 

3d.  The  Sentinels  shall  be  paid  five  dollars  for  every  day  they  may  be  in  at- 
tendance on  the  sittings  of  the  National  Council. 

4th.  The  Chaplain  shall  be  paid  one  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  from  the 
17th  day  of  June,  1854. 

5th.  The  Recording  Secretary  shall  be  paid  five  hundred  dollars  per  annum, 
from  the  17th  day  of  June,  1854. 

6th.  The  Assistant  Secretary  shall  be  paid  five  dollars  per  day,  for  every  day 
he  may  be  in  attendance  on  the  sitting  of  the  National  Council.  All  of  which 
is  to  be  paid  out  of  the  National  Treasury,  on  the  draft  of  the  President.  (No- 
vember, 1854.) 

SPECIAL  VOTING. 

Vote  first. — This  National  Council  hereby  grants  to  the  State  of  Virginia  two 
State  Councils,  the  one  to  be  located  in  Eastern  and  the  other  in  Western  Vir- 
ginia, the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains  being  the  geographical  line  between  the  two 
jurisdictions.  (June,  1854.) 

Vote  second. — The  President  shall  have  power,  till  the  next  session  of  the 
National  Council,  to  grant  dispensations  for  the  formation  of  State,  District,  or 
Territorial  Councils,  in  form  most  agreeable  to  his  own  discretion,  upon  proper 
application  bcifig  made.  (June,  1854.) 

Vote  third. — The  seats  of  all  delegates  to  and  members  of  the  present  Na- 
tional Council  shall  be  vacated  on- the  first  Tuesday  in  June,  1855,  at  the  hour 
of  six  o'clock  in  the  forenoon ;  and  the  National  Council  convening  in  annual 
session  upon  that  day,  shall  be  composed  exclusively  of  delegates  elected  under 
and  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  as  amended  at  the 
present  session  of  this  National  Council  :  provided,  that  this  resolution  shall 
not  ap^ly  to  the  officers  of  the  National  Council.  (November,  1854.) 

Vote  fourth. — The  Corresponding  Secretary  of  this  Council  is  authorized  to 
have  printed  the  names  of  the  delegates  to  this  National  Council ;  also,  those 
of  the  Presidents  of  the  several  State,  District,  and  Territorial  Councils,  together 
with  their  address,  and  to  forward  a  copy  of  the  same  to  each  person  named ; 
and  further,  the  Corresponding  Secretaries  of  each  State,  District,  and  Territory, 
are  requested  to  forward  a  copy  of  their  several  Constitutions  to  each  other. 
(November,  1854.) 

Vote  fifth. — In  the  publication  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Ritual,  under  the 
direction  of  the  Committee — brother  Deshler,  Damrell  and  Stephens — the  name, 
Signs,  Grips,  and  Passwords  of  the  Order,  shall  be  indicated  by  [*  *  *;]  and  a 


462 

copy  of  the  same  shall  be  furnished  to  each  State,  District  and  Territorial 
Council,  and  to  each  member  of  that  body.  (November,  1854.) 

Vote  sixth. — A  copy  of  the  Constitution  of  each  State,  District,  and  Territo- 
rial Council,  shall  be  submitted  to  this  Council  for  examination.  (November. 
1854.) 

Vote  seventh. — It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Treasurer,  at  each  annual  meeting 
of  this  body,  to  make  a  report  of  all  monies  received  or  expended  in  the  inter- 
val. (November,  1854.) 

Vote  eighth.— Messrs.  Gifford,  of  Pa. ;  Barker,  of  N.  Y. ;  Deshler,  of  N. 
J. ;  Williamson,  of  Va. ;  and  Stephens,  ef  Md.,  are  appointed  a  committee  to 
confer  with  similar  committees  that  have  been  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
solidating the  various  American  Orders,  with  power  to  make  the  necessary  ar- 
rangements for  such  consolidation — subject  to  the  approval  of  this  National 
Council,  at  its  next  session.  (November,  1854.) 

Vote  ninth. — On  the  receipt  of  the  new  Ritual  by  the  members  of  this  Na- 
tional Council  who  have  received  the  third  degree,  they  or  any  of  them  may,  and 
they  are  hereby  empowered  to  confer  the  third  degree  upon  members  of  this 
body  in  their  respective  States,  Districts  and  Territories,  and  upon  the  Presidents 
and  other  officers  of  their  State,  District,  and  Territorial  Councils.  And  fur- 
ther, the  Presidents  of  the  State,  District,  and  Territorial  Councils  shall  in  the 
first  instance  confer  the  third  degree  upon  as  many  of  the  Presidents  and  offi- 
cers of  their  Subordinate  Councils,  as  can  be  assembled  together  in  their  res- 
pective localities,  and  afterwards  the  same  may  be  conferred  upon  officers  of 
other  subordinate  Councils,  by  any  presiding  officer  of  a  Council,  who  shall 
have  previously  received  it  under  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution.  (Novem- 
ber, 1854.) 

Vote  tenth. — To  entitle  any  delegate  to  a  seat  in  this  National  Council,  at  its 
annual  session  in  June  next,  he  must  present  a  properly  authenticated  certificate 
that  he  was  duly  elected  as  a  delegate  to  the  same ;  or  appointed  a  substitute  in 
accordance  with  the  requirements  of  the  Constitutions  of  State,  Territorial,  or 
District  Councils.  And  no  delegate  shall  be  received  from  any  State,  District 
or  Territorial  Council,  which  has  not  adopted  the  Constitution  and  Ritual  of 
this  National  Council.  (November,  1854.) 

Vote  eleventh. — The  committee  on  printing  the  Constitution  and  Ritual  is 
authorized  to  have  a  sufficient  number  of  the  same  printed  for  the  use  of  the 
Order.  And  no  State,  District,  or  Territorial  Council,  shall  be  allowed  to  re- 
print the  same.  (November,  1854.) 

Vote  twelfth. — The  right  to  establish  all  Subordinate  Councils^  any  of  the 
States,  Districts,  and  Territories  represented  in  this  National  Council,  shall  be 
confined  to  the  State,  District,  and  Territorial  Councils,  which  they  represent. 
(November,  1854.) 


Constitution  for  the  Government  of  Subordinate  Councils. 
ARTICLE  I. 

Sec.  1. — Each  Subordinate  Council  shall  be  composed  of  not  less  than  thirteen 
members,  all  of  whom  shall  have  received  all  the  degrees  of  the  Order,  and 

shall  be  known  and  recognized  as Council,  No. of  the 

of  the  county  of ,  and  State  of  North  Carolina. 

gec.  2. — No  person  shall  be  a  member  of  any  Subordinate  Council  in  this 
State,  unless  he  possesses  all  the  qualifications,  and  comes  up  to  all  the  require- 
ments laid  down  in  the  Constitution  of  the  National  Council,  and  whose  wife, 
(if  he  has  one,)  is  not  a  Roman  Catholic. 


463 

Sec.  3. — No  application  for  membership  shall  be  received  and  acted  on  from 
a  person  residing  out  of  the  State,  or  resides  in  a  county  where  there  is  a  Coun- 
cil in  existence,  unless  upon  special  cause  to  be  stated  to  the  Council,  to  be 
judged  of  by  the  same;  and  such  person,  if  the  reasons  be  considered  suffi- 
cient, may  be  initiated  the  same  night  he  is  proposed,  provided  he  resides  five 
miles  or  more  from  the  place  where  the  Council  is  located.  But  no  person  can 
vote  in  any  Council,  except  the  one  of  which  he  is  a  member. 

Sec.  4. — Every  person  applying  for  membership,  shall  be  voted  for  by  ballot, 
in  open  Council,  if  a  ballot  is  requested  by  a  single  member.  If  one  third  of 
the  votes  cast  be  against  the  applicant,  he  shall  be  rejected.  If  any  applicant 
be  rejected,  he  shall  not  be  again  proposed  within  six  months  thereafter.  No- 
thing herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to  prevent  the  initiation  of  applicants 
privately,  by  those  empowered  to  do  so,  in  localities  where  there  are  no  Coun- 
cils within  a  convenient  distance. 

Sec.  5. — Any  member  of  one  Subordinate  Council  wishing  to  change  his 
membership  to  another  Council,  shall  apply  to  the  Council  to  which  he  belongs, 
either  in  writing  or  orally  through  another  member,  and  the  question  shall  be 
decided  by  the  Council.  If  a  majority  are  in  favor  of  granting  him  an  hono- 
rable dismission,  he  shall  receive  the  same  in  writing,  to  be  signed  by  the  Pre- 
sident and  countersigned  by  the  Secretary.  But  until  a  member  thus  receiving 
an  honorable  dismission  has  actually  been  admitted  to  membership  in  another 
Council,  he  shall  be  held  subject  to  the  discipline  of  the  Council  from  which  he 
iias  received  the  dismission,  to  be  dealt  with  by  the  same,  for  any  violation  of 
the  requirements  of  the  Order.  Before  being  received  in  the  Council,  to  which 
he  wishes  to  transfer  his  membership,  he  shall  present  said  certificate  of  hono- 
rable dismission,  and  shall  be  received  as  new  members  are. 

See.  G. — Applications  for  the  Second  Degree  shall  not  be  received  except  in 
Second  Degree  Councils,  and  voted  on  by  Second  and  Third  Degree  members 
only,  and  applications  for  the  Third  Degree  shall  be  received  in  Third  Degree 
Councils,  and  voted  on  by  Third  Degree  members  only. 

ARTICLE  II. 

Each  Subordinate  Council  shall  fix  on  its  own  time  and  place  for  meeting : 
and  shall  meet  at  least  once  a  month,  but  where  net  very  inconvenient,  it  is  re- 
commended that  they  meet  once  a  week.  Thirteen  members  shall  form  a  quo- 
rum for  the  transaction  of  business.  Special-  meetings  may  be  called  by  the 
President,  at  any  time,  at  the  request  of  four  members  of  the  Order. 

ARTICLE  III. 

Sec.  1. — The  members  of  each  Subordinate  Council  shall  consist  of  a  Presi- 
dent, Vice  President,  Instructor,  Secretary,  Treasurer,  Marshal,  Inside  and 
Outside  Sentinel,  and  shall  hold  their  offices  for  the  term  of  six  months,  or 
until  their  successors  are  elected  and  installed. 

Sec.  2. — The  officers  of  each  Subordinate  Council,  (except  the  sentinels,  who 
shall  be  appointed  by  the  President,)  shall  be  elected  at  the  first  regular  meet- 
ings in  January  and  July,  separately,  and  by  ballot ;  and  each  shall  receive  a 
majority  of  all  the  votes  cast  to  entitle  him  to  an  election.  No  member  shall 
be  elected  to  any  office,  unless  he  be  present  and  signify  his  assent  thereto  at 
the  time  of  his  election.  Any  vacancy  which  may  occur  by  death,  resignation, 
or  otherwise,  shall  be  filled  at  the  next  meeting  thereafter,  in  the  manner  and 
form  above  described. 

Sec.  3. — The  President. — It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  President  of  each  Sub- 
ordinate Council,  to  preside  in  the  Council,  and  enforce  a  due  observance  of  the 
Constitution  and  rules  of  the  Order,  and  a  proper  respect  for  the  State  Council 
and  the  National  Council — to  have,  sole  and  exclusive  charge  of  the  Charter 


464 

and  the  Constitution  and  Ritual  of  the  Order,  which  he  must  always  have  with 
him  when  his  Council  is  in  session,  to  see  that  all  officers  perform  their  respec- 
tive duties — to  announce  all  ballotings  to  the  Council — to  decide  all  questions 
of  order — to  give  the  casting  vote  in  all  cases  of  a  tie — to  convene  special 
meetings  when  deemed  expedient — to  draw  warrants  on  the  Treasurer  for  all 
sums,  the  payment  of  which  is  ordered  by  the  Council — and  to  perform  such 
other  duties  as  are  demanded  of  him  by  the  Constitutions  and  Ritual  of  the 
Order. 

Sec.  4. — The  Vice  President  of  each  Subordinate  Council  shall  assist  the 
President  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  whilst  his  Council  is  in  session  ;  and 
in  his  absence,  shall  perform  all  the  duties  of  the  President. 

Sec.  5. — The  Instructor  shall  perform  the  duties  of  the  President,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  President  and  Vice  President,  and  shall,  under  the  direction  of  the 
President,  perform  such  duties  as  may  be  assigned  to  him  by  the  Ritual. 

Sec.  6. — The  Secretary  shall  keep  an  accurate  record  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  Council.  He  shall  write  all  communications,  fill  all  notices,  attest  all  war- 
rants drawn  by  the  President  for  the  payment  of  money ;  he  shall  keep  a  cor- 
rect roll  of  all  the  members  of  the  Council,  together  with  their  age,  residence 
and  occupation,  in  the  order  in  which  they  have  been  admitted  ;  he  shall,  at 
the  expiration  of  every  three  months,  make  out  a  report  of  all  work  done  dur- 
ing that  time,  which  report  he  shall  forward  to  the  Secretary  of  the  State  Coun- 
cil ;  and  when  superseded  in  his  office,  shall  deliver  all  books,  papers,  £c.,  in 
his  hands,  to  his  successor. 

Sec.  7. — The  Treasurer  shall  hold,  all  monies  raised  exclusively  for  the  use  of 
the  State  Council,  which  he  shall  pay  over  to  the  Secretary  of  the  State  Council 
at  its  regular  sessions,  or  whenever  called  upon  by  the  President  of  the  State 
Council.  He  shall  receive  all  monies  for  the  use  of  the  Subordinate  Council 
and  pay  all  amounts  drawn  for  on  him,  by  the  President  of  the  Subordinate 
Council,  if  attested  by  the  Secretary. 

See.  8. — The  Marshal  shall  perform  such  duties,  under  the  direction  of  the 
President,  as  may  be  required  of  him  by  the  Ritual. 

Sec.  9. — The  Inside  Sentinel  shall  have  charge  of  the  inner  door,  and  act 
under  the  directions  of  the  President.  He  shall  admit  no  person,  unless  he 
,can  prove  himself  a  member  of  this  order,  and  of  the  same  Degree  in  which 
the  Council  is  opened,  or  by  order  of  the  President,  or  is  satisfactorily  vouched 
for. 

Sec.  10. — The  Outside  Sentinel  shall  have  charge  of  the  outer  door,  and  act 
in  accordance  with  the  orders  of  the  President.  He  shall  permit  no  person 'to 
enter  the  outer  door  unless  he  give  the  password  of  the  Degree  in  which  the 
Council  is  at  work,  or  is  properly  vouched  for. 

Sec.  11. — The  Secretary,  Treasurer,  and  Sentinels,  shall  recive  such  compen- 
sation as  the  Subordinate  Councils  may  each  conclude  to  allow. 

Sec.  12. — Each  Subordinate  Council  may  levy  its  own  fees  for  initiation,  to 
raise  a  fund  to  pay  its  dues  to  the  State  Council,  and  to  defray  its  own  expen- 
ses. Each  Council  may,  also,  at  its  discretion,  initiate  without  charging  the 
usual  fee,  those  it  considers  unable  to  pay  the  same. 

Sec.  13. — The  President  shall  keep  in  his  possession  the  Constitution  and 
Ritual  of  the  Order.  He  shall  not  suifer  the  same  to  go  out  of  his  possession  . 
under  any  pretence  whatever,  unless  in  case  of  absence,  when  he  may  put  them 
in  the  bands  of  the  Vice  President  or  Instructor,  or  whilst  the  Council  is  in 
session,  for  the  information  of  a  member  wishing  to  see  it,  for  the  purpose  of 
initiation,  or  conferring  of  Degrees. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

Each  Subordinate  Council  shall  have  power  to  adopt  such  By -Laws,  Rules, 
and  Regulations,  for  its  own  government,  as  it  may  think  proper,  not  inconsis- 
tent with  the  Constitutions  of  the  National  and  State  Councils. 


465 
FORM  OF  APPLICATION 

For  a  Charter  to  organize  a  new  Council. 

Post  Office county, 

Date . 

To 

President  of  the  State  Council  of  North  Carolina  : 

We,  the  undersigned,  members  of  the  Third  Degree,  being  desirous  of  ex- 
tending the  influence  and  usefulness  of  our  organization,  do  hereby  ask  for  a 
Warrant  of  Dispensation,  instituting  and  organizing  us  as  a  subordinate  branch 
of  the  Order,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  State  Council  of  the  State  of  North 

Carolina,  to  be  known  and  hailed  as  Council  No. ,  and  to  be  located  at 

,  in  the  county  of  ,  State  of  North  Carolina. 

And  we  do  hereby  pledge  ourselves  to  be  governed  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  State  Council  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  and  of  the  Grand  Council  of 
the  U.  S.,  N.  A.,  and  that  we  will,  in  all  things,  conform  to  the  rules  and  usa- 
ges of  the  Order. 

Names.  Residences. 

FORM  OF  DISMISSION 

From  one  Council  to  another. 

This  is  to  certify  that  Brother ,  a  member  of Council,  No. 

-,  having  made  an  application  to  change  his  membership  from  this  Coun- 


cil to  that  of  Council,  No. ,  at ,  in  the  county  of 

I  do  hereby  declare,  that  said  brother  has  received  an  honorable  dismission  from 

this  Council,  and  is  hereby  recommended  for   membership  in Council, 

No.  -       — ,  in  the  county  of ,  N.  C. ;    provided,  however,  that  until 

Brother has  been  admitted  to  membership  in  said  Council,  he  is  to  be 

considered   subject   to  the  .discipline  of  this   Council,  to  be  dealt  with   by  the 

same  for  any  violation  of  the  requirements  of  the  Order.     This  the day 

of  ,  185 — ,  and  the year  of  American  Independence. 

President Council. 

No. . 

Secretary. 

FORM  OF  CERTIFICATE 
For  Delegates  to  the  State  Council. 

Council,  No. *-, 

county  of ,  N.  C. 

This  is  to  certify  that  . and were,  at  the  regular  meeting  of 

this   Council,  held  on  the ,  185 — ,  duly  elected   delegates   to  represent 

this  Council  in  the  next  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Council,  to  be  held  in 
,  on  the  3d  Monday  in  November  next.  And  by  virtue  of  the  autho- 
rity in  me  reposed,  I  do  hereby  declare  the  said and to  be  in- 
vested with  all  the  rights,  powers  and  privileges  of  the  delegates  as  aforesaid. 
This  being  the day  of ,  185 — ,  and  the year  of  our  Na- 
tional Independence. 

President  of 

Council,  No. 

Secretary. 
80    ' 


466 
FORM  OF  NOTICE. 

From  tlie  Subordinate   Councils  to  the  State  Council,  whenever  any  member  of 
a  Subordinate  Council  is  expelled. 

Council,  No. , 

county  of ,  N.  C. 

To  the  President  of  the  State  Council  of  North  Carolina : 

Sir : — This  is  to  inform  you  that  at  a  meeting  of  this  Council,  held  on  the 

day  of ,  185 — , was  duly  expelled  from  membership  in 

said  Council,  and  thus  deprived  of  all  the  privileges,  rights  and  benefits  of  this 
Organization. 

In  accordance  with  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  of  the  State  Council, 
you  are  hereby  duly  notified  of  the  same,  that  you  may  officially  notify  all  the 

Subordinate  Councils  of  the  State, to  be  upon  their  guard  against  the  said , 

as  one  unworthy  to  associate  with  patriotic  and  goocj  men,  and  (if  expelled  for 

violating  his  cbligation)  as  a  perjurer  to  G-od  and  his  country.     The  said 

is  about  — —  years  of  age,  and  is  by  livelihood,  a . 

Duly  certified,  this  the day  of 185 — ,  and  in  the  year  of  our  Na- 
tional Independence. 

President  of 

Council,  No. . 

Secretary. 

FIRST  DEGREE  COUNCIL. 

To  be  admitted  to  membership  in  this  order,  the  applicant  shall  be  — 

1st.  Proposed  and  found  acceptable. 

2nd.  Introduced  and  examined  under  the  guarantee  of  secrecy. 
>    8d.  Placed  under  the  obligation  which  the  order  imposes. 
4th.  Required  to  enroll  his  name  and  place  of  residence. 
5th.  Instructed  in  the  forms  and  usages  and  ceremonies  of  the  order. 
6th.  Solemnly  charged  as  to  the  objects  to  be  obtained,  and  his  duties. 

[A  recommendation  of  a  candidate  to  this  order,  shall  be  received  only  from 
a  brother  of  approved  integrity.  It  shall  be  accompanied  by  minute  particulars 
as  to  name,  age,  calling,  and  residence,  and  by  an  explicit  voucher  for  his  quali- 
fications, and  a  personal  pledge  for  his  fidelity.  These  particulars  shall  be  re- 
corded by  the  secretary  in  a  book  kept  for  that  purpose.  The  recommendation 
may  be  referred,  and  the  ballot  taken  at  such  time,  and  in  such  a  manner  as 
the  State  Council  may  prescribe ;  but  no  communication  shall  be  made  to  the 
candidate  until  the  ballot  has  been  declared  in  his  favor.  Candidates  shall  be 
received  in  the  ante-room  by  the  Marshal  and  the  Secretary.] 

OUTSIDE. 

Marshal. — Do  you  believe  in  a  supreme  Being,  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of 
the  universe. 

Am. — I  do. 

Marshal. — Before  proceeding  further,  we  require  a  solemn  obligation  of 
secrecy  and  truth.  If  you  will  take  such  an  obligation,  you  will  lay  your  right 
hand  upon  the  Holy  Bible  and  Cross. 

(When  it  is  known  that  the  applicant  is  a  Protestant,  the  cross  may  be  omit- 
ted, or  affirmation  may  be  allowed.) 


467 

OBLIGATION. 

You  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  you  will  never  reveal  anything  said 
or  done  in  this  room,  the  names  of  any  persons  present,  nor  the  existence  of 
this  society,  whether  found  worthy  to  proceed  or  not,  and  that  all  your  declara- 
tions shall  be  true,  so  help  you  God  ? 

-4/18.—"  I  do." 

Marshal. — Where  were  you  born  ? 

Marshal. — Where  is  your  permanent  residence  ? 

(If  born  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  the  answer  shall  be 
written,  the  candidate  dismissed  with  an  admonition  of  secrecy,  and  the  brother 
vouching  for  him  suspended  from  all  the  privileges  of  the  order,  unless  upon 
satisfactory  proof  that  he  has  been  misinformed.) 

Marshal. — Are  you  twenty-one  years  of  age  ? 

Ans.— "I.am." 

Marshal. — Were  you  born  of  Protestant  parents  or  were  you  reared  under 
Protestant  influence  ? 

An*.—"  Yes." 

Marshal. — If  married,  is  your  wife  a  Roman  Catholic? 

("  No"  or  "  Yes" — the  answer  to  be  valued  as  the  Constitution  of  the  State- 
Council  shall  provide.) 

Marshal. — Are  you  willing  to  use  your  influence  and  vote  only  for  native-born 
American  citizens  for  all  offices  of  honor,  trust  or  profit  in  the  gift  of  the  peo- 
ple, to  the  exclusion  of  all  foreigners  and  aliens,  and  Roman  Catholics  in  parti- 
cular, and  without  regard  to  party  predilections  ? 

'Am. — "  I  am." 

INSIDE. 

(The  Marshal  shall  then  repair  to  the  council  in  session,  and  present  the 
written  list  of  names,  vouchers  and  answers  to  the  President,  who  shall  cause 
them  to  be  read  aloud,  and  a  vote  of  the  council  to  be  taken  on  each  name,  in 
such  manner  as  prescribed  by  its  bye-laws.  If  doubts  arise  in  the  ante-room, 
they  shall  be  referred  to  the  council.  If  a  candidate.be  dismissed,  he  shall  be 
admonished  to  secrecy.  The  candidates  declared  elected  shall  be  conducted  to 
seats  within  the  council,  apart  from  the  brethren.  When  all  are  present  the 
President  by  one  blow  of  the  gavil,  shall  call  to  order  and  say  :) 

President. — Brother  Marshal,  introduce  the  candidates  to  the  Vice-President. 

Marshal. — Worthy  Vice-President,  I  present  to  you  these  candidates,  who 
have  duly  answered  all  questions. 

Vice- President,  rising  in  his  place. — Gentlemen,  it  is  my  office  to  welcome 
you  as  friends.  When  you  shall  have  assumed  the  patriotic  vow  by  which  we 
are  all  bound,  we  will  embrace  you  as  brothers.  I  am  authorized  to  declare  that 
our  obligations  enj.oin  nothing  which  is  inconsistent  with  the  duty  which  every 
good  man  owes  to  his  Creator,  his  country,  his  family  or  himself.  We  do  not 
compel  you,  against  your  convictions,  to  act  with  us  in  our  good  work ;  but  should 
you^at  any  time  wish  to  withdraw,  it  will  be  our  duty  to  grant  you  a  dismissal  in 
good  faith.  If  satisfied  with  this  assurance,  you  will  rise  upon  your  feet,  (paus- 
ing till  they  do  so,)  place  the  left  hand  upon  the  breast,  and  raise  the  right  hand 
towards  heaven. 

(The  brethren  to  remain  seated  till  called  up.) 

- 

OBLIGATION. 

In  the  presence  of  Almighty  God  and  these  witnesses,  you  do  solemnly  pro- 
mise and  swear  that  you  will  never  betray  any  of  the  secrccts  of  this  society, 


468 

nor  communicate  them  even  to  proper  candidates,  except  within  a  lawful  council 
of  the  order;  that  you  never  will  permit  any  of  the  secrets  of  this  society  to  be 
written,  or  in  any  other  manner  made  legible,  except  for  the  purpose  of  official 
instruction  ;  that  you  will  not  vote,  nor  give  your  influence  for  any  man,  for  any 
office  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  unless  he  be  an  American  born  citizen,  in  favor 
of  Americans  ruling  America,  nor  if  he  be  a  Roman  Catholic ;  that  you  will  in 
all  political  matters,  so  far  as  this  order  is  concerned,  comply  with  the  will  of 
the  majority,  though  it  may  conflict  with  your  personal  preference,  so  long  as  it 
does  not  conflict  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America  or  that 
of  the  State  in  which  you  reside;  that  you  will  not,  under  any  circumstances 
whatever,  knowingly  recommend  an  unworthy  person  for  initiation,  nor  suffer 
it  to  be  done  if  in'  your  power  to  prevent  it;  that  you  will  not,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, expose  the  name  of  any  member  of  this  order,  nor  reveal  the  ex- 
istence of  such  an  association;  that  you  will  answer  an  imperative  notice  issued 
by  the  proper  authority;  obey  the  command  of  the  State  Council,  President, 
or  his  deputy,  while  assembled  by  such  notice,  and  respond  to  the  claim  of  a 
sign  or  a  cry  of  the  order,  unless  it  be  physically  impossible;  and  that  you  will 
acknowledge  the  State  Council  of  as  the  legislative  head,  the  ruling  au- 
thority, and  the  supreme  tribunal  of  the  order  in  the  State  of  ,  acting 

under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  National  Council  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America. 

Binding  yourself  in  the  penalty  of  excommunication  from  the  order,  the  for- 
feiture of  all  intercourse  with  its  members,  and  being  denounced  in -all  the  soci- 
eties of  the  same,  as  a  wilful  traitor  to  your  God  and  your  country. 

(The  President  shall  call  up  every  person  present  by  three  blows  of  the  ga- 
vil,  when  the  candidates  shall  all  repeat  after  the  Yice-President  in  concert:) 

All  this  I  voluntarily  and  sincerely  promise,  with  a  full  understanding  of  the 
solemn  sanctions  and  penalties. 

Vice-President.-^ You  have  now  taken  solemn  oaths,  and  made  as  sacred  pro- 
mises as  man  can  make,  that  you  will  keep  all  our  secrets  inviolate;  and  we  wish 
you  distinctly  to  understand  that  he  that  takes  these  oaths  and  makes  these  pro- 
mises, and  then  violates  them,  leaves  the  foul,  the  deep  and  blighting  stain  of 
perjury  resting  on  his  soul. 

President. — (Having  seated  all  by  one  blow  of  the  gavil.) — Brother  Instruc- 
tor, these  new  brothers  having  complied  with  the  demands  of  the  order,  are  en- 
titled to  the  secrets  and  privileges  of  the  same. ,  You  will,  therefore,  invest 
them  with  everything  appertaining  to  the  first  degree. 

Instructor. — Brothers  :  the  practices  and  proceedings  in  our  order  are  as  fol- 
lows : 

We  have  pass-words  necessary  to  be  used  to  obtain  admission  to  our  councils ; 
forms  for  our  conduct  while  there;  means  of  recognizing  each  other  when  abroad ; 
means  of  mutual  protection ;  and  methods  for  giving  notices  to  members. 

At  the  outer  door  you  will*  (make  any  ordinary  alarm  to  attract  the  notice 
of  the  outside  sentinel.) 

When  the  wicket  is  opened  you  will  pronounce  the  (words — what's  the  pass,) 
in  a  whisper.  The  outside  sentinel  will  reply  (  Give  it),  when  you  will  give  the 
term  pass-word  and  be  admitted  .to  the  ante-room.  You  will  then  proceed  to 

*  In  the  Kitual  the  words  in  parenthesis  are  omitted.  In  the  key  to  the  Ritual,  they  are 
written  in  figures — the  alphabet  used  being  the  same  as  printed  below.  So  throughout. 

Key  to  Unlock  Know  Nothing  Communications. 

'ABCDEFGH     IJKLM 

1  7  13  19  25  2  8  14  20  26  3  9  15 
NOPQRS  TUVWXYZ 
21  4  10  16  22  5  11  17  23  6  12  18  24 


469 

the  inner  door  and  give  (one  rap].  When  the  wicket  is  opened,  give  your 
name,  the  number  of,  and  location  of  your  council,  the  explanation  of  the  term 
pass,  and  the  degree  pass-word. 

If  these  be  found  correct,  you  will  be  admitted ;  if  not,  your  name  will  be 
reported  to  the  Vice-President,  and  must  be  properly  vouched  for  before  you 
can  gain  admission  to  the  council.  You  will  then  proceed  to  the  centre  of  the 
room  and  address  the  (President}  with  the  countersign,  which  is  performed  thus, 
(placing  the  right  hand  diagonally  across  the  mouth.)  When  this  salutation  is 
recognized,  you  will  quietly  take  your  seat. 

This  sign  is  peculiar  to  this  degree,  and  is  never  to  be  used  outside  of  the 
cor.ncil  room,  nor  during  the  conferring  of  this  degree.  When  retiring,  you 
will  address  the  (  Vice-President)  in  the  same  manner,  and  also  give  the  degree 
pass-word  to  the  inside  sentinel. 

The  "  term  pass-word"  is  (  We  are.) 

(The  pass-word  and  explanation  is  to  be  established  by  each  State  Council  for 
its  respective  subordinates.) 

The  " explanation''  of  the  "term-pass,"  to  be  used  at  the  inner  door,  is  (our 
country's  hope.) 

The  "  degree  pass-word"  is  (Native.') 

The  "travelling  pass-word"  is  (The  memory  of  our  pilgrim  fathers.) 

(This  word  is  changed  annually  by  the  President  of  the  National  Council  of 
the  United  States,  and  is  to  be  made  and  used  only  when  the  brother  is  travel- 
ing beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  his  own  State,  District  or  Territory.  It  and  all 
other  pass-words  must  be  communicated  in  a  whisper,  and  no  brother  is  entitled 
to  communicate  them  to  another,  without  authority  from  the  presiding  officer.) 

The  "sign  of  recognition"  is  (grasping  the  right  lappel  of  the  coat  with  the 
right  hand,  the  fore  Jin  ger  being  extended  inwards.) 

The  "  answer"  is  given  by  (a  similar  action  with  the  left  hand.) 

The  "  grip"  is  given  by  (an  ordinary  shake  of  the  hand.) 

The  person  challenging  shall  (then  draw  the  fore  finger  along  the  palm  of  the 
hand.)  The  answer  will  be  given  by  (a  similar  action  forming  a  link  by  hook" 
ing  together  the  ends  of  the  fore  finger  ;)  when  the  following  conversation  en- 
sues— the  challenging  party  first  saying  (is  that  yours  ?)  The  answer,  (it  is.) 
Then  the  response  (how  did  you  get  it  ?),  followed  by  the  rejoinder  (it  is  my 
birth-right.) 

Public  notice  for  a  meeting  is  given  by  means  of  a  (piece  of  white  paper  the 
shape  of  a  heart.) 

(In  citiesf  the  ***  of  the  ***  where  the  meeting  is  to  be  held,  will  be  written 
legibly  upon*  the  notice  }  and  upon  the  election  day  said  ***  will  denote  the  *** 
where  your  presence  is  needed.  This  notice  will  never  be  passed,  but  will  be 
***  or  thrown  upon  the  sidewalk  with  a  ***  in  the  centre.) 

If  information  is  wanting  of  the  object  of  the  gathering,  or  of  the  place,  &c., 
the  inquirer  will  ask  of  an  undoubted  brother  (where' s  when?)  The  brother 
will  give  the  information  if  possessed  of  it;  if  not,  it  will  be  yours  and  his 
duty  to  continue  the  inquiry,  and  thus  disseminate  the  call  throughout  the 
brotherhood. 

If  the  color  of  (the  paper)  be  (red,)  it  will  denote  actual  trouble,  which  re- 
quires that  you  come  prepared  to  meet  it. 

The  "  cry  of  distress" — to  be  used  only  in  time  of  danger,  or  where  the 
American  interests  requires  an  immediate  assemblage  of  the  brethren — is  (oh, 
oh,  oh.)  The  response  is  (hio,  hio,  h-i-o.) 

The  "sign  of  caution" — to  be  given  when  a  brother  is  speaking  unguardedly 
before  a  stranger — is  (drawing  the  fore-Jingcr  and  thumb  together  across  the 
eyes,  the  rest  of  the  hand  being  closed,)  which  signifies  "  keep  dark." 

f  Concerning  what  is  said  of  cities,  the  key  to  the  Ritual  says ;  "  Considered  unnecessary  to 
decipher  what  is  said  in  regard  to  cities.*' 


470 

Brothers,  you  are  now  initiated  into  and  made  acquainted  with  the  work  and 
organization  of  a  council  of  this  degree  of  the  order ;  and  the  Marshal  will 
present  you  to  the  worthy  President  for  admonition. 

President. — It  has,  no  doubt,  been  long  apparent  to  you,  brothers,  that  fo- 
reign influence  and  Roman  Catholicism  have  been  making  steady  and  alarming 
progress  in  our  country.  You  cannot  have  failed  to  observe  the  significant 
transition  of  the  foreigner  and  liomanist  from  a  character  quiet,  retiring,  and 
even  abject,  to  one  bold,  threatening,  turbulent  and  despotic  in  its  appearance 
and  assumptions.  'You  must  have  become  alarmed  at  the  systematic  and  rapid- 
ly augmenting  power  of  these  dangerous  and  unnatural  elements  of  our  national 
condition.  So  is  it,  brothers,  with  others  beside  yourselves  in  every  State  of 
the  Union.  A  sense  of  danger  has  struck  the  great  heart  of  the  nation.  In 
every  city,  town  and  hamlet,  the  danger  has  been  seen  and  the  alarm  sounded. 
And  hence  true  men  have  devised  this  order  as  a  means  of  disseminating  patri- 
otic principles,  of  keeping  alive  the  fire  of  national  virtue,  of  fostering  the  na- 
tional intelligence,  and  of  advancing  America  and  the  American  interest  on  the 
one  side,  and  on  the  other  of  checking  the  strides  of  the  foreigner  or  alien, 
or  thwarting  the  machinations  and  subverting  the  deadly  plans  of  the  Papist 
and  Jesuit. 

NOTE. — The  President  shall  impress  upon  the  initiates  the  importance  of 
secrecy,  the  manner  of  proceeding  in. recommending  candidates  for  initiation, 
and  the  responsibility  of  the  duties  which  they  have  assumed. 

SECOND  DEGREE  COUNCIL.    • 

Marshal. — Worthy  President :  These  brothers  have  been  duly  elected  to  the 
second  degree  of  this  order.  I  present  them  to  you  for  obligation. 

President. — Brothers  :  You  will  place  your  left  hand  upon  your  right  breast, 
and  extend  your  right  hand  towards  the  flag  of  our  country,  preparatory  to 
obligation.  (Each  council  room  should  have  a  neat  American  flag  festooned 
.over  the  platform  of  the  President.) 

OBLIGATION. 

You,  and  each  of  you,  of  your  own  free  will  and  accord,  in  the  presence  of 
Almighty  God  and  these  witnesses,  your  left  hand  resting  upon  your  right 
breast,  and  your  right  hand  extended  to  the  flag  of  your  country,  do  solemnly 
and  sincerely  swear,  that  you  will  not  under  any  circumstances  disclose  in  any 
manner,  nor  suffer  it  to  be  done  by  others,  if  in  your  power  to  pcevent  it,  the 
name,  signs,  passwords,  or  other  secrets  of  this  degree,  except  in  open  council 
for  the  purpose  of  instruction  ;  that  you  will  in  all  things  conform  to  all  the 
rules  and  regulations  of  this  Order,  and  to  the  constitution  and  by-laws  of  this 
or  any  other  council  to  which  you  may  be  attached,  so  long  as  they  do  not  con- 
flict with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  nor  that  of  the  State  in  which 
you  reside  ;  that  you  will  under  all  circumstances,  if  in  your  power  so  to  do, 
attend  to  all  regular  signs  or  summons  that  may  be  thrown  or  sent  to  you  by  a 
brother  of  this  or  any  other  degree  of  this  order ;  that  you  will  support  in  all 
political  matters,  for  all  political  offices,  members  of  this  order  in  preference  to 
other  persons  :  that  if  it  may  be  done  legally,  you  will,  when  elected  or  ap- 
pointed to  any  official  station  conferring  on  you  the  power  to  do  so,  remove  all 
foreigners,  aliens,  or  Roman  Catholics  from  office  or  place,  and  that  you  will  in 
no  case  appoint  such  to  any  office  or  place  in  your  gift.  You  do  also  promise 
and  swear  that  this  and  all  other  obligations  which  you  have  previously  taken 
in  this  order,  shall  ever  be  kept  through  life  sacred  and  inviolate.  All  this  you 
promise  and  declare,  as  Americans,  to  sustain  and  abide  by,  without  any  hesita- 


471 

tion  or  mental  reservation  whatever.  So  help  you  God  and  keep*  you  stead- 
fast. 

(Each  will  answer  "I  do.") 

President. — Brother  Marshal,  you  will  now  present  the  brothers  to  the  In- 
structor for  instructions  in  the  second  degree  of  the  order. 

Marshal. — Brother  Instructor,  by  direction  of  our  worthy  President,  I  pre- 
sent these  brothers  before  you  that  you  may  instruct  them  in  the  secrets  and 
mysteries  of  the  second  degree  of  the  order. 

Instructor. — Brothers,  in  this  degree  we  have  an  entering  sign  and  a  counter- 
sign. .  At  the  outer  door  proceed  (as  in  the  first  degree.)  At  the  inner  door 
you  will  make  (two  raps,)  and  proceed  as  in  the  first  degree,  giving  the  second 
degree  pass-word,  which  is  (American,)  instead  of  that  of  the  first  degree.  If 
found  to  be  correct,  you  will  then  be  admitted,  and  proceed  (to  the  centre  of  the 
room,)  giving  the  countersign,  which  is  made  thus  (extending  the  right  arm  to 
the  national  flag  over  the  President,  the  palm  of  the  hand  being  upwards.^) 

The  sign  of  recognition  in  this  degree  is  the  same  as  in  the  first  degree,  with 
the  addition  of  (the  middle  finger,)  and  the  response  to  be  made  in  a  (similar 
manner.} 

Marshal,  you  will  now  present  the  brothers  to  the  worthy  President  for  ad- 
monition. 

Marshal. — Worthy  President,  I  now  present  these  candidates  to  you  for  ad- 
monition. 

President. — Brothers,  you  are  now  duly  initiated  into  the  second  degree  of 
this  order.  Renewing  the  congratulations  which  we  extended  to  you  upon  your 
admission  to  the  first  degree,  we  admonish  you  by  every  tie  that  may  nerve  pa- 
triots, to  aid  us  in  our  efforts  to  restore  the  political  institutions  of  our  country 
to  their  original  purity.  Begin  with  the  youth  of  our  land.  Instil  into  their 
minds  the  lessons  of  our  country's  history — the  glorious  battles  and  the  brilliant 
deeds  of  patriotism  of  our  fathers,  through  which  we  received  the  inestimable 
blessings  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Point  them  to  the  example  of  the  sages 
and  the  statesmen  who  founded  our  government.  Implant  in  their  bosoms  an 
ardent  love  for  the  Union.  Above  all  else,  keep  alive  in  their  bosoms  the  me- 
mory, the  maxims,  and  the  deathless  example  of  our  illustrious  WASHING- 
TON. 

Brothers,  recalling  to  your  minds  the  solemn  obligations  which  you  have 
severally  taken  in  this  and  the  first  degree,  I  now  pronounce  you  entitled  to  all 
the  privileges  of  membership  in  this  the  second  degree  of  our  Order. 

THIRD  DEGREE  COUNCIL. 

Marshal. — Worthy  President,  these  brothers  having  been  duly  elected  to  the 
third  degree  of  this  order,  I  present  them  before  you  for  obligation. 

President. — Brothers,  you  will  place  yourselves  in  a  circle  around  me,  each 
one  crossing  your  arms  upon  your  breasts,  and  grasping  firmly  each  other's 
hands,  holding  the  right  hand  of  the  brother  on  the  right,  and  the  left  hand  of 
the  brother  on  the  left,  so  as  to  form  a  circle,  symbolical  of  the  links  of  an  un- 
broken chain,  and  of  a  ring  which  has  no  end. 

Note. — This  degree  is  to  be  conferred  with  the  national  flag  elevated  in  the 
centre  of  the  circle,  by  the  side  of  the  President  or  Instructor,  and  not  on  less 
than  five  at  any  one  time,  in  order  to  give  it  solemnity,  and  also  for  the  forma- 
tion of  the  circle — except  in  the  first  instance  of  conferring  it  on  the  officers  of 
the  State  and  subordinate  councils,  that  they  may  be  empowered  to  progress 
with  the  work. 

The  obligation  and  charge  in  this  degree  may  be  given  by  the  President  or 
Instructor,  as  the  President  may  prefer. 


472 

• 

OBLIGATION. 

You  and  each  of  you,  of  your  own  free  will  and  accord,  in  the  presence  of 
Almighty  God  and  these  witnesses,  with  your  hands  joined  in  token  of  that  fra- 
ternal affection  which  should  ever  bind  together  the  States  of  this  Union — for- 
ming a  ring,  in  token  of  your  determination  that,  so  far  as  your  efforts  can 
avail,  this  Union  shall  have  no  end — do  solemnly  and  sincerely  swear  [or  affirm] 
that  you  will  not  under  any  circumstances  disclose  in  any  manner,  nor  suffer  it 
to  be  done  by  others  if  in  your  power  to  prevent  it,  the  name,  signs,  pass-words 
or  other  secrets  of  this  degree,  except  to  those  to  whom  you  may  prove  on  trial 
to  be  brothers  of  the  same  degree,  or  in  open  council,  for  the  purpose  of  instruc- 
tion ;  that  you  do  hereby  solemnly  declare  your  devotion  to  the  Union  of  these 
States ;  that  in  the  discharge  of  your  duties  as  American  citizens,  you  will  up- 
hold, maintain  and  defend  it;  that  you  will  discourage  and  discountenance  any 
and  every  attempt,  coming  from  any  and  every  quarter,  which  you  believe  to 
be  designed  or  calculated  to  destroy  or  subvert  it,  or  to  weaken  its  bonds ;  and 
that  you  will  use  your  influence,  so  far  as  in  your  power,  in  endeavoring  to  pro- 
cure an  amicable  and  equitable  adjustment  of  all  political  discontents  or  differ- 
ences, which  may  threaten  its  injury  or  overthrow.  You  farther  promise  and 
swear  [or  affirm,]  that  you  will  not  vote  for  any  one  to  fill  any  office  of  honor, 
profit  or  trust  of  a  political  character,  whom  you  know  or  believe  to  be  in  favor 
of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  of  these  States,  or  who  is  endeavoring  to  produce 
that  result;  that  you  will  vote  for  and  support  for  all  political  offices,  third  or 
Union  degree  members  of  this  Order  in  preference  to  all  others;  that  if  it  may 
be  done  consistently  with  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  land,  you  will,  when 
elected  or  appointed  to  any  official  station  which  may  confer  on  you  the  power 
to  do  so,  remove  from  office  or  place  all  persons  whom  you  know  or  believe  to 
be  in  favor  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  or  who  are  endeavoring  to  produce 
that  result;  and  that  you  will  in  no  case  appoint  such  persons  to  any  political 
office  or  place  whatever.  All  this  you  promise  and  swear  [or  affirm]  upon  your 
honor  as  American  citizens  and  friends  of  the  American  Union,  to  sustain  and 
abide  by  without  any  hesitation  or  mental  reservation  whatever.  You  also  pro- 
mise and  swear  [or  affirm]  that  this  and  all  other  obligations  which  you  have 
previously  taken  in  this  order,  shall  ever  be  kept  sacred  and  inviolate.  To  all 
this  you  pledge  your  lives,  your  fortunes,  and  your  sacred  honors.  So  help  you 
God  and  keep  you  steadfast. 

(Each  one  shall  answer,  "  I  do.") 

President. — Brother  Marshal,  you  will  now  present  the  brothers  to  the  In- 
structor for  final  instruction  in  this  the  third  degree  of  the  Order. 

Marshal. — Instructor,  by  direction  of  our  worthy  President,  I  present  these 
brothers  before  you  that  you  may  instruct  them  in  the  secrets  and  mysteries  of 
this  the  third  degree  of  our  Order. 

Instructor. — Brothers,  in  this  degree  as  in  the  second,  we  have  an  entering 
pass-word,  a  degree  pass-word  and  a  token  of  salutation.  At  the  outer  door 
(make  any  ordinary  alarm.  The  outside  sentinel  will  say  U ;  you  soy  ni  ;  the 
sentinel  will  rejoin  on.)  This  will  admit  you  to  the  inner  door.  At  the  inner 
door  you  will  make  (three)  distinct  (raps.)  Then  announce  your  name,  with 
the  number  (or  name)  and  location  of  the  council  to  which  you  belong,  giving 
the  explanation  to  the  pass-word,  which  is  (safe.)  If  found  correct,  you  will 
then  be  admitted,  when  you  will  proceed  to  the  centre  of  the  room,  and  placing 
the  (hands  on  the  breast  with  the  fingers  interlocked ',)  give  the  token  of  saluta- 
tion which  is  (by  lowing  to  the  President.)  You  will  then  quietly  take  your 
seat. 

The  sign  of  recognition  is  made  by  the  same  action  as  in  the  second  degree, 
with  the  addition  of  (the  third  finger,)  and  the  response  is  made  by  (a  smilar 
action  with  the  left  hand.) 


473 

(The  grip  is  given  by  taking  hold  of  the  hand  in  the  usual  way,  and  then  by 
slipping  the  fingers  around  on  the  top  of  the  thumb  ;  then  extending  the  litttle 
finger  and  pressing  the  inside  of  the  -wrist.  The  person  challenging  shall  say, 
do  you  know  what  thai,  is  ?  The  answer  is,  yes.  The  challenging  party  shall 
say,  further,  what  is  it?  The  answer  is,  Union*) 

[The  Instructor  will  here  give  the  grip  of  this  degree,  with  explanations,  and 
also  the  true  password  of  this  degree,  which  is  ( Union.J} 

CHARGE. 

To  be  given  by  the  President. 

Brothers,  it  is  with  great  pleasure  that  I  congratulate  you  upon  your  ad- 
vancement to  the  third  degree  of  our  Order.  The  responsibilities  you  have 
now  assumed,  are  more  serious  and  weighty  than  those  which  preceded,  and  are 
committed  to  such  only  as  have  been  tried  and  found  worthy.  Our  obligations 
are  intended  as  solemn  avowals  of  our  duty  to  the  land  that  gave  us  birth  ;  to 
the  memories  of  our  fathers ;  and  to  the  happiness  and  welfare  of  our  children. 
Consecrating  to  your  country  a  spirit  unselfish  and  a  fidelity  like  that  which 
distinguished  the  patriots  of  the  Devolution,  you  have  pledged  your  aid  in  ce- 
menting the  bonds  of  a  Union  which  we  trust  will  endure  forever.  Your  de- 
portment since  your  initiation  has  attested  your  devotion  to  the  principles  we 
desire  to  establish,  and  has  inspired  a  confidence  in  your  patriotism,  of  which 
we  can  give  no  higher  proof  than  your  reception  here. 

The  dangers  which  threaten  American  Libeity  arise  from  foes  without  and 
from  enemies  within.  The  first  degree  pointed  out  the  source  and  nature  of  our 
most  imminent  peril,  and  indicated  the  first  measure  of  safety.  The  second 
degree  defined  the  next  means  by  which,  in  coming  time,  such  assaults  may  be 
rendered  harmless.  The  third  degree,  which  you  have  just  received,  not  only 
reiterates  the  lessons  of  the  other  two,  but  it  is  intended  to  avoid  and  provide 
for  a  more  remote,  but  no  less  terrible  danger,  from  domestic  enemies  to  our 
free  institutions.  , 

Our  object  is  briefly  this  : — to  perfect  an  organization  modelled  after  that  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  co-extensive  with  the  confederacy. 
Its  object  and  principles,  in  all  matters  of  national  concern,  to  be  uniform  and 
identical,  whilst  in  all  local  matters  the  component  parts  shall  remain  indepen- 
dent and  sovereign  within  their  respective  limits. 

The  great  result  to  be  attained — the  only  one  which  can  secure  a  perfect  gua- 
ranty as  to  our  future — is  UNION;  permanent,  enduring,  fraternal  UNION  ! 
Allow  me,  then,  to  impress  upon  your  minds  and  memories  the  touching  senti- 
ments of  the  Father  of  his  Country,  in  his  farewell  address  : 

"  The  unity  of  government  which  constitutes  you  one  people,"  says  Wash- 
ington, "  is  justly  dear  to  you,  for  it  is  the  main  pillar  in  the  edifice  of  your 
real  independence,  the  support  of  your  tranquility  at  home,  of  your  peace 
abroad,  of  your  safety,  your  prosperity — even  that  liberty  you  so  justly  prize. 

"  *  *  It  is  of  infinite  moment  that  you  should  properly  estimate  the  im- 
mense value  of  your  National  Union,  to  your  collective  and  individual  happi- 
ness. You  should  cherish  a  cordial,  habitual  and  immovable  attachment  to  it  j 
accustoming  yourselves  to  think  and  speak  of  it,  as  the  palladium  of  your  polit- 
ical safety  and  prosperity  ;  watching  for  its  preservation  with  jealous  anxiety  ; 
discountenancing  whatever  may  suggest  even  a  suspicion  that  it  can  in  any 
event  be  abandoned ;  and  indignantly  frowning  upon  the  dawning  of  every  at- 
tempt to  alienate  any  portion  of  our  country  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the 
sacred  ties  which  now  bind  together  the  various  parts." 

Let  these  words  of  paternal  advice  and  warning,  from  the  greatest  man  that 
ever  lived,  sink  deep  into  your  hearts.  Cherish  them;  and  teach  your  children 


474 

to  reverence  them,  as  you  cherish  and  reverence  the  memory  of  Washington 
himself.  The  Union  of  these  States  is  the  great  conservator  of  that  liberty  so 
dear  to  the  American  heart.  Without  it,  our  greatness  as  a  nation  would  dis- 
appear, and  our  boasted  self-government  prove  a  signal  failure.  The  very  name 
of  Liberty,  and  the  hopes  of  struggling  Freedom  throughout  the  world,  must 
perish  in  the  wreck  of  this  Union.  Devote  yourselves,  then,  to  its  maintenance, 
as  our  fathers  did  to  the  cause  of  independence ;  consecrating  to  its  support,  as 
you  have  sworn  to  do,  your  lives,  your  fortunes,  and  your  sacred  honors. 

Brothers  ;  Recalling  to  your  minds  the  solemn  obligations  which  you  have 
severally  taken  in  this  and  the  preceding  degrees,  I  now  pronounce  you  entitled 
to  all  the  privileges  of  membership  in  this  organization,  and  take  pleasure  in 
informing  you  that  you  are  now  members  of  the  Order  of  (the  American 
Union. ) 

OFFICERS   OF   THE   NATIONAL   COUNCIL. 

President,  James  W.  Barker,  of  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Vice  President,  W.  W.  Williamson,  of  Alexandria,  Va. 

Corresponding  Secretary,  C.  D.  Deshler,  of  New  Brunswick,  N.  J. 

Recording  Secretary,  James  M.  Stephens,  of  Baltimore,  Md. 

Treasurer,  Henry  Crane,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

Inside  Sentinel,  John  P.  Hilton,  of  Washington,  D.  C. 


CONSTITUTION   OF   THE 

NORTH  CAROLINA  STATE  COUNCIL. 

Adopted  January  18 th,  1855. 

ARTICLE  I. 

Sec.  1.— This  body  shall  be  known  by  the  name  of  the  NORTH  CARO- 
LINA STATE  COUNCIL;  and  shall  be  composed  of  delegates  appointed  by 
the  Subordinate  Councils,  as  hereinafter  provided. 

Sec.  2. — A  person  to  become  a  member  of  any  Subordinate  Council  in  this 
State,  must  be  twenty-one  years  of  age ;  he  must  believe  in  the  existence  of  a 
Supreme  Being  as  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  Universe;  he  must  be  a 
native-born  citizen,  a  Protestant,  either  born  of  Protestant'  parents,  or  reared 
under  Protestant  influence;  and  not  united  in  marriage  with  a  Roman  Catholic. 

Sec.  8. — The  State  Council  shall  be  composed  of  two  delegates  from  each 
Subordinate  Council  in  the  State,  to  be  appointed  at  the  first  regular  meeting  of 
the  same,  that  shall  be  held  after  the  first  day  of  October  in  each  and  every 
year,  whose  term  of  appointment  shall  continue  for  one  year ;  provided,  that 
this  section  shall  not  affect  the  tenure  of  office,  until  the  first  day  of  October, 
1855,  of  any  member  of  the  present  Council ;  and  provided  further,  that  an 
appointment  may  be  made  at  any  regular  meeting  of  s"aid  Subordinate  Councils 
to  fill  vacancies. 

Sec  4. — The  State  Council  shall  be  vested  with  the  following  powers,  viz  : 

It  shall  be  the  chief  head  and  authority  of  the  Order  in  the  State  of  North 
Carolina,  subject  to  the  requirements  of  the  National  Council.  It  shall  have 
power  to  establish  term  and  explanation  passwords  for  the  State,  and  Subordi- 
nate Councils  in  the  State,  and  such  other  secret  work  as  to  it  may  seem  neces- 
sary. It  shall  have  power  to  exact  from  the  Subordinate  Councils,  annual  or 
quarterly  statements  as  to  the  number  of  members  under  their  respective  juris- 


475 

dictions,  and  also  as  to  all  other  matters  it  may  deem  essential  for  full  and  nec- 
essary information.  It  shall  have  the  sole  power  of  forming  and  establishing 
Subordinate  Councils  in  the  State,  and  of  granting  dispensations  or  charters  for 
the  same — provided,  however,  that  when  the  State  Council  is  not  in  session,  the 
President  thereof  may  grant  such  dispensations — and  provided,  further,  that  no 
dispensation  or  charter  shall  be  issued  hereafter  for  the  formation  of  a  Subor- 
dinate Council,  unless  the  application  therefor  be  signed  by  at  least  thirteen 
full  degree  members  of  this  Order,  who  are  in  good  and  regular  standing.  It 
shall  have  the  power  to  decide  on  a  mode  of  punishment  in  case  of  a  derelic- 
tion of  duty  on  the  part  of  its  officers  or  members. 

Sec.  5. — The  State  Council  shall  hold  its  regular  annual  meeting  on  the  third 
Monday  in  November  of  each  and  every  year,  at  such  place  in  the  State  as  may 
be  agreed  on  by  the  same  at  the  preceding  regular  annual  session — provided, 
however,  that  the  President  of  the  State  Council  may  convene  the  same  in  the 
city  of  llaleigh,  at  any  time  he  may  think  the  interests  of  the  Order  imperi- 
ously require  it. 

ARTICLE  II. 

Sec.  1. — The  officers  of  the  State  Council  shall  be  a  President,  Yice  Presi- 
dent, Secretary,  Treasurer,  Marshal,  Chaplain,  Inside  Sentinel,  Outside  Senti- 
nel, and  such  other  officers  as  the  State  Council  may  see  fit  to  appoint  from  time 
to  time;  and  the  Secretary,  Treasurer,  and  Sentinels  shall  receive  such  compen- 
sation for  their  services,  as  the  Council  may  determine. 

ARTICLE  III. 

Sec.  1. — The  President  shall  preside  when  present,  and  in  his  absence  the 
Yice  President  shall  preside ;  and  in  the  absence  of  both,  the  Council  shall 
elect  a  President  pro  tern.,  and  the  presiding  officer  may  at  all  times  call  a 
member  to  the  chair,  but  such  appointment  shall  never  extend  beyond  one  day. 

Sec.  2. — The  President  shall  preserve  order,  and  cause  the  Constitution  and 
the  laws  to  be  strictly  observed  by  all  the  members.  His  decisions  upon  all 
points  of  order  shall  be  obeyed,  unless  reversed  upon  appeal.  He  shall  have 
the  casting  vote  in  all  cases.  He  shall  sign  all  orders  on  the  State  Treasurer 
for  the  payment  of  money,  and  all  other  documents  requiring  liis  signature. 
He  shall  fill  all  vacancies  in  the  State  offices,  until  the  next  regular  annual 
meeting  of  the  Council.  He  shall  transmit  the  ritual  passwords,  or  other  se- 
cret matters  of  the  Order,  to  the  proper  officers  of  the  Subordinate  Councils — 
and  exercise  general  supervision  over  the  Order  throughout  the  State,  according 
to  its  Constitution,  Laws,  and  usages. 

Sec.  o. — The  Secretary  shall  keep  a  record  of  the  proceedings  of  the  State 
Council;  file  all  documents  connected  therewith;  preserve  all  books  and  papers 
belonging  to  the  same ;  and  have  the  custody  of  the  seal  of  the  same.  He 
shall  receive  all  monies  due  to  the  State  Council,  and  pay  over  the  same  to  the 
Treasurer;  attest  all  orders  drawn  on  the  Treasurer  for  monies  appropriated  by 
the  State  Council,  and  keep  the  accounts  of  the  State  Council  with  the  Subor- 
dinate Councils.  He  shall  attest  all  dispensations  and  orders  of  the  State  Coun- 
cil, and  when  directed,  summon  all  members  to  attend  its  special  meetings. 
He  shall  transmit  an  annual  report  of  the  state  of  the  Order,  in  North  Caroli- 
na, to  the  President  of  the  National  Council.  He  shall  conduct  the  necessary 
correspondence  of  the  State  Council,  and  attend  to  such  other  clerical  business 
as  the  State  Council  may  direct.  He  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  for  his  servi- 
ces such  compensation  as  the  State  Council  may,  from  time  to  time,  determine 
upon,  not  exceeding  the  sum  of  $500  per  year,  and  shall  give  such  bond  and 
security  as  the  State  Council  may  require. 


476 

Sec.  4. — The  Treasurer  shall  have  the  custody  of  the  funds  of  the  State 
Council ;  keep  accurate  accounts  of  all  monies  received  by  him  from  the  Secre- 
tary, and  pay  all  orders  drawn  on  him  by  the  President,  and  attested  by  the 
Secretary.  He  shall  keep  all  his  accounts  regularly  posted  up  in  a  book,  to  be 
kept  for  the  purpose,  at  every  regular  session  of  the  State  Council,  and  submit 
them  to  the  same,  or  to  any  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose,  together 
with  a  written  report  setting  forth  in  detail  the  affairs  and  condition  of  the 
Treasury.  Pie  shall  give  such  bond  and  security  as  the  State  Council  may  from 
time  to  time  require,  and  in  a  sum  not  less  than  double  the  amount  he  will 
probably  at  any  one  time  have  in  his  hands ;  and  he  shall  receive  such  compen- 
sation for  his  services  as  the  State  Council  may  agree  upon,  not  exceeding  the 
sum  of  $100  per  annum. 

Sec.  5. — The  Marshal  shall  obey  the  orders  of  the  President  in  the  govern- 
ment and  proceedings  of  the  State  Council;  shall  present  officers  elect  for  in- 
stallation ;  receive  and  introduce  delegates  and  visitors,  and  perform  such  other 
appropriate  duties  as  the  State  Council  may  direct. 

Sec.  6. — The  Chaplain's  duty  will  be  to  open  the  sessions  of  the  State  Coun- 
cil with  prayer,  and  to  lecture  before  the  Subordinate  Councils,  as  may  be  con- 
venient. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

Sec.  1. — All  officers  of  the  State  Council,  provided  for  in  this  Constitution 
(except  the  Sentinels,  who  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President,)  shall  be  elec- 
ted by  ballot,  at  the  regular  annual  meeting  of  the  Council  j  and  shall,  on  the 
last  day  of  the  session  of  the  same,  be  installed  in  such  manner  and  form  as 
the  National  Council,  or  the  President  thereof,  may  establish. 

Sec.  2. — A  majority  of  the  votes  cast  shall  be  necessary  to  an  election  to  any 
office. 

Sec.  8. — In  all  sessions  of  the  State  Council,  forty  members  shall  constitute 
a  quorum,  for  the  transaction  of  business. 

ARTICLE  V. 

Sec.  1. — The  State  Council  shall  hear  and  decide  all  questions  of  appeal 
from  the  decisions  of  Subordinate  Councils,  and  may  establish  a  form  of  ap- 
peal. 

Sec.  2. — The  State  Council  shall  have  power  to  levy  a  tax  upon  the  Subor- 
dinate Councils,  for  the  support  of  the  National  Council,  to  be  paid  in  such 
manner  and  at  such  times  as  the  National  Council  shall  determine.  It  shall 
also  have  power  to  levy  a  tax  for  the  support  of  the  State  Council,  to  be  paid 
at  such  time  and  in  such  manner  as  the  State  Council  shall  determine. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

The  delegates  to  the  National  Council  shall  be  elected  by  ballot  at  the  regu- 
lar annual  meeting  of  the  State  Council,  in  November. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

The  State  Council  shall  have  power  to  adopt  all  such  by-laws,  rules  and  reg- 
ulations for  its  own  government,  and  also  for  the  government  of  the  Subordinate 
Councils,  as  it  may  deem  necessary  for  uniformity  and  the  general  good  of  the 
Order,  not  inconsistent  with  this  Constitution,  or  the  Constitution  of  the  Na- 
tional Council. 


477 
ARTICLE  VIII. 

Sec.  1. — The  political  powers  of  the  State  Council  shall  be  limited  to  the  se- 
lection of  candidates  for  State  officers,  to  be  supported  by  the  members  of  this 
Order — which  selections  may  be  by  bailor,  or  viva  vocc,  as  the  Council  may 
decide;  provided,  however,  that  in  the  selection  of  a  candidate  for  Governor  of 
the  State,  the  State  Council  may,  at  its  regular  annual  meeting  next  before  the 
election  for  such  offices,  either  make  the  nominations  itself,  or  call  a  convention 
of  the  order  in  the  State,  at  such  time  and  place  as  the  State  Council  may  de- 
cide for  the  purpose  of  making  such  nominations — and  in  case  of  the  calling 
of  such  convention,  the  Subordinate  Councils  shall  be  represented  in  sudi  con- 
vention, as  according  to  the  provisions  of  this  Constitution  they  are  to  be  rep- 
resented in  the  State  Council,  and  subject  to  the  same  manner  and  proportion- 
ate strength  in  casting  the  vote. 

Sec.  2. — In  the  selection  of  candidates  for  all  offices  to  be  filled  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  the  following  method  shall  be  preserved,  viz  : 

For  United  States  Senators,  Secretary  of  State,  Treasurer,  Comptroller,  Su- 
perintendent of  Common  Schools,  Judges  of  the  Supreme  and  Superior  Courts, 
Attorney  General,  and  Solicitors,  and  all  other  offices  now  provided,  or  hereaf- 
ter created  by  law,  whose  appointment  devolve  on  the  General  Assembly,  a  ma- 
jority of  the  State  Council  shall  decide  upon  the  candidate  to  be  supported  by 
the  Order. 

Sec.  3. — In  the  selection  of  candidates  for  Congress,  the  Subordinate  Coun- 
cils in  each  Congressional  District,  shall  each  select  three  delegates,  who  shall 
meet  on  the  second  Monday  in  May,  of  each  year  in  which  the  Congressional 
elections  take  place,  at  the  places  fixed  by  law  for  comparing  the  votes  in  the 
said  District,  and  proceed  to  select  the  candidate  for  that  District.  A  majority 
of  all  the  delegates  from  all  the  Subordinate  Councils  in  each  and  every  coun- 
ty, shall  cast  the  same  number  of  votes  the  said  county  is  entitled  to  mem- 
bers in  the  House  of  Commons  in  the  State  Legislature — a  majority  of  the 
whole  number  of  votes  cast  being  necessary  to  a  selection  ;  provided,  however 
that  in  those  Congressional  Districts  in  which  the  law  provides  that  the  returns 
shall  be  compared  at  some  place  other  than  a  county  town,  in  such  Districts 
the  delegates  shall  meet  at  the  county  town  in  such  county  instead  of  the 
place  designated  by  law. 

Sec.  4. — The  selection  of  candidates  for  members  of  the  General  Assembly 
shall  be  by  the  Subordinate  Councils  in  the  following  manner,  viz :  For  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Commons,  for  Sheriff,  Clerks  of  the  County  and  Superior 
Courts,  County  Solicitors,  and  all  other  officers  elected  by  the  people  or  the 
County  Courts,  if  there  be  but  one  Council  in  the  county,  the  Council  shall 
make  the  selection  by  the  vote  of  the  majority — if  there  be  more  than  one 
Council  in  the  county,  then  each  Council  shall  select  one  delegate  for  every 
thirteen  members,  not  counting  fractions,  in  the  same,  and  when  delegates  from 
the  several  Councils  shall  have  met  at  such  time  and  place  as  may  be  agreed 
upon,  the  majority  shall  make  the  selection  ;  provided,  however,  that  where- 
there  is  more  than  one  Council  in  a  county,  the  Council  at  the  county  seat  shall 
have  the  power  to  appoint  the  time  and  place  for  the  assembling  county  conven- 
tions for  the  nomination  of  candidates,  and  calling  general  meetings  of  the  Or- 
der in  said  county  for  the  good  of  the  same.  In  the  selection  of  candidates  for 
State  Senators,  the  same  rule  shall  prevail,  except  that  the  delegates  from  the 
Councils  in  the  Districts  where  the  District  is  composed  of  more  counties  than 
one,  shall  meet  at  such  time  and  place  as  may  be  agreed  on  by  them,  and  then 
and  there  make  the  nomination. 

Sec.  5. — In  tho  election  of  candidates  for  Mayor,  or  Intendant  of  towns,  and 
of  Commissioners  for  the  same,  the  Subordinate  Council  in  such  town  shall 
make  the  nominations  by  ballot;  an4  in  those  towns  where  the  several  wards 


478 

vote  separately  for  Commissioners  in  the  same,  the  candidates  shall  be  nominated 
for  one  ward  at  a  time,  instead  of  nominating  the  whole  Board  by  general  tic- 
ket; a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  ballots  cast  being  necessary  to  a 
choice. 

Sec.  6. — In  the  selection  of  candidates  for  Electors  of  President  and  Vice- 
President,  the  Subordinate  Councils  in  each  Electoral  District,  shall  each  select 
three  delegates,  who  shall  meet  at  such  time  as  the  good  of  the  Order  may  re- 
quire the  ticket  to  be  formed,  at  the  places  fixed  by  law  for  comparing  the  votes 
in  such*  Electoral  District,  and  proceed  to  select  the  candidate  for  Elector  in 
that  EJectoral  District.  The  same  rules,  regulations  and  provisions  shall  be  ob- 
served, as  to  the  place  and  manner  of  making  the  selections,  as  are  provided  for 
the  selections  of  candidates  for  Congress. 

Sec.  7. — In  all  nominations  herein  provided  for,  whether  by  the  State  or  Sub- 
ordinate Councils,  the  vote  shall  be  by  ballot. 

Sec.  8. — Members  of  this  Order  who  shall  fail  to  sustain  the  nominations  of 
the  same  for  office,  shall  be  dealt  with  in  the  following  manner,  viz  : — A  mem- 
ber of  the  Order  who  shall  merely  fail  to  vote  for  the  candidate  of  the  Order, 
without  voting  for  any  one  else,  shall,  for  the  first  offence,  be  reprimanded  by 
the  President,  in  the  presence  of  his  Council ;  and  for  the  second  offence,  shall  be 
expelled.  Those  voting  against  the  candidates  of  the  Order,  or  who  allow  them- 
selves to  be  run  as  opposition  candidates  against  the  same,  shall  be  expelled. 
Members  of  the  Legislature  who  shall  refuse  to  support  the  nominees  of  the 
State  Council,  for  offices  to  be  filled  by  the  General  Assembly,  shall  be  reported 
by  the  President  of  the  State  Council  to  the  Subordinate  Council  to  which  such 
member  may  belong,  to  be  dealt  with ;  provided,  however,  that  in  all  these 
cases  here  provided  for,  every  such  recusant  member  shall,  before  being  dealt 
with,  be  duly  notified  to  appear  before  the  Council,  and  be  heard  in  defence — 
and  if  three-fourths  of  the  Council  then  present,  shall  suppose  that  the  recu- 
sant member  has  acted  ignorantly,  or  from  a  want  of  a  full  appreciation  of  his 
obligation,  the  Council  may,  by  a  vote  of  three-fourths,  excuse  him,  upon  the 
promise  that  he  will  not  so  offend  again. 

Sec.  9. — When  a  member  is  expelled  by  any  one  of  the  Subordinate  Councils, 
the  same  shall  be  notified  to  the  President  of  the  State  Council,  with  the  name, 
age,  and  occupation  of  the  person  expelled — and  the  President  of  the  State 
Council  shall  immediately  notify  every  Subordinate  Council  in  the  State.  The 
person  so  expelled  to  be  thus  published  as  a  perjurer  and  traitor,  unworthy  the 
notice  or  regard  of  good  men :  and  the  President  of  the  State  Council  shall 
keep  on  hand  blank  notices  printed,  for  immediate  use. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

In  the  decision  of  all  disputed  questions  that  may  arise  in  the  State  Council, 
the  vote  shall  be  taken  per  capita,  unless  a  call  for  a  division  by  counties  is  se- 
conded by  one-fourth  of  the  members  present — in  which  case  the  vote  shall  be 
taken  by  counties,  a  majority  of  the  delegates  from  the  Subordinate  Council  or 
Councils  in  each  county  represented,  casting  as  many  votes  as  the  said  county  is 
entitled  to  members  in  the  House  of  Commons  of  the  State  Legislature.  In 
the  decision  of  all  questions,  the  vote  of  the  majority  shall  prevail.  This  me- 
thod of  voting  shall  equally  apply  in  the  election  of  officers  of  the  State  Coun- 
cil, and  to  nominations  for  political  office  or  place. 

ARTICLE  X. 

Sec.  1. — For  the  entire  work  of  the  Order,  including  Ritual,  the  Constitution 
of  the  National  Council,  the  Constitution  of  the  State  Council,  and  the  Consti- 
tutions for  Subordinate  Councils,  each  Subordinate  Council  shall  pay  the  sum 


479 

of  five  dollars;  and  for  every  dispensation  and  charter  for  opening  Councils,  the 
applicants  therefor  shall  pay  the  sum  of  three  dollars. 

Sec.  2. — Each  Subordinate  Council  shall  pay  an  annual  contribution  of  25 
cents  for  each  member  under  its  jurisdiction,  one  half  to  be  paid  into  the  Trea- 
sury of  the  State  Council  semi-annually,  to  be  paid  over  by  the  Secretary  to  the 
Treasurer  of  the  State  Council;  provided,  however,  that  the  Subordinate  Coun- 
cils may  exempt  from  the  payment  of  this  contribution,  such  of  its  members 
as  they  may  suppose  it  would  bear  heavily  upon. 

ARTICLE  XL 

No  alteration  or  amendment  of  this  Constitution  shall  be  made,  unless  pro- 
posed in  writing  and  signed  by  at  least  seven  members  of  the  State  Council, 
submitted  at  least  one  day  before  its  adoption,  and  afterwards  concurred  in  by 
two-thirds  of  the  members  present. 

OFFICERS   OF   THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   STATE   COUNCIL. 

President,  P.  F.  Pescud,  Ilaleigh. 

Vice-President,  John  M.  Mathews,  Elizabeth  City. 

Secretary,  W.  H.  Harrison,  Ilaleigh. 

Treasurer,  E.  L.  Harding,  Raleigh. 

Marshal,  S.  E.  Phillip§,  Raleigh. 

Chaplain,  Rev.  James  Reid,  Louisburg. 


LYNCHBURO  KNOW  NOTHING  CONVENTION. 

The  Lynchburg  Convention,  as  it  was  termed,  to  distinguish  it  from  a  secret 
authoritative  council  of  the  Order,  was  held  on  the  19th  day  of  October  1855, 
in  commemoration  of  the  crouching  of  the  British  lion  before  the  American 
eagle  upon  the  plains  of  Yorktown.  The  19th  of  October,  22d  of  February, 
and  the  4th  day  of  July,  are  favorite  days  with  Know  Nothings  for  political  as- 
semblies. We  would  suggest,  (should  they  ever  have  an  occasion  to  convene 
and  deliberate  again,)  the  24th  day  of  May,  as  a  day  in  every  sense  of  the  word 
suitable. 

This  Lynchburg  Convention,  after  several  attempts  at  organization,  finally- 
appointed  as  president  Capt.  Richard  G.  Morris,  of  Richmond  city.  The  pres- 
ident on  taking  the  chair,  as  usual,  (even  amongst  Know  Nothings,)  returned 
thanks  for  the  honor  conferred  upon  him.  After  the  election  of  other  officers, 
&c.,  the  Convention  proceeded  to  business. 

The  secretary,  Mr.  Oilman,  of  Wheeling,  then  called  over  the  names  of  the 
counties ;  the  delegates  present  answering  for  their  respective  counties.  When 
the  list  was  concluded,  the  counties,  towns  and  cities  of  the  State  represented 
were  forty-two ; — Dr.  Caldwell,  a  travelling  dentist,  representing  ten  counties. 
A  committee  was  appointed  by  the  president  to  report  resolutions  for  the  adop- 
tion of  the  body ;  Mr.  A.  Judson  Crane,  of  Richmond,  being  chairman.  After 
the  committee  had  retired  and  concocted  their  resolutions,  they  were  brought 


480 

before  the  Convention  for  adoption.  These  resolutions  embodied  a  complete 
and  final  surrender  of  the  main  issues  this  party  had  made  in  the  State  of  Vir- 
ginia, but  five  months  previous.  The  resolutions  passed  by  this  Convention 
counseled  the  abandonment  of  the  ceremonies  of  initiation,  the  oaths,  signs, 
secrets  and  passwords.  And,  finally,  Mr.  Samuel  G.  Staples,  from  near  the 
Ball  mountains  of  Patrick,  introduced  a  resolution,  which  waq  carried,  invi- 
ting, all  good  and  true  men  into  their  fold  who  professed  to  owe  no  temporal  al- 
legiance to  any  foreign  power.  This  was  certainly  a  virtual  surrender  of  the 
Catholic  test.  The  Catholic,  as  well  as  all  other  foreigners,  cannot  become  citi- 
zens of  this  nation  until  they  do  renounce  all  allegiance  to  all  foreign  powers, 
potentates,  kings,  deys,  sultans,  popes,  czars  and  emperors.  But  before  the  24th 
day  of  May  1855,  in  Virginia,  no  member  of  the  Catholic  church,  or  who  had 
Catholic  parents,  or  worse  than  all,  who  had  a  Catholic  wife,  could  be  entitled 
to  any  of  the  privileges  of  the  native  born.  There  was  only  one  dissenting 
voice  to  the  resolutions  adopted ;  and  that  was  the  "  Lone  Star,"  Mr.  Woodfin, 
of  the  county  of  Buckingham.  He  considered  the  resolutions  a  complete 
surrender  of  the  principles  of  the  "  American  Party."  But  the  Convention 
paid  but  little  attention  to  the  gentleman  from  Buckingham,  he  being  unfortu- 
nately a  renegade  democrat. 

After  the  deliberations  of  the  day  were  over,  the  Convention  adjourned  to 
Friends'  warehouse  to  listen  to  the  patriotic  appeals  of  distinguished  orators. 
Mr.  Thomas  Stanhope  Flournoy  discoursed  the  audience  for  about  three  hours 
upon  the  so-called  principles  of  the  "American  Party."  Mr.  A.  Judson 
Crane,  of  the  Richmond  congressional  district,  was  then  loudly  called  for,  but  ex- 
cused himself  on  account  of  indisposition.  Then  came  Mr.  John  D.  Imboden, 
of  Augusta.  Mr.  Nathaniel  C.  Claiborne,  of  Franklin,  was  then  called  for.  He 
appeared,  and  in  his  peculiar  way  amused  the  audience  for  a  little  while. 
Then  appeared  the  eloquent  but  totally  unprepared  and  off-hand  erator,  Mr.  Wal- 
ler Staples,  of  Montgomery.  We  have  read  the  Hon.  Jere.  Clemens's  eulogy 
upon  Henry  Clay,-  likewise  the  eulogy  of  the  Hon.  John  C.  Breckenridge, 
and  also  William  Wirt's  upon  Thomas  Jefferson  and  John  Adams,  but  Mr. 
Staples'  off-hand  speech  before  that  Convention  surpassed  and  totally  eclipsed 
anything  that  we,  in  the  most  extravagant  mood  of  imagination,  could  pos- 
sibly conceive  of.  If  the  Know  Nothing  party  had  not  just  abolished 
their  ceremonies  of  initiation,  &c.,  we  should  have  looked  out  for  a  council  as 
soon  as  the  oration  was  over.  It  is  said  that  John  Hampden  Pleasants  attemp- 
ted to  take  down  in  short  hand  the  speech  of  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  in 
the  delivery  of  his  eloquent  Philippic  against  the  administration  of  John  Q. 
Adams,  but  the  eloquence,  pathos  and  satire  of  the  orator  completely  entranced 
him.  It  was  so  on  this  occasion.  A  reporter  from  the  New  York  Herald  was 
present,  but  after  hearing  a  few  sentences  from  the  gentleman  of  Montgomery, 
and  seeing  his  anatomical  mien,  he  threw  himself  back  and  appeared  (as  did 
the  whole  audience)  perfectly  enraptured  and  bewildered.  Virginia  has  had  her 
Henrys,  her  Randolphs,  her  Morrisses,  and  gave  birth  to  a  Clay,  but  still  she 
has  her  Staples.  The  last  orator  upon  the  stand  was  Dr.  Withers,  of  Campbell. 
He,  in  his  remarks,  was  very  timely  and  sensible,  and  finally  wound  up  the  ball 


481 

by  telling  his  fellow  orators  that  he  was  fearful  that  all  their  speaking  was  like 
a  gentleman  he  once  heard  of,  who  was  very  much  engaged  at  breakfast  one 
morning,  eating  some  boiled  eggs  and  reading  the  morning's  paper;  when  his 
mind  was  abstracted  from  his  plate  to  his  paper,  still  continuing  to  devour 
the  £ggs,  to  his  great  surprise,  just  as  he  swallowed,  he  heard  a  chicken  chirp. 
He  very  cosily  continued  to  read,  but  at  the  same  time  carelessly  remarked  to 
the  unfortunate  chicken,  that  he  chirped  a  little  too  late  !  He  feared  that  all 
their  speaking  was  a  little  too  late.  The  doctor  is  decidedly  a  man  of  observa- 
tion, forecast  and  good  cense. 

Thus  concluded  this  grand  but  futile  rally  of  the  remnants,  fragments,  de- 
feated candidates  for  the  Board  of  Public  Works,  Congress,  Senates,  Legisla- 
ture, &c.  &c.  These  were  the  last  funeral  obsequies  performed  by  the  followers 
and  admirers  of  poor  Sam  since  the  24*7*  of  May.  "  The  way  of  the  trangres- 
sor  is  hard." — Proverbs.  We  will  here  insert  the  proceedings  and  resolutions 
of  this  Convention,  as  they  appeared  in  the  Richmond  Whig. 


[Correspondence  of  the  Dispatch.] 
KNOW  NOTHING  CONVENTION. 

ATFERNOON    SESSION — FIRST   DAY. 

Lynchburg,  Oct.  19. 

The  Convention'met  in  the  afternoon,  and  Mr.  Staples,  of  Patrick,  from  the 
Committee  to  report  Permanent  officers  for  the  Convention,  reported  the  follow- 
ing names  : 

President — Capt.  Richard  G.  Morris,  of  Richmond. 

Vice  Presidents — J.  D.  Iraboden,  of  Augusta  ;  Wra.  Collins,  of  Halifax  ; 
John  T.  Anderson,  Botetourt ;  Dr.  Patterson,  Amherst ;  Maurice  Langhorne, 
Lynchburg;  A.  J.  Crane,  Richmond;  Dr.  Caldwell,  Greenbrier. 

Secretaries — :Wm.  Semple,  Richmond  ;  W.  Oilman,  Wheeling  ;  Robt.  Ridg- 
way,  Richmond ;  J.  McDonald,  Lynchburg ;  S.  T.  Peters,  Lynchburg ;  Mr. 
Duke,  Floyd ;  J.  C.  Shields,  Lynchburg. 

Mr.  R.  G.  Morris  rose  and  returned  thanks  for  the  honor  conferred  on  him. 
It  had  been  so  long  since  he  had  been  connected  with  a  legislative  body,  that 
he  would  ask  the  Convention  to  bear  with  him  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of 
the  chair.  They  had  assembled  upon  the  discharge  of  an  important  duty,  and 
it  was  important  that  they  should  exercise  forbearance  and  a  compromising 
spirit.  He  thought  the  American  party  the  only  hope  for  saving  the  Union. 
All  that  remained  of  the  old  parties  at  the  North,  save  the  Hard  Shells  and 
Silver  Greys,  had  become  abolitionized,  and  declared  that  no  more  Slave  States 
should  enter  the  Union.  If  they  succeed,  disunion  will  be  the  result.  A  dark 
cloud  hovered  over  the  Union,  and  the  thunder  of  abolitionism  can  be  heard 
roaring  around  us.  It  was  time  for  true  patriots  to  rally  around  our  beloved 
Union,  and  save  it  from  the  ruin  consequent  on  the  efforts  of  fanaticism. 

Mr.  Imboden  moved  that  the  Secretary  call  over  the  counties  of  the  Stater 
and  that  the  names  of  the  delegates  from  them  should  be  recorded. 

The  Secretary  called  over  the  list,  and  the  following  counties  were  shown  to 
be  represented  :  Albemarle,  Allegbany,  Amherst,  Appomattox,  Augusta,  Bed- 
ford, Botetourt,  Braxton,  Buckingham,  Campbell,  Caroline,  Charlotte,  Cumber- 


482 

land,  Elizabeth  City,  Floyd,  Franklin,  Fayette,  Fluvanna,  Gloucester,  Green- 
brier,  Giles,  Halifax,  Henrico,  Kanawha,  Lewis,  Monroe,  Montgomery,  Nicho- 
las, Nelson,  Nottoway,  Ohio,  Pocahontas,  Pulaski,  Patrick,  Pittsylvania,  Prince 
Edward,  Randolph,  Roanoke,  Rockbri'dge,  Wythe,  Richmond  City,  Lynchburg, 
Wheeling. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Ridgway,  all  persons  who  belonged  to  or  sympathized 
with  the  American  party,  were  invited  to  record  their  names  as  delegates  from 
the  counties  from  which  they  came. 

Mr.  Imboden  moved  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  thirteen  to  prepare 
business  for  the  action  of  the  convention ;  and  nominated  Mr.  A.  J.  Crane  as 
chairman  of  the  same. 

The  President  appointed  the  following  gentlemen  to  constitute  the  commit- 
tee :  A.  J.  Crane,  Richmond ;  J.  D.  Imboden,  Augusta ;  Wm.  Burwell,  Bed- 
ford;  Dr.  Payne,  Lynchburg;  Walter  Staples,  Montgomery;  John  Mosby, 
Elizabeth  City ;  P.  Boiling,  Prince  Edward ;  Dr.  Charles  Cocke,  Albemarle ; 
Col.  J.  D.  Davis,  Amherst;  A.  D.  Mitchell,  Henrico;  John  Gilmer,  Pittsyl- 
vania ;  R.  C.  McClure,  Rockbridge. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Ridgway,  the  convention  then  adjourned  until  7  o'clock, 

Niglit  Session, — The  convention  re-opened  to-night,  at  7,  P.  M. 

Mr.  Crane,  chairman  of  the  committee  to  report  business  for  the  convention, 
made  the  following  partial  report : 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  adopt  the  Philadelphia  Platform,  with  the 
following  exposition  of  the  8th  section  : 

Resolved,  That  the  8th  Section  of  the  Philadelphia  platform  is  not  intended, 
in  the  opinion  of  this  convention,  to  exclude  any  citizen  from  public  station,  on 
account  of  his  religious  faith,  but  only  such  as  may  have  reserved  a  paramount 
allegiance  to  a  foreign  potentate. 

The  convention  then  adjourned  until  next  day,  9  A.  M.     * 

» 

PROCEEDINGS   OF   THE    SECOND   DAY. 

LynMurg,  Oct.  20th,  12  M. 

The  convention  re-assembled  this  morning,  and  proceeded  to  the  business  be- 
fore them. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  J.  T.  Anderson,  the  two  resolutions  in  the  partial  report 
of  the  committee  submitted  last  night,  were  separated  and  made  to  read  as  fol- 
lows : 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  adopt  the  Philadelphia  platform. 

Resolved,  That  the  8th  section  of  the  Philadelphia  platform  is  not  intended, 
in  the  opinion  of  this  Convention,  to  exclude  any  citizen  from  political  station 
on  account  of  his  religious  faith,  but  only  such  as  may  have  reserved  para- 
mount allegiance  to  a  foreign  potentate. 

Mr.  Crane,  from  the  Committee  to  prepare  Resolutions,  reported  in  full,  as 
follows  : 

Resolved.,  That  in  the  12th  section  of  the  Philadelphia  platform  we  recog- 
nize a  true  national  and  constitutional  adjustment  of  the  vexed  question  of 
slavery,  and  we  pledge  the  American  party  of  Virginia  to  an  unyielding  resist- 
ance to  any  change  or  modification,  in  substance  or  spirit,  of  that  section. 

Resolved,  That  the  wholesale  proscription  recommended  by  the  organs  of  the 
Democratic  party  oft* this  State,  of  more  than  half  of  the  native  citizens  of  Vir- 
ginia, deserves  the  most  decided  reprobation  of  every  honest  and  patriotic  citi- 
zen ;  that  the  hypocritical  reason  assigned  for  this  proscription,  viz :  the  false 
charge  of  proscription  against  the  American  party,  is  an  insult  to  an  intelligent 
people ;  that  such  a  charge  comes  with  a  bad  grace  from  a  party  who  have  al- 


483 

ways  proscribed  their  political  opponents,  and  who  disfranchised  nearly  one  half 
of  the  freemen  of  this  State  by  a  fraudulent  system  of  legislative  gerrymander- 
ing unparalleled  in  party  legislation. 

Resolved,  That  the  open  interference  of  the  Federal  Government  in  the  re- 
cent elections  of  Virginia  deserves  the  indignant  reprobation  of  every  good 
citizen. 

Resolved,  That  in  vindication  of  public  morality  and  of  the  necessity  for  the 
formation  of  a  new  party,  we  hereby  recommend  a  rigid  investigation  of  the 
manner  in  which  official  trusts  have  been  discharged  by  the  Federal  and  State 
Governments,  and  a  publication  of  all  facts  developed  thereby. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Convention,  the  nominations  of  the 
American  party,  for  President  and  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  should 
be  postponed  to  a  period  not  later  than  the  1st  of  June. 

Resolved,  That  this  committee  recommend  to  the  convention,  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  committee  of  three,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  prepare  and  publish  an 
address  to  the  people  of  Virginia,  setting  forth  the  principles  of  the  American 
party,  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  the  platform  and  the  resolutions 
adopted  by  the  Convention  at  their  present  session. 

(Under  this  resolution  the  President  appointed  Messrs.  Win.  M.  Burwell,  A. 
J.  Crane  and  Robert  Ridgway.  On  motion  the  President  was  added  to  the 
committee.) 

Resolved,  That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  convention,  all  ceremonies  of  initia- 
tion into  the  American  party  be  discontinued,  and  all  obligations  of  secrecy  re- 
moved— that  its  meeting  should  be  open  and  public,  and  its  proceedings  con- 
ducted in  accordance  with  the  usages  of  political  bodies — and  we  -invite  the  co- 
operation of  all  good  men  who  approve  the  principles  and  objects  of  the  party. 

All  of  the  resolutions  reported  by  the  committee  were  adopted  without  dis- 
cussion save  the  last  one,  which  was  strongly  opposed  by  Mr.  D.  J.  Woodfin  cf 
Buckingham,  who  contended  that  the  party  had  already  yielded  too  much  to 
outside  influence.  Should  the  ban  of  secrecy  be  removed,  the  cry  would  go 
forth  that  the  order  had  changed  into  an  open  Whig  organization — a  cry  which 
had  been  often  sounded  during  the  last  canvass.  He  said  that  in  the  last  elec- 
tion there  were  no  withdrawals  until  the  party  commenced  yielding  to  outside 
influence,  and  relaxing  their  strict  secrecy.  Then  it  was  that  their  adversaries 
found  out  who  were  members  of  the  organization,  and  commenced  operating 
upon  them.  From  that  time  withdrawals  commenced. 

The  resolution  was  supported  by  Messrs.  Wm.  M.  Burwell,  of  Bedford  ;  J. 
T.  Anderson,  of  Botetourt ;  S.  G.  Staples,  of  Patrick ;  W.  11..  Staples,  of  Mont- 
gomery j  and  J.  D.  Iraboden,  of  Augusta.  The  principal  arguments  advanced 
were  the  utter  uselcssness  of  secrecy  and  the  great  efforts  made  by  the  Democ- 
racy in  the  last  campaign  to  bring  the  order  into  discredit  on  account  of  it.  The 
principles  of  the  party  had  not  been  attacked,  and  instead,  the  enemy  had  ridi- 
culed and  condemned  the  ceremonies,  secrecy,  &c.,  of  the  order. 

Mr.  W.  T.  Sutherlin,  of  Danville,  offered  the  following  resolution  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  that  of  the  committee  : 

Resolved,  That  this  Convention  recommend  to  the  American  party  of  Virgi- 
nia an  open,  thorough  and  complete  organization  in  each  county  in  the  State. 

Mr.  S.  afterwards  withdrew  the  resolution  as  an  amendment  to  that  of  the 
committee,  and  offered  it  as  a  distinct  resolution,  in  which  form  it  was  adopted. 

The  vote  was  then  taken  on  the  committee's  resolution,  and  it  was  adopted 
without  a  dissenting  voice. 

Mr.  Imboden,  of  Augusta,  offered  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  this  Convention  recommend  to  the  American  Party  of  Vir- 
ginia to  hold  a  Convention  in  the  city  of  Richmond  on  the  14th  of  January 
next. 


484 

As  a  substitute  for  the  above,  which  met  with  some  opposition,  Mr.  Imboden 
offered  a  resolution  calling  an  American  Mass  Meeting  in  the  city  of  Richmond, 
on  the  31st  inst.,  which  was  adopted. 

Mr.  Staples  of  Patrick,  offered  the  following  resolution,  which  was  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  this  Convention  recommend  the  holding  of  Conventions  in 
each  Congressional  District,  for  the  purpose  of  sending  delegates  to  the  National 
Convention,  and  that  three  delegates  be  sent  from  said  Congressional  Districts 
with  power  to  cast  such  vote  only  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  National  Con- 
vention. 

Dr.  Patterson  of  Amherst,  offered  a  resolution  admitting  to  public  office  any 
citizen  who  shall  openly  disclaim  allegiance  to  a  foreign  potentate. 

As  the  Convention  was  rapidly  breaking  up  and  members  leaving,  the  reso- 
lution was  withdrawn. 

After  the  usual  vote  of  thanks  to  the  officers  of  the  Convention,  and  to  the 
citizens  of  Lynchburg,  for  their  hospitality,  the  Convention  adjourned  sine  die. 


THE  NATIONALITY  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY. 

In  the  States  of  OHIO  and  CONNECTICUT,  the  Whig  and  Know  Nothing 
parties  have  been  thoroughly  abolitionized,  and  their  elections  and  declarations, 
their  acts  and  their  words,  render  the  fact  unquestionable.  They  are  waging  a 
war  of  extermination  on  slavery,  in  and  out  of  Congress  at  this  time. 

In  those  two  States,  where  the  hostility  to  slavery  is  stronger  than  in  any 
other,  either  of  the  western  or  New  England  States,  the  Democracy  are  not 
merely  conservative  on  that  question,  they  are  more — they  are  the  defenders  of 
the  South  and  her  peculiar  institution,  as  the  following  resolutions  will  prove. 

We  copy  in  extenso  the  following  resolutions  of  the  late  Democratic  State 
Convention  of  Connecticut : 

DEMOCRATIC   STATE     CONVENTION   OF   CONNECTICUT. 

The  Hartford  Times,  of  the  15th  instant,  contains  a  full  report  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Democratic  State  Convention  of  Connecticut,  which  was  held  at 
New  Haven  on  the  preceding  day.  It  was  one  of  the  largest  delegated  conven- 
tions ever  held  in  Connecticut.  Our  readers  have  already  been  advised  of  the 
of  the  nominations  of  State  officers  by  this  convention.  The  following  resolu- 
tions, which  were  unanimously  adopted,  are  worthy  of  extensive  circulation. 
They  breathe  the  right  spirit,  and  admirably  meet  all  the  issues  raised  by  the 
enemies  of  the  Democratic  party  : 

"Resolved,  That  the  strict  adherence  of  the  President  of  the  United  States 
to  those  great  principles  of  constitutional  government  which  have  received  the 
entire  sanction  of  the  democracy  of  the  Union,  and  the  checks  which  he  has 
interposed  upon  legislation  at  war  with  those  principles  by  his  vetoes  of  the 
insane  land  bill,  and  the  river  and  harbor  bill,  assure  us  that,  under  his  admin- 
istration, the  country  will  be  secure  from  any  inroads  upon  that  constitution 
which  is  the  written  bond  uniting  thirty-one  sovereign  States,  and  on  the  strict 
construction  of  which  depends  the  harmonious  existence  of  our  confederated 
system. 


485 

Resolved,  That  the  power  of  Congress  over  the  Territories  of  the  U.  States 
should  be  only  employed  to  such  an  extent  as  the  necessities  of  the  case  may 
require,  and  for  the  equal  benefit  of  all  the  parties  to  the  federal  compact,  and 
that  when  any  Territory,  having  the  requisite  number  of  inhabitants,  applies 
for  admission  into  the  Union  as  a  sovereign  State,  she  must,  to  be  received  as  a 
co-equal  member  of  the  family  of  States,  be  admitted  with  such  constitution  as 
her  people  may  ordain,  provided  said  constitution  does  not  conflict  with  the 
organic  law  of  the  confederacy. 

Resolved,  That  those  just  and  equitable  laws  providing  for  the  naturaliza- 
tion of  those  born  in  other  lands,  established  in  accordance  with  the  principles 
of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  continued  to  this  day 
without  any  interruption,  save  that  caused  by  the  bigoted  federalists  under  the 
administration  of  John  Adams,  have  contributed  to  the  growth  of  this  republic 
and  the  fraternization  of  its  inhabitants  ;  and  that  these  laws  are  essentially  the 
part  of  that  wise  American  policy  which,  founded  on  a  comprehensive  and  phi- 
lanthropic basis,  has  signalized  our  beloved  country  as  the  home  of  th^  exile 
and  oppressed,  and  will  make  her  as  renowned  for  her  power  and  greatness  as 
she  is  distinguished  for  her  freedom  and  enterprise. 

Resolved,  That,  in  order  to  recognise  in  the  most  solemn  form  the  princi- 
ples of  religious  freedom,  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  doth  ordain  that 
'Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,  or  prohib- 
iting the  free  exercise  thereof/  and  that  the  various  States  have,  almost  without 
exception,  incorporated  some  distinct  acknowledgment  of  religious  liberty  into 
their  several  constitutions,  and  that  thus  religious  freedom  has  become,  by  the 
action  of  the  sovereign  States  and  of  the  general  government,  whose  powers  are 
derived  from  those  States,  a  great  American  principle. 

Resolved,  That  political  parties  organized  with  the  view  of  shutting  out  from 
all  posts  of  political  trust  the  members  of  any  religious  denomination,  do  vir- 
tually condemn  that  system  of  religious  liberty  which  is  American  in  its  char- 
acter, beneficent  in  its  conception,  and  which  has  greatly  promoted  the  harmo- 
ny and  happiness  of  the  people ;  and  that  all  political  organizations  founded  on 
hatred  of  religious  creed  or  prejudice  of  birth  are  alien  to  the  great  ideas  of 
American  liberty  and  American  progress,  and  deserve  the  condemnation  of 
American  freemen." 

At  a  convention  of  the  Democratic  party  in  Ohio,  held  at  Dayton,  Oct.  29th, 
1855,  after  eloquent  addresses  from  several  prominent  Democrats  in  favor  of 
the  Kansas  Nebraska  act : 

"  Capt.  E.  A.  King,  from  the  committee  on  resolutions,  reported  the  follow- 
ing, which  were  received  severally  with  loud  applause,  and  adopted  without  a 
dissenting  voice. 

"  Whereas :  The  formal  reorganization  and  consolidation  of  the  old  Abolition 
party  of  the  North,  under  the  name  of  "  Republican  party,"  into  an  avowed 
northern  faction  bounded  by  a  geographical  line,  and  pledged  to  an  unrelenting 
warfare,  even  to  the  destruction  of  the  Constitution  and  the  sundering  of  the 
Union,  upon  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  people  of  all  the  States  lying 
south  of  that  line,  demands  of  the  only  National  party  now  in  existence,  the 
Democracy  of  the  United  States,  but  especially  of  that  of  the  North,  that 
laying'aside  old  issues  and  controversies,  they  should  come  up  as  one  man  to 
the  full  measure  of  the  exigencies  which  press  upon  us,  and  boldly  meet  the 
new  and  living  questions  of  the  day  : 

"  Therefore,  we  a  portion  of  the  Democracy  of  Ohio  and  the  North,  in  public 
meeting  assembled,  do  resolve  and  declare  : — 


486 

"  Resolved,  That  we  congratulate  the  people  of  the  United  States,  on  the  fi- 
nal inauguration  of  the  grand  scheme  of  domestic  policy  for  which  the  Demo- 
cratic party  of  the  Union  so  many  years  contended,  and  the  consequent  pros- 
perity, which,  under  the  auspices  of  that  party,  has  distinguished  every  sec- 
tion of  the  country,  vindicating  at  once  the  sound  doctrine  and  policy  of 
that  party,  and  the  intelligence,  patriotism,  and  discriminating  justice  of  the 
American  people. 

Resolved,  That  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government,  are  derived  solely 
from  the  constitutional  compact  to  which, the  several  States  are  parties  :  that 
these  are  limited  by  the  plain  sense  and  intention  of  the 'instrument  consititu- 
ting  that  compact;  that  the  grants  of  power  made  in. that  instrument,  ought  to 
be  strictly  construed  by  all  the  departments  and  agents  of  the  government  : 
that  all  powers  not  expressly  granted  or  necessarily  implied,  are  expressly  re- 
served to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  people  :  that  it  is  inexpedient  and 
dangerous  to  exercise  powers  of  doubtful  constitutionality. 

R^jiolved,  That  in  delegating  a  portion  of  their  powers  to  be  exercised  by 
the  Federal  government,  the  States  retained,  severally,  the  exclusive  and  sole 
right  over  their  own  domestic  institutions  and  police,  and  are  alone  responsible 
for  them ;  and  that  any  intermeddling  of  any  one  or  more  States,  or  of  a  com- 
bination of  their  citizens,  with  the  domestic  institutions  and  police  of  the  others 
on  any  ground  or  under  any  pretext  whatever,  political,  moral,  or  religious, 
with  a  view  to  their  alteration  or  subversion,  is  an  assumption  of  superiority, 
not  warranted  by  the  Constitution,  insulting  to  the  States  interfered  with,  ten- 
ding to  endanger  their  domestic  peace  and  tranquiiity,  subversive  of  the  objects 
for  which  the 'Constitution  was  framed,  and  by  necessary  consequence,  tending 
to  weaken  and  destroy  the  Union  itself. 

Resolved,  That  domestic  slavery  as  it  exists  in  the  southern  States  of  this 
Union,  comprises  an  important  part  of  their  domestic  institutions  inherited  from 
their  ancestors,  and  existing  at  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  by  which  it  is 
recognized  as  constituting  an  essential  element  in  the  distribution  of  its  powers 
among  the  States ;  and  that  no  change  of  opinion  or  feeling  on  the  part  of  the 
other  States  of  the  Union  in  relation  to  it,  can  justify  them  or  their  citizens  in 
open  and  systematic  attacks  thereon  with  a  view  to  its  overthrow ;  and  that  all 
such  attacks  are  in  manifest  violation  of  the  mutual  and  solemn  pledge  to  pro- 
tect and  defend  each  other,  given  by  the  States  respectively  on  entering  into 
the  constitutional  compact  which  formed  the  Union,  and  as  such  is  a  manifest 
breach  of  faith  and  a  violation  of  the  most  solemn  obligations,  moral  and  reli- 
gious. 

Resolved,  That  Congress  has  no  power,  under  the  Constitution,  to  interfere 
with  or  control  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  several  States ;  and  that  such 
States  are  the  sole  and  proper  judges  of  everything  appertaining  to  their  own 
affairs,  not  prohibited  by  the  Constitution  ;  and  that  all  efforts  of  Abolitionists, 
or  others,  by  whatever  name  known,  made  to  induce  Congress  to  interfere  with 
questions  $f  slavery,  or  to  take  incipient  steps  in  relation  thereto,  whether  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  the  Territories,  or  its 
prohibition  therein,  or  for  the  interdiction  of  the  coastwise  or  inter-state  slave 
trade,  or  the  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  or  of  the  Kansas  Nebraska  act, 
are  calculated  to  lead  to  the  most  alarming  and  dangerous  consequences ;  and  that 
all  such  efforts  have  an  inevitable  tendency  to  diminish  the  happiness  of  the 
people  and  endanger  the  stability  and  permanency  of  the  Union,  and  ought  not 
to  be  countenanced  by  any  friend  of  our  political  institutions. 

Resolved,  That  regarding  these  compromises  of  the  Constitution,  solemnly 
entered  into  by  its  founders,  as  wise  and  necessary  provisions,  and  such  as  ought 
neither  to  be  disregarded  nor*tampered  with,  we  are  for  the  Constitution  as  it 
is,  and  the  Union  as  it  is ;  and  that  we  will  preserve,  maintain  and  defend  both 
at  every  hazard,  observing  with  scrupulous  and  uncalculating  fidelity,  every 


487 

article,  requirement  and  compromise  of  the  constitutional  compact  between  these 
States,  to  the  letter  and  in  its  utmost  spirit,  and  recognizing  no  "  higher  law" 
between  which  and  the  constitution  we  know  of  any  conflict. 

Resolved,  That  the  Constitution  was  "  the  result  of  a  spirit  of  amity,  and  of 
that  mutual  deference  and  concession  which  the  peculiarities  of  our  political 
situation  rendered  indispensable;"  and  that  by  amity,  conciliation  and  compro- 
mise alone  can  it  and  the  Union  which  it  established,  be  preserved  :  and  that  it 
is  the  duty  of  all  good  citizens  to  frown  indignantly  upon  every  attempt  where- 
soever and  by  whomsoever  made,  to  array  one  section  of  the  Union  against  the 
other,  to  foment  jealousies  or  heart  burnings  between  them  by  systematic  and 
organized  misrepresentation,  denunciation  and  calumny,  and  thereby  to  render 
alien  in  feeling  and  affection  the  inheritors  of  so  noble  a  common  patrimony,, 
purchased  by  our  fathers  at  so  great  expense  of  blood  of  treasure. 

Re*olvedy  That  the  Constitution  confers  no  power  upon  Congress  to  establish 
or  prohibit  slavery  in  the  Territories  of  the  United  States  :  that  these  Territo- 
ries are  the  common  property  of  the  States  in  their  federal  capacity,  purchased 
by  the  common  blood  and  treasure  of  all  the  States:  and  that  the  people  of 
each  and  every  State,  have  the  right  to  an  equal  participation  in  every  respect, 
in  the  use  of  these  Territories  in  common,  without  interference  by  Congress. 

Resolved,  That  the  right  of  the  people  of  each  particular  State  and  Territory 
to  establish  their  own  constitution  or  form  of  government  j  to  choose  and  regu- 
late their  own  domestic  institutions  of  every  kind,  and  to  legislate  for  themselves* 
is  a  fundamental  principle  of  all  free  government ;  that  it  is  the  self  same  right 
to  secure  which  our  ancestors  waged  the  war  of  the  revolution  ;  a  right  lying  at 
the  very  foundation  of  all  our  free  institutions,  recognized  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  established  and  secured  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States ;  and  we  hereby  endorse  and  reaffirm  this  now  disputed  principle,  as  it  is 
embodied  in  the  Acts  for  the  organization  of  Utah  and  New  Mexico  in  1850, 
and  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  in  1854. 

Resolved  further.  That  the  foregoing  right  is  no  otherwise  limited  or  restricted 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  except  so  far  as  the  constitution  of  a 
State  applying  for  admission  into  the  Union  is  required  to  be  "  republican,"  or 
representative  in  form  ;  a  limitation  in  no  wise  affected  by  the  domestic  institu- 
tion of  slavery  j  and  that  therefore  all  efforts  to  exclude  a  State  from  such  ad- 
mission, on  the  ground  that  her  constitution  or  laws  sanction  slaveholding,  are 
violations  alike  of  sound  Democratic  principles  and  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
Union. 

Resolved,  That  the  introduction  of  moral  or  religious  questions  into  the  poli- 
tical controversies  and  issues  of  the  day,  is  a  wide  departure  from  the  ancient 
principles  and  sound  policy  of  the  country  ;  at  war  with  the  true  interests  of 
the  people,  corrupting  alike  to  morals,  religion  and  politics,  and  of  most  perni- 
nicious  and  dangerous  tendency;  and  that  therefore  we  are  uncompromisingly 
opposed  to  the  provisions  of  the  "  Maine  Liquor  Law,"  so  called,  the  principles 
of  the  "  Order  of  Know  Nothings,"  and  the  fanaticisms  and  wicked  and  traito- 
rous purposes  of  Abolitionism." 


A  SPEAKER  ELECTED. 

The  protracted  struggle  for  the  speakership  was  brought  to  a  -close  last  eve- 
ning by  the  election  of  Hon.  N.  P.  Banks.  Nine  full  weeks  were  consumed 
before  this  result  was  attained,  and  it  was  finally  brought  about  by  the  adoption 
of  the  plurality  rule.  Although  it  is  absolutely  certain  that  there  is  a  majori- 
ty of  the  representatives  in  the  House  who  agree  with  Mr.  Banks  on  the  sec- 
tional questions  which  now  agitate  the  country,  yet  it  has  been  demonstrated, 


488 

again  and  again,  that  a  portion  of  his  own  political  friends  would  never  agree 
to  vote  for  him  for  Speaker, -and  hence  that  he  could  never  be  elected  by  a  ma- 
jority vote. 

As  we  have  remarked,  the  contest  was  finally  terminated  under  the  operation 
of  the  plurality  rule.  The  votes  taken  during  several  days  past  had  indicated 
that  a  Speaker  could  only  be  chosen  by  resorting  to  that  rule.  There  was  a 
strong  repugnance  amongst  the  national  members  to  its  adoption,  more  especially 
after  the  revolting  declaration  of  Mr.  Banks  as  to  the  test  of  superiority  in  the 
races.  The  southern  Know  Nothings  manifested  a  determination  against  cast- 
ing their  votes  for  the  democratic  nominees  not  less  persistent  than  their  refusal 
to  vote  for  Mr.  Banks.  On  Friday,  however,  propositions  were  made  by  Demo- 
crats to  which  the  southern  Know  Nothings  indicated  a  disposition  to  accede — • 
the  one  proposing  Mr.  Oliver,  an  old-line  Whig,  and  the  other  Mr.  Aiken,  a 
National  Democrat,  for  Speaker.  The  votes  on  these  propositions,  compared 
with  that  given  on  the  same  day  on  a  resolution  declaring  Mr.  Banks  the 
Speaker,  showed  so  little  difference  that  it  was  exceedingly  doubtful  what  would 
be  the  result  upon  the  adoption  of  the  plurality  rule.  At  this  point  Mr.  Smith, 
of  Tennessee,  believing  that  the  chances  of  Mr.  Aiken  were  at  least  equal  to 
those  of  Mr.  Banks,  brought  forward  a  resolution  for  the  plurality  rule.  Mr. 
Orr  immediately  withdrew  unconditionally  his  name  as  the  democratic  nominee, 
and  the  resolution  was  adopted.  The  result  was,  as  we  have  stated,  the  elec- 
tion of  Mr.  Banks  by  a  plurality  of  three  votes — Mr.  Banks  receiving  103 
votes,  and  Mr.  Aiken  100 — six  national  Americans  throwing  their  votes  on  Mr. 
Fuller,  and  four  Republicans  throwing  theirs  on  Mr.  L.  D.  Campbell.  It  is 
apparent  that  a  perfect  union  of  the  national  members  (the  four  Republicans 
voting  for  Mr.  Campbell)  would  have  elected  Mr.  Aiken  by  a  plurality  of  three. 
Thus  has  ended  the  most  extraordinary  struggle  that  has  ever  occurred.  Al- 
though the  result  is  one  which  every  national  man  will  regret,  yet,  as  the 
Republicans  have  a  known  -majority  in  the  House,  and  therefore  were  entitled 
to  the  Speaker,  there  is  reason  for  acquiescing,  inasmuch  as  it  enables  the  ma- 
chinery of  government  once  more  to  move  on. 

Saturday,  February  2,  1856. 

HOUSE    OF   REPRESENTATIVES. 

The  House  met  at  12,  m. 

Prayer  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cummins. 

The  journal  of  yesterday  was  read  and  approved. 

The  Clerk  stated  that  the  first  business  in  order  was  the  resolution  submitted 
by  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky,  [Mr.  Talbott,]  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  Hon.  Alexander  H.  Stephens  be,  and  he  is  hereby  de- 
clared Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  for  the  34th  Congress. 

Mr.  Talbott  had  offered  the  resolution  without  having  any  conference  with 
the  honorable  gentleman  whose  name  was  contained  in  it.  He  had  hoped  that 
it  would  reconcile  all  the  discordant  elements  of  the  House,  and  bring  about  an 
organization.  He  rose  for  the  purpose  of  withdrawing  the  resolution  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  gentleman  from  Georgia. 

Mr.  Smith,  of  Tennessee,  stated  that  he  had  heretofore  voted  against  the 
plurality  rule ;  but  the  vote  of  yesterday  indicating  that  there  was  at  least  the 
chance  of  the  election  of  a  man  of  sound  national  principles  lyider  its  opera- 
tion, he  therefore  offered  the  following  resolution,  and  called  for  the  previous 
question : 

Resolved,  That  the  House  will  proceed  immediately  to  the  election  of  a 
Speaker  viva  voce;  and  if,  after  the  roll  shall  have  been  called  three  times,  no 
member  shall  have  received  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  votes,  the  roll 


489 

shall  again  be  called,  and  the  member  who  shall  then  receive  the  largest  num- 
ber of  votes,  provided  it  be  a  majority  of  a  quorum,  shall  be  duly  declared 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress. 

Mr.  Goode,  of  Virginia,  moved  -to  1;^  the  resolution  on  the  table;  which 
motion  was  not  agreed  to — yeas  104,  nays  114. 

The  previous  question  was  seconded,  and  the  main  question  was  ordered  to  be 
now  put. 

The  question  was  taken,  and  the  resolution  was  adopted — yeas  113,  nays 
104 — as  follows  : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Albright,  Allison,  Ball,  Banks,  Barbour,  Barclay,  Henry 
Bennett,  Benson,  Billinglmrst,  Bingham, .  Bishop,  Bliss,  Bradshaw,  Brenton, 
Buffington,  Burlingame,  James*  H.  Campbell,  Chaffee,  Bayard  Clark,  Ezra 
Clark,  Clawson,  Clingman,  Colfax,  Comins,  Covoke,  Cragin,  Cumback,  Damrell, 
Timothy  Davis,  Day,  Dean,  De  Witt,  Dick,  Dickson,  Dodd,  Durfee,  Edie,  Flag- 
ler,  Galloway,  Giddings,  Gilbert,  Granger,  Grow,  Robert  B.  Hall,  Harlan,  Her- 
bert, Hickman,  Holloway,  Thomas  R.  Horton,  Howard,  Jewett,  Kelley,  Kel- 
sey,  King,  Knapp,  Knight,  Knowlton,  Knox,  Kunkel,  Leiter,  Mace,  Matteson, 
McCarty,  Meacham,  Killian  Miller,  Morgan,  Morrill,  Mott,  Murray,  Nichols, 
Norton,  Andrew  Oliver,  Parker,  Pearce,  Pelton,  Pennington,  Perry,  Pettit, 
Pike,  Pringle,  Purviance,  Ritchie,  Robbius,  Roberts,  Robison,  Sabin,  Sage, 
Sapp,  Sherman,  Simmons,  Samuel  A.  Smith,  Spinner,  Stanton,  Stranahan,  Tap- 
pan,  Thorington,  Thurston,  Todd,  Trafton,  Tyson,  Wade,  Walbridge,  Waldron, 
C.  C.  Washburne,  E.  B.  Washburne,  Israel  Washburn,  Watson,  Welch,  Wells, 
Williams,  Wood,  Woodruff,  and  Woodworth— 113. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Aiken,  Allen,  Barksdale,  Bell,  Hendley  S.  Bennett,  Bocock, 
Bowie,  Boyce,  Branch,  Brooks,  Broom,  Burnett,  Cadwalader,  John  P.  Camp- 
bell, Lewis  D.  Campbell,  Carlile,  Caruthers,  Caskie,  Howell  Cobb,  W.  R,  W. 
Cobb,  Cox,  Crawford,  Davidson,  H.  Winter  Davis,  Denver,  Dowdell,  Dunn, 
Edmundson,  Elliott^  English,  Etheridge,  Eustis,  Evans,  Faulkner,  Florence, 
Foster,  H.  M.  Fuller,  T.  J.  D.  Fuller,  Goode,  Greenwood,  Augustus  Hall,  J. 
M.  Harris,  S.  W.  Harris,  T.  L.  Harris,  Harrison,  Hoffman,  Houston,  George 
W.  Jones,  J.  Glancy  Jones,  Keitt,  Kennett,  Kidwell,  Lake,  Letcher,  Lindley, 
Lumpkin,  A.  K.  Marshall,  Humphrey  Marshall,  S.  S.  Marshall,  Maxwell,  Mc- 
Mullen,  McQueen,  Smith  Miller,  Millson,  Millward,  Moore,  Mordecai  Oliver, 
Orr,  Paine,  Peck,  Phclps,  Porter,  Powell,  Puryear,  Quitman,  Ready,  Ricaud, 
Rivers,  Ruffin,  Rust,  Sandidge,  Savage,  ^cott,  Shorter,  William  Smith,  William 
R.  Smith,  Sneed,  Stephens,  Stewart,  Swope,  Talbott,  Trippe,  Underwood,  Vail, 
Valk,  Walker,  Warner,  Watkins,  Wheeler,  Whitney,  Winslow,  D.  B.  Wright, 
J.  V.  Wright,  and  Zollicoffer— 104. 

[The  announcement  was  applauded  in  the  galleries.] 

Mr.  Orr,  of  South  Carolina,  said  that  his  name  had  been  put  in  nomination^ 
some  two  weeks  ago  by  the  Democratic  party  for  the  speakership,  and  though 
very  many  ballots  had  taken  place  since  that  time,  and  although  the  members 
of  that  party  supposed  that  by  changing  their  nominee  they  might  increase  and 
strengthen  them,  yet  the  result  had  shown  that  they  were  mistaken  in  the  con- 
clusion to  which  they  arrived.  The  complimentary  vote  given  yesterday  to  his 
colleague  [Mr.  Aiken]  rendered  it  very  evident  to  his  mind  that  that  gentleman 
would  be  able  to  concentrate  a  greater  strength  than  himself,  and  as  he  desired 
to  see  the  House  organized  upon  national  principles,  and  in  opposition  to  sec- 
tionalism, he  took  occasion,  after  returning  his  thanks  to  his  party  friends  for 
their  fidelity  and  confidence  in  nominating  and  sustaining  him,  to  withdraw  un- 
conditionally his  name  from  the  contest. 

Mr.  Boyce,  of  South  Carolina,  moved  to  rescind  the  resolution  just  adopted. 

Mr.  Smith,  of  Tennessee,  moved  to  lay  that  motion  on  the  table;  which  was 
agreed  to — yeas  117,  nays  101. 

[Applause  in  the  galleries.J 


490 

Cries  of  "Call  the  roll." 

Mr.  Jones,  of  Tennessee,  moved  an  adjournment  of  the  House,  in  order  to 
give  members  an  opportunity  to  confer,  that  they  might  cast  their  votes  under- 
standingly  in  the  great  crisis  which  ^ey  were  now  approaching.  The  motion 
was  not  agreed  to — yeas  84,  nays  133. 

[Applause  in  the  galleries.] 

Cries  of  "  Call  the  roll." 

Mr.  Walker,  of  Alabama,  moved  to  rescind  the  plurality  resolution. 

Mr.  Cliugman  raised  the  point  that  the  motion  was  not  in  order,  it  having 
been  decided  once  already  during  the  day. 

The  Clerk  thought  that  the  motion  was  in  order,  but  submitted  the  question 
to  the  House,  and  it  was  decided  that  it  was  not  in  order — yeas  83,  nays  128. 

Mr.  Paine,  of  North  Carolina,  moved  that  the  House  do  now  adjourn;  which 
motion  was  not  agreed  to. 

[Applause  in  the  galleries.] 

Mr.  Orr  said  that  if  the  House  was  to  be  annoyed  by  continued  applause  he 
would  have  to  move  that  the  galleries  be  cleared.  He  did  not  allude  to  the  la- 
dies' gallery.  [Laughter.] 

[Cries  of  «  Call  the  roll."] 

VOTE   FOR    SPEAKER. 

The  House  then  proceeded  to  vote  for  Speaker,  it  being  the  first  under  the 
plurality  rule. 

The  Clerk  called  the  roll  the  one  hundred  and  thirtieth  time,  with  the  fol- 
lowing result : 

Whole  number  of  votes,  215 ;  necessary  to  a  choice,  108  :  of  these — • 
Mr.  Banks  received,                     -  102 

Aiken,  -  -  -      *  93 

H.  M.  Fuller,  14 

L.  D.  Campbell,  -  -  4 

Wells,  2 

Mr.  Richardson,  of  Illinois,  gave  notice  that  he  had  paired  off  with  Mr.  Em- 
rie,  otherwise  he  would  have  voted  for  Mr.  Aiken. 

There  being  no  choice,  the  House  proceeded  to  the  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
first  vote,  being  the  second  under  the  plurality  rule,  with  the  following  result : 

Whole  number  of  votes,  214 ;  necessary  to  a  choice,  108  :  of  these — 

Mr.  Banks  received  -  102 

Aiken,  -  -  -  93 

ft  H.  M.  Fuller,  -  -  -  13 

L.  D.  Campbell,  -  -  4 

Wells,  -  -  2 

So  there  was  no  choice. 

Mr.  Kennett,  of  Missouri,  moved  that  the  House  do  now  adjourn ;  which 
motion  was  not  agreed  to.  [Applause.] 

The  House  then  proceeded  to  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-second  vote,  being 
the  third  under  the  plurality  rule,  with  the  following  result : 

Whole  number  of  votes,  213  ;  necessary  to  a  choice,  107  :  of  these — 
Mr.  Banks  received  102 

Aiken,  ...  93 

H.  M.  Fuller,  -  -  -  13 

L.  D.  Campbell,  -  -  4 

Wells,  ...  2 


491 

So  there  was  no  choice. 

Mr.  llust,  of  Arkansas, 'moved  that  the  House  do  now  adjourn;  which  mo- 
tion was  not  agreed  to — yeas  52,  nays  162. 

[Shouts  of  «  Call  the  roll."] 

Mr.  Fuller,  of  Pennsylvania,  desired  to  repeat  what  he  had  said  upon  two 
former  occasions,  that  he  was  not,  and  did  not  desire  to  be,  a  candidate.  [Ap- 
plause,] One  hundred  and  thirty  ballots  would  have  satisfied  him  that  he 
was  not  the  choice  of  a  majority  of  the  body,  and  upon  no  other  terms,  upon 
no  other  conditions,  would  he  consent  to  take  that  position.  He  again  returned 
his  acknowledgments  to  the  genlemen  who  had  honored  him  with  their  sup-, 
port,  and  he  requested  them  to  cast  their  suffrages  for  a  better  and  abler  man. 

During  the  call  of  the  roll  on  the  last  ballot  the  following  explanations  were 
made.  • 

Mr.  Barclay,  of  Pennsylvania,  said  that  his  votes  stood  on  the  record,  and 
he  saw  no  reason  why  he  should  change  them.  He  had  been  adverse,  from  the 
first  to  the  last,  to  anything  that  looked  like  a  coalition  with  know  nothingism, 
he  did  not  care  whether  it  came  from  the  North  or  the  South.  He  had  on 
three  votes  this  morning  cast  his  votes  away,  and  before  he  again  cast  a  vote  he 
wished  to  ask  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Aiken]  whether  he  had 
written  a  letter  to  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  H.  Marshall], 
and  whether  he  had  made  any  pledges  satisfactory  to  the  Southern  wing  of  the 
National  American  party  ? 

Mr.  Rust  objected  to  the  gentleman  proceeding  further. 

Mr.  Aiken  said  that  he  was  not  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  Speaker.  If  his 
friends  saw  fit  to  elect  him  to  that  position,  he  would  serve  them  to  the  best  of 
his  ability.  [Great  applause.] 

Mr.  A.  K.  Marshall,  of  Kentucky,  said  that  he  and  those  with  whom  he 
acted  had  discharged  their  duty  to  their  party,  and  it  now  remained  for  them  to 
discharge  it  to  their  country.  He  voted  for  Aiken. 

Several  other  gentlemen  made  explanations  before  voting  for  Aiken. 

The  House  then  proceeded  to  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-third  vote  for 
Speaker,  and  the  last  vote  under  the  plurality  rule,  with  the  following  result : 
whole  number  of  votes,  214  :  of  these  — 

Mr.  Banks  received,  103 

Aiken,                                     -                     -  100 

H.  M.  Fuller,    ...  6 

L.  D.  Campbell,                     -                     -  4 

Wells,                                      -                     -  1 

The  following  is  the  vote  in  detail : 

lor  Mr.  Banks. — Messrs.  Albright,  Allison,  Ball,  Barbour,  Henry  Bennett, 
B^nsop,  Billinghurst,  Binghatn,  Bishop,  Bliss,  Bradshaw,  Brenton,  Buffington, 
Burlingame,  James  H.  Campbell,  Lewis  D.  Campbell,  Chaffee,  Ezra  Clark, 
Clawson,  Colfax,  Comins,  Covode,  Cragin,  Cumback,  Damrell,  Timothy  Davis, 
Day,  Dean,  De  Witt,  Dick,  Dickson,  Dodd,  Durlee,  Edie,  Flagler,  Galloway, 
Giddings,  Gilbert,  Granger,  Grow,  llobert  B.  Hall,  Harlan,  Holloway,  Thomas 
11.  Horton,  Howard,  Kelsey,  King,  Knapp,  Knight,  Knowlton,  Knox,  Kun- 
kel,  Loiter,  Mace,  Matteson,  McCarty,  Meacham,  Killian  Miller,  Morgan,  Mor- 
rill,  Mott,  Murray,  Nichols,  Norton,  Andrew  Oliver,  Parker,  Pearce,  Pelton, 
Pennington,  Perry,  Pettit,  Pike,  Pringle,  Purviance,  Ritchie,  Robbins,  Roberts, 
Robison,  Sabin,  Sage,  Sapp,  Sherman,  Simmons,  Spinner,  Stanton,  Stranahan, 
Tappan,  Thorington,  Thurston,  Todd,  Trafton,  Tyson,  Wade,  Walbridge,  Wal- 
dron,  Cadwalader  C.  Washburne,  Ellihu  B.  Washburne,  Israel  Washburn, 
Watson,  Welch,  Wood,  Woodruff,  and  Wood  worth— 103. 


492 

/     * 

For  Mr.  Atken.— Messrs.  Allen,  Barksdalle,  Bell,  Hendley  S.  Bennett,  Bo- 
cock,  Bowie,  Boyce,  Branch,  Brooks,  Burnett,  Cadwalader,  John  P.  Campbell, 
*£)arlile,  Caruthers,  Caskie,  Clingman,  Howell  Cobb,  Williamson  R.  W.  Cobb, 
Cox,  Crawford,  Davidson,  Denver,  Dowdell,  Edmundson,  Elliott,  English,  Ether- 
ridge,  Eustis,  Evans,  Faulkner,  Florence,  Foster,  Thomas  J.  D.  Fuller,  Goode, 
Greenwood,  Augustus  Hall,  J.  Morrison  Harris,  Sampson  W.  Harris,  Thomas 
L.  Harris,  Herbert,  Hoffman,  Houston,  Jewitt,  George  W.  Jones,  J.  Glancy 
Jones,  Keitt,  Kelly,  Kennett,  Kidwell,  Lake,  Letcher,  Lindley,  Lumpkin, 
Alexander  K.  Marshall,  Humphrey  Marshall,  Samuel  S.  Marshall,  Maxwell, 
McMullen,  McQueen,  Smith  Miller,  Milson,  Mordecai  Oliver,  Orr,  Paine,  Peck, 
Phelps,  Porter,  Powell,  Puryear,  Quitman,  Reade,  Ready,  Ricaud,  Rivers,  Ruf- 
fin,  Rust,  Sandidge,  Savage,  Shorter,  Samuel  A.  Smith,  William  Smith,  Wm. 
R.  Smith,  Sneed,  Stephens,  Stewart,  Swope,  Talbott,  Trippe,  Uuderwoo'd,  Vail, 
Walker,  Warner,  Watkins,  Wells,  Wheeler,  Williams,  Winslow,  Daniel  B. 
Wright,  John  V.  Wright,  and  Zollicoffer— 100. 

For  Mr.  Fuller.— Messrs.  Broom,  Clark  of  New  York,  Cullen,  Davis  of 
Maryland,  Millward,  and  Whitney — 6. 

For  Mr.  Campbell. — Messrs.  Dunn,  Harrison,  Moore,  and  Scott — 4. 
For  Mr.  Wells.— Mr.  Hickman. 

Mr.  Benson,  of  Maine,  one  of  the  tellers,  announced  that  Nathaniel  P.  Banks, 
jr.,  of  Massachusetts,  was  duly  elected  Speaker. 

Mr.  A.  K.  Marshall  raised  the  question  that  the  House  itself  must  declare 
the  result,  and  that  the  Clerk  could  neither  do  so  himself  nor  delegate  any  one 
to  do  so.  He  should  be  very  sorry  to  see  the  Clerk  depart  from  that  course 
which  had  hitherto  secured  him  so  many  friends. 

After  some  debate  on  this  point,  in  which  Messrs.  Rust,  Clingman,  Cobb,  of 
Georgia,  Smith  of  Alabama,  Paine  of  North  Carolina,  H.  Marshall,  Campbell 
of  Ohio,  Herbert,  and  Stewart  participated,  and  during  which  Mr.  Aikeri  asked 
permission  of  the  House  to  conduct  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  [Mr. 
Banks]  to  the  chair,  as  the  duly  elected  Speaker  of  the  House. 

Mr.  Clingman  offered  the  following  resolution  : 

"  Resolved,  That,  by  reason  of  the  adoption  of  the  proposition  known  as  the 
plurality  resolution,  and  the  votes  taken  under  it,  the  Hon.  N.  P.  Banks,  jr.,  of 
Massachusetts,  has  been  duly  chosen  Speaker,  and  is  hereby  so  declared." 

After  some  debate,  the  previous  question  was  called  on  the  resolution,  and 
seconded,  and  ordered  to  be  now  put. 

The  question  was  taken,  and  the  resolution  was  adopted — yeas  156,  nays  40 
" — as  follows  : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Aiken,  Albright,  Allen,  Allison,  Ball,  Barbour,  Barclay,  Bell, 
Henry  Bennett,  Benson,  Billinghurst,  Bingham,  Bishop,  Bliss,  Bowie,  Bradshaw, 
Branch,  Brenton,  Broom,  Buffington,  Burlingame,  Cadwalader,  James  H. 
Campbell,  Lewis  D.  Campbell,  Chaffee,  Bayard  "Clarke,  Ezra  Clark,  Clawson, 
Clingman,  Howell  Cobb,  Colfax,  Comins,  Covode,  Cox,  Cragin,  Cullen,  Cum- 
back,  Damrell,  Timothy  Davis,  Day,  Dean,  De  Witt,  Dick,  Dickson,  Dodd, 
Dunn,  Durfee,  Edie,  English,  Etheridge,  Evans,  Flagler,  Florence,  Thomas  J. 
D.  Fuller,  Galloway,  Giddings,  Gilbert,  Granger,  Grow,  Robert  B.  Hall,  Har- 
lan,  J.  Morrison  Harris,  Sampson  W.  Harris,  Harrison,  Herbert,  Hickman, 
Hoffman,  Holloway,  Thomas  11.  Horton,  Howard,  Jewitt,  George  W.  Jones,  J. 
Glancy  Jones,  Kelley,  Kelsey,  Kennett,  King,  Knapp,  Knight,  Knowlton, 
Knox,  Kunkel,  Leiter,  Lumpkin,  Mace,  Matteson,  McCarty,  Meacham,  Killian 
Miller,  Millward,  Moore,  Morgan,  Morrill,  Mott,  Murray,  Nichols,  Norton,  An- 
drew Oliver,  Parker,  Pearce,  Pelton,  Pennington,  Perry,  Pettit,  Pike,  Porter, 


493 

Pringle,  Purviance,  Puryear,  Reade,  Ready,'  Ritchie,  Rivers,  Robbins,  Roberts, 
Robison,  Sabia,  Sage,  Sapp,  Scott,  Sherman,  Simmons,  Samuel  A.  Smith, 
William  R.  Smith,  Spinner,  Stanton,  Stephens,  Stewart,  Stranahan,  Talbott, 
Tappan,  Thorington,  Thurston,  Todd,.Trafton,  Tyson,  Underwood,  Vail,  Wade, 
Wai  bridge,  Waldron,  Warner,  Cadwalader,  C.  Washburne,  Ellihu  B.  Wash- 
burne,  Israel  Washburn,  Watkins,  Watson,  Welch,  Wells,  Wheeler,  Whitney, 
Williams,  Winslow,  Wood,  Woodruff,  and  Woodworth— 156. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Barksdale,  Hendley  S.  Bennett,  Boyce,  Burnett,  John  P. 
Campbell,  Carlile,  Caskie,  Crawford,  Davidson,  H.  Winter  Davis,  Dowdell, 
Edmundson,  Elliott,  Foster,  Goods,  Greenwood,  Thomas  L.  Harris,  Houston, 
Keitt,  Kid  well,  Lake,  Letcher,  Alexander  K.  Marshall,  Maxwell,  McMullen, 
McQueen,  Mordecai  Oliver,  Orr,  Phelps,  Powell,  Huffin,  Rust,  Sandidge,  Sav- 
age, Shorter,  Sneed,  Trippe,  Walker,  Daniel  B.  Wright,  and  John  V.  Wright 
—40. 

The  Clerk  appointed  Messrs.  H.  M.  Fuller,  Aiken,  and  L.  D.  Campbell  to 
conduct  Mr.  Banks  to  the  chair. 

Mr.  Banks,  on  taking  the  chair  acknowledged  the  honor  done  him  in  a  brief 
and  neat  speech. 

The  usual  oath  of  office  was  then  administered  to  him  by  Mr.  Giddings. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Stanton,  of  Ohio,  the  following  resolution  was  unanimously 
adopted  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  House  are  eminently  due,  and  are  hereby 
tendered,  to  John  W.  Forney,  Esq.,  for  the  distinguished  ability,  fidelity  and 
impartiality  with  which  he  has  presided  over  the  deliberations  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  during  the  arduous  and  protracted  contest  for  Speaker  which  has 
just  closed." 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  the  House,  at  7  o'clock,  adjourned. 


From  Luzerne  Union,  Jan.  30,  1856. 

HON.  HENRY  M.  FULLER.— HIS  SOMERSET. 

Tn  order  to  make  an  answer  to  the  very  many  letters  we  have  received  as  to 
the  antecedents  of  Henry  M.  Fuller,  we  have  collected  together  to-day,  some 
facts  connected  with  that  honorable  gentleman's  antecedents.  The  gentlemen 
who  have  written  us  on  this  subject,  will  please  take  this  for  an  answer,  as  it 
embodies  the  facts  which  we  have  at  hand.  Here,  in  this  district,  no  man  will 
be  found,  can  be  found,  who  has  any  regard  for  truth,  tliat  will  pretend  to  say 
that  the  gentleman  was  ever  anything  else  than  an  Abolitionist,  and  as  such, 
received  the  hearty  support  of  the  rankest  of  them.  A  Whig,  a  Free  Soiler, 
an  Abolitionist,  a  Wilraot  Proviso  man,  a  Know  Nothing — this  is  t  ic  history 
of  the  gentleman's  political  career.  He  never  pretended  that  he  was  anything 
else,  till  he  bid  for  the  Speakership.  To  gain  this,  he  did  not  merely  repudiate 
his  old  faith,  and  turn  his  back  on  his  old  friends  and  old  principles,  but  he  de- 
nied that  he  was  one  or  them,  and  was  elected  on  their  platform.  Not  only  a 
change  of  faith,  which  might  under  some  circumstances  be  justified,  but  a  de- 
nial that  he  ever  advocated  such  a  faith  as  his  friends  always  claimed  for  him. 

A  correspondent  of  the  New  Tork  Times,  of  the  19th  of  January,  instant, 
holds  this  language  : 


494 

"  Anti-NebrasJea  did  not  Elect  him. — Mr.  Fuller,  of  Pennsylvania,  became 
restive  in  the  debate  to-day,  and  distinctly  denied  that  he  was  elected  by  the 
Anti-Nebraska  sentiment  of  his  district.  Mark  this  enunciation,  Anti-Nebraska 
men  of  Pennsylvania,  and  take  care  that  when  you  nominate  again,  you  make 
the  fetters  of  principle  at  least  strong  enough  to  be  understood  by  the  candi- 
date." 

"  He  denied  that  he  was  elected  by  the  Anti-Nebraska  sentiment  of  his  dis- 
trict !  ! ! ! "  Can  this  be  possible  ?  Can  it  be,  that  a  man  in  his  senses  could 
utter  such  a  palpable,  .open,  and  bare-faced  falsehood  ?  He  "  not  elected  by 
the  Anti-Nebraska  sentiment !  "  When  his  friends  justified  him  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  a  right  to  change  his  views,  we  thought  they  went  far  in  the  deed 
of  character,  particularly  as  they  elected  him  on  a  pledge  to  vote  to  repeal  the 
'*  infamous  Nebraska  act — to  restore  the  Missouri  line  ;"  but  what  will  they 
say  now,  when  their  man  denies  that  he  was  the  exponent  of  their  views  ? 
What  can  they  say  ?  Nothing — absolutely  nothing.  With  their  fingers  in 
their  mouths,  they  are  silent !  But  it  is  a  silence  that  is  ominous.  It  is  a,si- 
lence  that  precedes  the  storm  and  the  whirlwind,  and  so  the  honorable  gentle- 
man will  find  it,  if  he  ever  enters  the  political  track  again.  We  spoke  of  his 
friends  justifying  him  for  "  a  change  of  opinion  " — we  mean  his  personal  po- 
litical friends.  The  masses  of  the  old  line  who  gave  him  their  support,  whis- 
per "  treason,"  and  call  to  mind  a  worthy  old  gentleman  who  betrayed  his. 
master. 

But  let  us  see  what  the  issue  was  before  the  canvass,  which  resulted  in  the 
gentleman's  election.  The  Record  of  the  Times,  of  this  place,  the  organ  of 
Mr.  Fuller,  knows  full  well  what  the  issue  was,  and  that  we  may  not  be  mis- 
taken, we  will  quote  from  that  paper,  and  see  how  this  matter  was  understood 
at  the  time.  But  in  the  first  place,  what  was  the  Democratic  issue  ?  We  will 
see  the  affirmative  first. 

On  the  12th  of  September,  1854,  the  Democratic  conferees  of  the  counties 
composing  the  district,  met  and  put  in  nomination  Col.  Wright,  for  Congress. 
To  show  the  platform  they  made  for  him,  we  copy  from  this  paper  of  the  13th 
September,  1854.  The  resolutions  were  drawn  by  the  vigorous  pen  of  the  late 
Samuel  P.  Collings,  Esq.,  who  recently  died  in  Tangiers,  at  the  time  a  United 
States  Consul. 

"  Resolved,  That  in  the  large  intelligence,  generous  impulses,  and  frank  and 
cordial  character  of  their  nominee  for  Congress,  the  Democracy  have  a  guaran- 
tee that  he  will  represent  their  interests  and  maintain  the  character  of  this  Dis- 
trict honorably  and  faithfully  in  Congress;  that  the  only  rational  objection 
heretofore  urged  for  withholding  any  portion  of  Democratic  support,  was  fairly 
removed  by  his  upright  and  honorable  course  during  the  late  session  of  Con- 
gress ;  and  that  any  present  opposition,  from  the  same  quarter,  to  his  triumphant 
election,  under  the  fair  and  honorable  nomination  enjoyed  by  him,  would  be  an 
act  of  unjustifiable  persecution,  an  exhibition  of  personal  spite  and  malignity 
with  which  no  honest  Democrat  can  sympathize,  and  calculated  to  clothe  with 
dark  suspicion  the  former  motives  avowed  by  its  authors. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution  in  achieving  and  establishing 
the  freedom  and  independence  of  these  States,  vindicated  and  asserted  the  great 
principle  of  popular  sovereignty  and.  equal  rights  as  affirmed  and  declared  in 
the  late  acts  of  Congress,  organizing  the  territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas ; 
that  nature,  and  nature's  God,  appeal  to  the  virtue,  the  integrity  and  intelligence 
of  the  people,  to  guard  this  precious  principle  as  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of 
their  safety :  and  that  the  sufferings,  the  perils  and  the  blood  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, will  have  been  wasted  in  vain,  and  the  dearest  hopes  of  man  on  earth 
yielded  up,  when  this  great  principle  is  sacrificed. 


495 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  an  act  of  usurpation  by  Con- 
gress, and  a  fraud  upon  the  people  of  these  States  :  that  Congress  is  sworn  to 
uphold  the  Constitution  and  not  to  interpolate  or  destroy  it :  that  any  acquies- 
cence in,  or  submission  to,  changes  of  the  fundamental  law  by  Congress,  would 
be  in  the  last  degree  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people  :  and  that  the  re- 
peal of  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  a  wise  and  necessary  measure  to  efface 
from  the  statute  books  a  precedent  violation  of  the  great  charter  of  our  inde- 
pendence and  to  arrest  further  insidious  encroachments  upon  the  great  principle 
of  popular  sovereignty  and  equal  rights." 

Here  is  the  Democratic  platform — and  we  copy  extracts  from  the  letter  of 
acceptance  of  Col.  Wright — it  is  too  long  for  publication  entire.  Also  the  let- 
ter announcing  his  nomination.  It  may  be  found  in  the  files  of  this  paper  of 
the  20th  of  September)  1854. 

STEELE'S  HOTEL,  Wilkes-Barre,  ) 
September  12,  1854.          } 
HON.  HENDRICK  B.  WRIGHT — 

Dear  Sir : — The  Democratic  Congressional  Conference  this  day  assembled 
and  have  placed  you  in  nomination  before  the  people  of  this  District  for  Con- 
gress. The  undersigned  are  a  committee  appointed  by  said  Conference  to  com- 
municate to  you  the  fact  and  request  your  acceptance.  In  making  this  commu- 
nication pleasure  combines  with  duty.  -Your  course  upon  the  various  measures 
which  came  before  Congress,  at  the  late  session,  has  justly  confirmed  you  in 
their  confidence  and  regard.  We  refer  especially  to  the  great  measure  estab- 
lishmg  the  principle  of  popular  sovereignty  in  the  Territories  of  this  Union — 
a  principle  vital  to  the  security  of  every  freeman  :  dear  to  his  heart,  and  upon 
which  is  based  his  enjoyments  of  civil  and  religious  freedom.  We  especially 
refer  to  this  measure  as  first  in  importance.  Your  votes  against  squandering 
the  public  money  in  misnamed  improvements  being  in  accordance  with  the  one 
settled  policy  of  this  District,  is  also  gratifying  to  know.  In  your  publicly  ex- 
pressed views  upon  religious  toleration,  we  heartily  accord.  Your  votes  upon 
the  Homestead  bill,  and  in  favor  of  old  soldiers'  rights,  are  true  indexes  of  a 
hearty,  sound  and  consistent  Democrat.  And  it  is  our  hearty  prayer  that  the 
people  appreciating  their  true  interests  may  return  you  to  Congress  by  a  trium- 
phant majority. 

Your  friends  and  fellow  citizens, 

JOHN  DEEN,  JR., 
HUDSON  OWEN, 
JOHN  V.  SMITH. 


WILKES-BARRE,  Sept.  14th,  1854. 
*  *  .  *  *  * 

"In  the  acceptance  of  the  nomination  which  you  have  tendered  me,  and 
which  was  stamped  with  so  much  unanimity  in  the  primary  meetings  of  the 
people,  I  have  no  policy  as  to  my  future  course  to  conceal.  The  journal  'of  the 
last  Congress  will  exhibit  my  course  as  to  the  pasf.  No  voter  of  this  District 
shall  have  occasion  to  say  I  have  deceived  him.  He  who  casts  his  vote  for  me, 
does  it  with  full  knowledge  of  my  political  faith.  I  assume  that  he  who  soli- 
cits the  suffrage  of  the  people  for  so  high  a  place  as  a  seat  in  the  councils  of 
this  nation,  should  frankly  and  honestly  avow  his  opinions.  There  should  be 
no  concealment — there  should  be  no  falsehood,  as  it  is  a  post  of  honor,  he  who 
seeks  to  attain  it,  should  be  a  man  of  honor,  and  resort  to  no  low  device ; — no 
huckstering  pretext  to  obtain  it.  You  say,  Gentlemen,  that  as  to  my  course 


496 

among  "  the  various  measures  which  came  before  Congress  at  the  late  session/' 
and  which  elicits  your  "  confidence  and  regard,"  you  refer  "especially  to  the 
great  measure  establishing  the  principle  of  popular  sovereignty  in  the  Territo- 
ries of  this  Union — a  principle  vital  to  the  security  of  every  freeman — dear  to 
his  heart,  and  upon  which  is  based  his  enjoyment  of  civil  and  religious  free- 
dom." Your  allusion  is  to  the  bill  establishing  Territorial  Government  in 
Kansas  and  Nebraska.  I  spoke  in  favor  of  that  bill.  I  voted  for  that  bill — 
and  as  I  then  said,  on  the  floor  of  Congress — I  now  repeat — that  "  I  would 
rather  be  stricken  down  as  the  advocate  of  popular  freedom,  than  be  returned 
to  the  House  in  opposition  to  the  great  principle."  Before  taking  my  seat,  I 
swore  to  support  the  Constitution  of  my  country.  Among  its  wise  provisions, 
I  found  that,  "  The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States,  by  the  constitu- 
tion, nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectfully, 
or  to  the  people."  That  power  which  was  not  conceded, -to  the  general  govern- 
ment, but  reserved  in  the  people,  I  resolved,  so  far  as  I  was  concerned,  should 
remain  there.  Wisdom  dictated  the  reservation  and  fanaticism  should  never 
change  it.  Congress  had  no  power,  even  by  implication,  (an  abhorrent  doc- 
trine at  best)  to  interfere  with  law-making  power  of  States  or  Territories.  On 
the  6th  of  March,  1820,  the  16th  Congress  passed  an  act  establishing  a  territo- 
rial government  for  Missouri,  in  which  was  incorporated  a  provision  that  "  sla- 
very should  be  prohibited,  north  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes  north 
latitude"  in  the  territory  ceded  by  France,  under  the  name  of  Louisiana;  thus 
implying  that  slavery  should  not  be  prohibited  south  of  that  line.  In  favor  of 
the  repeal  of  the  law  establishing  this  line,  I  cast  my  vote.  I  did  so  under  the 
conviction  that  the  power  to  make  laws  for  the  territories  was,  under  the  consti- 
tion,  in  "  the  people,"  and  not  in  Congress.  I  had  good  reason  to  believe^fiat 
the  hardy  pioneers  who  subdued  the  forests  and  broke  up  the  prairies — who 
were  exposed  to  the  toils  and  privations  of  a  frontier  life — whose  battles  were 
with  the  wild  beast  and  the  savage,  should  not  be  deprived  of  making  their 
own  laws,  as  their  situation  and  condition  might  warrant.  That  they  were  bet- 
ter judges  of  this  than  I ;  and  to  deprive  them  of  this  privilege  would  be  an 
act  of  usurpation  and  tyranny.  I  desire  that  the  people,  who  went  to  these 
new  Territories,  might  go  there  as  freemen,  and  not  as  slaves ;  and  if  in  their 
good  judgment,  they  pleased  to  make  a  slave  Territory  of  it,  it  was  no  business 
of  mine.  However  much  I  may  condemn  slavery  as  an  abstract  question,  I 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  act  of  the  freemen  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  My 
allegiance  was  to  the  Constitution.  Had  I  been  guilty  of  usurping  that  power 
which  the  people  had  expressly  reserved  to  themselves,  T  should  have  commit- 
ted a  wrong;  and  done  an  act  of  gross  injustice  to  the  people  of  those  Territo- 
ries;  to  the  people  of  my  own  State;  to  the  people  of  this  Union — and  to 
liberal  principles  throughout  the  world — nay,  I  should  have  violated  my  solemn 
oath.  To  please  fanaticism,  I  could  not  do  this ;  nor  could  a  reasonable  man 

expect  it  of  me." 

*  *  *  *  *  *  #-* 

"  I  have  been  charged  with  treason  for  my  vote  on  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
bill !  This  is  the  kind  of  treason  that  rankled  in  the  heart  of  Jefferson,  when 
he  had  the  temerity  to  assert  the  doctrine  that  the  people  were  intelligent  enough 
to  govern  themselves — and  opposed  to  the  idea  of  consolidated  power.  It  was 
the  treason  of  Jackson  when  he  threw  himself  between  the  encroachments  of 
the  Federal  government,  and  the  sovereign  rights  of  the  States;  in  his  vetoes 
of  the  Bank  and  the  Maysville  Road  bill. 

"  And  the  man  who  votes  for  sovereign  power  to  remain  with  the  enlightened 
freemen  of  this  land;  in  the  place  of  robbing  them  of  it: — is  the  Traitor  to 
whom  I  will  cling — and  to  whom  I  will  do  reverence.  The  indefatigable  and 
persevering  pioneer,  who  settles  these  new  territories  as  his  home — and  that  of 
his  children — who  reclaims  the  wilderness  and  makes  it  blossom  as  the  rose — 


497 

who  builds  churches  and  school-houses; — and  above  all,  who  defends  his  coun- 
try and  supports  her  treasury,  shall  not  by  my  act,  or  vote,  be  robbed  of  his 
civil  rights — and  denied  the  privilege  of  participating  in  making  his  own 'laws. 
I  am  not  numbered  among  those  philanthropists  of  these  latter  days — who  yield 
the  privilege  of  labor ;  of  taxation — of  battle, — to  the  citizens  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska,  and  deny  him  the  right  of  making  his  own  laws.  If  this  be  treason, 
then  I  am  a  traitor  ! — and  along  with  me  in  this  catajpgue  of  treason — is  Frank- 
lin Pierce,  Lewis  Cass,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  R.  M.  T.  Hunter — and  one  hun- 
dred and  twelve  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States." 

The  foregoing  extracts  will  show  the  plain  and  unmistakable  platform  of  Col. 
Wright — and  on  the  stump,  from  one  end  of  the  District  to  the  other,  he  car- 
ried it  out — dissembling  nothing — publicly,  everywhere,  proclaiming  the  doc- 
trine of  his  address. 

What  was  Mr.  Fuller  and  hus  friends  at,  about  these  times? 

On  the  12th  of  September  1854,  (See  Record  of  the  Times,  of  the  13th  of 
Sept.,)  the  Whig  County  Convention  met.  They  nominated  Mr.  Fuller — and 
laid  down  for  him,  the  following  platform  : 

"Resolved,  That  while  we  question  not  the  right  to  alter  or  amend  any  act  of 
Congress  by  subsequent  legislation,  we  view  the  passage  of  the  act  of  the  last 
session  commonly  called  the  '  Kansas  Nebraska  Bill/  as  a  wanton,  unprovoked, 
and  cruel  violation  of  plighted  faith  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  por- 
tions of  this  confederacy — wanton,  because  unrequired  by  the  circumstances  of 
that  portion  of  the  public  domain — unprovoked,  because  to  the  extent  of  their 
ability  the  Northern  States  had  fully  executed  the  compromise  measures  of 
1850 — cruel,  because  destined  to  shackle  with  slavery  a  Territory  larger  than 
the  old  thirteen  States. 

"  Resolved,  That  while  we  recognize  and  will  carry  out  in  good  faith  all  our 
constitutional  obligations,  we  are  opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery  beyond 
existing  limits,  and  to  any  further  increase  of  its  power  in  the  National  Coun- 
cils. 

"  Rcsnlvccl,  That  sincerely  holding  these  views,  we  do  hereby  mark  the  au- 
thors, aiders  and  abetters  of  that  act  as  men  unworthy  the  support  of  enlight- 
ened freemen  for  any  office  in  their  gift. 

"  Rcsfihwl,  That  we  have  undiminished  confidence  in  Hon.  II.  M.  Fuller,  and 
that  our  conferees  are  instructed  to  use  all  honorable  means  to  secure  his  re-no- 
mination." 

Then  while  they  had  "undimisbed  confidence  in  Mr.  Fuller,"  they  "marked 
the  aiders  and  abetters  and  authors  of  that  act  as  men  unworthy  the  support  of 
enlightened  freemen  ! !"  As  Mr.  Fuller  was  not  an  "aider  nor  supporter"  of 
the  infamous  act — he  had  the  "confidence"  of  the  party — Nay,  the  "undimi- 
nished confidence." 

II is  conferees  mot — they  nominated  him — and  soon  after  he  and  Judge  Pol- 
lock started  canvassing  the  District — as  none  of  these  speeches  are  reported  we 
cannot  give  extracts.  In  the  one  at  Tunkhaunock,  Mr.  Fuller  went  further  on 
the  Abolition  question  than  Gov.  Pollock — they  both  denounced  the  Nebraska 
Kansas  bill — and  both  pledged  a  repeal  as  fur  as  was  in  their  power. 

They  came  to  Wilkes-Barre — they  both  made  speeches  here — and  both  de- 
nounced the  Kansas  bill,  and  preached  Know  Nothiugism.  The  Times  of  Oct. 
4,  1854,  says  : 

"  After  the  Judge  the  Hon.  II.  M.  Fuller  spoke  in  his  happiest  style,  and 
explained  his  position  on  the  question  of  Slavery  to  the  satisfaction  of  every 
freeman  present." 

That  "exposition"   was  the  repeal  of  Nebraska  and   the  restoration  of  the 
Missouri  line,  and  we  can  prove  it  by  100  witnesses  on  the  ground  ! 
32 


498 

From  the  paper  of  the  same  date  we  copy  the  following  editorial  : 

"  J6£pt*"  Freemen  bear  in  mind  that  the  issue  is  not  merely  about  men.  Neither 
Wright  nor  Fuller — Pollock  nor  Bigler,  has  any  claim  personally  thus  to  up- 
heave the  popular  Masses,  like  ocean  into  mountain  billows.  In  voting  (a  most 
sacred  right)  you  express  your  opinions  of  the  great  question  at  issue.  Pollock 
and  Fuller  stand  before  you  as  the  representatives  of  Freedom,  opposed  to  the 
extension  of  Slavery  into  Nebraska,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  everywhere  throughout 
the  Union.  Their  opponents,  Bigler  and  Co.,  justify  the  principle  that  would 
so  extend  Slavery.  Which  do  you  approve  ?  A  solemn  question.  Your  votes 
will  record  your  opinions." 

This  is  the  language  of  the  Faller  organ  ?  -Does  he  call  this  Anti-Nebraska 
sentiments  ?  Does  he  change  his  opinion  ?  "  Anti-Nebraska  did  not  elect  him." 
Out,  out  upon  such  hypocrisy  !  Neither  Wright  nor  Fuller  was  the  question  ? 
It  was  Freedon  and  Slavery. 

We  now  copy  from  the  Whig  press — when  it  was  said  Mr.  Fuller  had  changed 
his  principles — the  County  press.  The  Pitt&ton  Gazette,  a  Whig  paper,  which 
warmly  supported  Mr.  Fuller — in  the  issue  of  the  28th  of  Dec.,  1855,  holds 
this  language  : 

"  For  one,  we  most  heartily  regret  that  our  representative  had  not  adhered  to 
the  position  which  was  generally  understood  he  occupied — namely  that  of  an 
out  and  out  anti-Nebraska  man — opposed  to  the  admission  of  Kansas  upon  any 
other  terms  than  that  slavery  should  not  be  tolerated  there — and  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Missouri  compromise ;  that  it  should  as  an  act  of  simple  justice  to 
the  free  States,  be  restored." 

The  Scranton  Herald,  another  Whig  county  paper,  and  which  also  supported 
Mr.  Fuller — in  its  columns  of  the  20th  of  December,  1855,  discourses  in  this 
wise — and  Mr.  Fuller  will  not  make  an  issue  with  either  of  these  editors — nor 

will  he  say  they  have  stated  falsehoods  :     * 

i 

"  On  the  Nebraska  question,  the  popular  will  is  decidedly  opposed  to  every 
motive  and  principle  which  was  developed  in  its  passage ;  whether  it  was  de- 
signed to  extend  the  curse  of  slavery,  or  to  promote  the  aggrandizement  of  the 
.demagogues  who  urged  and  accomplished  its  success.  Mr.  Fuller  was  under- 
stood to  be  the  exponent  of  the  will  of  the  people  in  this  question  :  to  be  as 
warmly  devoted  to  the  cause  of  freedom  as  any  one  among  his  constituents. 
In  his  speeches  he  openly  and  unreservedly  avowed  his  principles  to  be  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  known  sentiments  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  His  op- 
ponent was  an  ultra  Nebraska  man,  and  supposed  to  be  the  very  antipodes  of 
Mr.  Fuller,  in  respect  to  all  his  political  principles.  If  the  latter  has  published 
on  the  floor  of  Congress  any  sentiment  in  conflict  with  these,  he  has  proved 
false  to  the  platform  upon  which  he  was  sustained  and  elected." 

li  In  his  speeches,  he  openly  and  unreservedly  avowed  his  principles."  Not 
so,  Mr.  Lathrop  !  Mr.  Fuller  said  in  Congress,  in  the  first  place,  that  he  would 
let  Kansas  and  Nebraska  alone,  and  now  that  "he  was  not  elected  by  the  Anti- 
Nebraska  sentiment  of  his  district."  In  your  language,  then,  (aud  you  were 
his  political  friend,)  "  he  has  proved  false  to  the  platfojm  on  which  he  was 
elected,"  and  who  doubts  it  ? 

We  have  thus  copied  from  the  three  Whig  journals  in  this  county,  all  of 
which  gave  him  an  honest  support,  to  show  his  platform,  and  we  leave  it  to  oth- 
ers to  say  whether  his  has  been  the  conduct  of  an  honorable  man  ! 

In  Mr.  Fuller's  speech,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Zollikoffer's  question,  he  said,  "  my 
political  existence  commenced  since  that  flood," — the  Wilmot  Proviso.  He 
should  have  said  in  it.  We  will  show  his  Hyde  Park  letter  hereafter ;  when 


499 

he  was  running  for  Canal  Commissioner,  he  wrote  the  celebrated  Hyde  Park 
letter,  in  which  he  fully  endorses  the  Wilmot  Proviso.  We  have  not  room  for 
it  now.  And  yet  this  man  is  applauded  by  Southern  men  when  he  tells  them 
that  ^  his  political  existence  commenced  since  that  flood."  Southern  men  will 
be  very  careful  what  importance  they  give  to  Mr.  Fuller's  declarations.  We 
will  give  the  Hyde  Park  letter  soon,  and  in  the  meantime  let  Southern  men  ask 
Mr.  Fuller  if  he  is  not  now  a  member  of  the  committee  appointed  by  the  Black 
'Republican  convention,  which  met  in  Pittsburg,  in  this  State,  in  September, 
1855,  and  which  nominated  Passmore  Williamson  as  their  candidate  for  Canal 
Commissioner.  He  will  hardly  be  bold  enough  to  deny  this,  too.  But  judging 
from  what  he  has  said,  no  human  power  can  tell  what  he  raay  say  hereafter. 

Having  denied  that  he  was  elected  by  the  An*ti-Nebraska  sentiment  of  his 
district,  when  he  gave  pledge  upon  pledge  to  the  Anti-Nebraska  men,  that  if 
they  would  elect  him,  he  would  vote  for  the  repeal  of  the  law,  and  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Missouri  line,  we  cannot  say  what  he  will  do  next. 

His  own  friends  accuse  him  of  having  "  falsified  his  platform  " — it  is  his  duty 
now  either  to  acknowledge  publicly  that  he  has  wantonly  deceived  them,  or  re- 
sign his  seat,  and  go  to  some  other  district  than  this.  He  is  little  aware  of  the 
state  of  things  with  an  injured  and  outraged  constituency.  He  will  know. 


LIST  OF  MEMBERS 

Of  ihv  House  of  Representatives  of  tfte    United  States.      Thirty-fourth   Con- 
gress — First  >SVssw?#.      Commencing  Monday,  December  3,  1855. 

MAINE. 

John  M   Wood,  K.  N.  Samuel  P.  Benson, 

John  «/.  Perry i  K.  N.  Israel  WasJiburn,  Jr. 

Elxxiezer  Knowlton,  K.  N.  Thomas  J '.  D.  Fuller,  D. — G. 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 

James  Pike,  K.  N.  Aaron  H.  Crayin,  K.  N.—-3. 

Mason  W.  Tappan,  K.  N. 

VERMONT. 

James  MeacJmm,,  Alvah  Sabin. — 3. 

Justin  S.  MorrM,  K.  N, 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Robert  B.  Hall,  K.  N.  NatVl  P.  Banks,  Jr.,  K.  N. 

James  Bnffinnton,  K.  N.  Chauncey  L.  Knapp,  K.  N. 

William  'S.  Damrell,  K.  N.  •   Alexander  De  Witt,  K.  N. 
Linus  B.  Comins,  K.  N.  Calvin  C.  Vhqfee,  K.  N. 

An»on  Burlimjame,  K.  N,  Mark  Tmfton,  K.  N.-— 11. 

Timothy  Davis^  K.  N. 

RHODE  ISLAND. 
Nathaniel  B.  fiurfee,  K.  N.  Benj.  B.  Thurston,  K.  N.— 2. 


500 


CONNECTICUT. 


Ezra  Clarke,  Jr.,  K.  N. 
John  Woodrvff,  K.  N. 


William  W.  Valk,  K.  N. 
James  S.  T.  Stra.nahan,  K.  N. 
Guy  R.  Pelton,  K.  N. 
John  Kelly,  D. 
Thomas  R.  Whitney,  K.  N.   ' 
John  Wheeler,  K.  N. 
Wiomas  Childs,  Jr.,  K.  N. 
Abram  Wakeman,  K.  N. 
Bayard  Clark,  K.  N. 
Ambrose  S-  Murray, 
Rufus  H.  King,  K.  N. 
Killian  Miller,  K.  N. 
Russell  Sage,  K.  N. 
Samuel  Dickson, 
Edward  Dodd,  K.  N. 
George  A.  Simmons, 
Francis  E.  Spinner, 


Sidney  Dean,  K.  N. 
Wm.  'W.  Welch,  K.  N. 


NEW  YORK. 


Thomas  R.  Ilorton, 
Jonas  A.  Hughston, 
Orsamns  B.  Matteson,  K.  N. 
Henry  Bennett,  K.  N. 
Andrew  Z.  McCarty,  K.  N. 
William  A.  Gilbert, 
Amos  P.  Granger, 
Edwin  B.  Morgan, 
Andrew  Oliver, 
John  M.  Parker, 
William  H.  Kelsey, 
John  Williams, f 
Benjamin  Pringlc,  K.  N. 
Thomas  T.  Flaglcr,  K.  N. 
Solomon  Gr.  Haven,  K.  N. 
Fran.  S.  Edwards,  K.  N.— 83. 


NEW  JERSEY. 


Isaiah  D.  Clawson,  K.  N. 
George  R.  Bobbins,  K.  N. 
James  Bishop,  K.  N. 


Thomas  B.  Florence,  D. 
Job  R.  Tyson,  K.  N. 
William  Millward,  K.  N. 
Jacob  Broom,  K.  N. 
John  Cadwalader,  D. 
John  Hickman,  D. 
Samuel  C.  Bradshaw,  K.  N. 
J.  Glancy  Jones,  D. 
Anthony  E.  Roberts,  K.  N. 
«/oA»  0.  Kunkel,  K.  N. 
,/awes  //.  Campbell,  K.  N. 
Henry  M.  Fuller,  K.  N. 
Asa  Packer,  D. 


George  Vail,  D. 

A  C.  M.  Pennington,  K.  N.— 5. 


PENNSYLVANIA. 


Galusha  A.  Grow, 
John  J.  Pearce,  K.  N. 
Lemuel  Toad,  K.  N. 
David  F.  Robison,  K.  N. 
Jo/m  #.  AV/e,  K.  N. 
Jb/m  Covad e,  K.  N. 
Jonathan  Knight,  K.  N. 
David  Ritchie,  K.  N. 
Samuel  A.  Purviance,  K.  N. 
«/b/tn  Allison,  K.  N. 
David  Barclay,  D. 
John  Dick,  K.  N.— 25. 


DELAWARE. 


Elisha  D.  Cullen,  K.  N.— 1. 
MARYLAND. 


James  A.  Stewart,  D. 
James  B.  Ricaud,  K.  N. 
J.  Morrison  Harris,  K.  N. 


H.  Winter  Davis,  K.  N. 
Henry  W.  Hoffman,  K.  N. 
Thomas  F.  Bowie,*  D.—6. 


.501 


VIRGINIA. 


Thomas  H.  Bayly,  D. 
John  S.  Millson,  D. 
John  S.  Caskie,  D. 
William  O.  Goode,  D. 
Thomas  S.  Bocock,  D. 
Paulus  Powell,  D. 
William  Smith,  D. 


Robert  T.  Paine,  K.  N. 
Thomas  Ruffin,  D. 
Warren  Winslow,  D. 
Lawrence  O'B.  Branch,  D. 


John  McQueen,  D. 
William  Aiken,  D. 
Lawrence  M.  Keitt,  D. 


James  L.  Seward,  D. 
Martin  J.  Crawford,  D. 
Robert  P.  Trippe,  K.  N. 
Hiram  Warner,  D. 


Percy  Walker,  K.  N. 
Eli  S.  Shorter,  D. 
James  F.  Dowdell,  D. 
William  R.  Smith,  K.  N. 


Daniel  B.  Wright,  D. 
Hendley  S.  Bennett,  D. 
William  Barksdale,  D. 


George  Eustis,  Jr.,  K.  N. 
Miles  Taylor,  D. 


Timothy  O.  Day, 

John  Scott  Harrison,  K.  N. 

Lewis  D.  Campbell,  K.  N. 

Matthias  II.  Nichols, 

Richard  Mott, 

J.  Reece  Emrie,  K.  X. 


Charles  J.  Faulkner,  D. 
John  Letcher,  D. 
Zedckiah  Kidwell,  D. 
John  S.  Carlile,  K.  N. 
Henry  A.  Edmundson,  D. 
Fayette  McMullin,  D.— 1 


NORTH  CAROLINA. 


Edwin  G.  Reade,  K.  N. 
Richard  C.  Puryear,  K.  N. 
Burton  Craige,  D. 
Thos.  L.  Clingman,*  D.— 8. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA. 


GEORGIA. 


ALABAMA. 


Preston  S.  Brooks,  D. 
James  L.  Orr,  D. 
William  W.  Boyce,  D.— 6. 


John  H.  Lumpkin,  D. 
Howell  Cobb,  D. 
Nathaniel  G  Foster,  K.  N. 
Alex.  H.  Stephens,*  D.— 8. 


George  S.  Houston,  D. 
Williamson  R.  W.  Cobb,  D. 
Sampson  W.  Harris,  D.— 7. 


MISSISSIPPI. 


LOUISIANA. 


OHIO. 


William  A.  Lake,  K.  N. 
John  A.  Quitman,  D. — 5. 


Thomas  G.  Davidson,  D. 
John  M.  Sandidge,  D. — 4. 


Galloway,  K.  N. 
John  Sherman,  K.  N. 
Philemon  Bliss, 

William  R.  Sapp,  K.  N. 
Mhcard  Ball,  K.  N. 

Charles  J.  Albright,  K.  N. 


502 


OHIO — ( Continued.) 


Aaron  Ilarlan,  K.  N. 
Benjamin  /Stanton,  K.  N. 
Cooper  K.  Watson,  K.  N. 
Oscar  F.  Moore,  K.  N. 
Valentine  !B.  Horton,  K.  N. 


Henry  C.  Burnett,  D. 
John  P.  Campbell,  K.  N. 
"Warner  L.  Underwood,  K.  N. 
Albert  GvTalbott,  D. 
Joshua  H.  Jewett;  D. 


Albert  G.  Watkins,*  D. 
William  H.  Sneed,  K.  N. 
Samuel  A.  Smith,  D. 
John  H.  Savage,  D. 
Charles  Ready,  K.  N. 


Smith  Miller,  D/ 
William  *EL  English,  D. 
George  G.  BunnJ 
William  Cumback,  K.  N. 
David  P.  Holloway,  K.  N. 
Lucian  Barbour,  K.  N. 


Ellihu  B.  Washburn, 
James  II.  Woodworth, 
Jesse  0.  Norton,  K.  N. 
James  Knox,  K.  N. 
William  A.  Richardson,  D. 


Luther  M.  Kennet,  K.  N. 
Gilchrist  Porter,§ 
James  J.  Lindley,  K.  N. 
Mordecai  Oliver,*  D. 


Alfred  B.  Greenwood,  D. 


William  A.  Howard,  K.  N. 
Henry  Waldron,  K.  N. 


Benjamin  F.  Leiter,  K.  N. 
Edward  Wade, 
Joshua  K.  Giddwys, 
John- A.  Bivgham,  K.  N. — 21. 


KENTUCKY. 


TENNESSEE. 


INDIANA. 


ILLINOIS. 


MISSOURI. 


ARKANSAS. 


MICHIGAN. 


John  M.  Elliott,  D. 
Humphrey  Marshall,  K.  N. 
Alexander  K.  Marshall,  K.  N. 
Leander  M.  Cox,  K.  N. 
Samuel  F.  Swope,  K.  N.— 10. 


George  W.  Jones,  D. 
John  V.  Wright,  D. 
Felix  K.  Zollicoffer,  K.  N. 
Emerson  Etheridge,  K.  N. 
Thomas  Rivers,  K.  N.— 10. 


Harvey  D.  Scott7t 
Daniel  Mace,  K.  N. 
Sdnnjler  Col/ax,  K.  N. 
Samuel  Brenton,  K.  N. 
John  U.  Pcttit.—ll. 


Thomas  L.  Harris,  D. 
James  C.  Allen,  1). 


Samuel  S.  Marshall,  D.—9. 


John  G.  Miller, 
John  S.  Phelps,  D. 
Samuel  Caruthers,*  D. — 7. 


Albert  Rust,  D.— 2. 


David  S.  Wallridge,  K.  N, 
George  W.  Peck,  D.— 4. 


503 

,  FLORIDA. 

Augustus  E.  Maxwell,  D. — 1. 

TEXAS. 
Lemuel  D.  Evans,  K.  N.  P.  H.  Bell,  D.—  2. 

IOWA. 

Augustus  Hall,  D.  James  Thorington,  K.  N. — 2. 

WISCONSIN. 

Daniel  Wells,  Jr.,  D.  Charles  Billinghurst. — 3. 

Cadwalader  C.  Washlurne, 

.  CALIFORNIA. 

James  W.  Denver,  D.  Philip  T!  Herbert,  D.— 2. 

Delegate  from  the  Territory  of  Minnesota. 

Henry  M.  Rice. — 1. 
Delegate  from  the  Territory  of  Oregon. 

Joseph  Lane. — 1. 
Delegate  from  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico. 

Jose  Manuel  Gallegos. — 1. 
Delegate  from  the  Territory  of  Utah. 

John  31.  Bernhisel. — 1. 
* 

Delegate  from  the  Territory  of  Washington. 

J.  Patton  Anderson. — 1. 
Delegate  from  the  Territory  of  Kansas. 

John  W.  Whitfield.— 1. 

Delegate  from  the  Territory  of  Nebraska. 

Bird  B.  Chapman. — 1. 


K.  N, — Know  Nothings.  D. — Democrats.  Those  in  italics  voting  for  Banks. 

* — Formerly  Whigs.  | — Voting  for  J.  L.  Orr.  J — Whigs  Toting  for  Pennington. 

§ — Whig  voting  for  Fuller. 


504 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  HETEROGENEOUS    "  TSKUVO- AMERICAN 
KILKENNY  CONVENTION,  FEBRUARY  THE  22D,  1856. 

The  Know  Nothing  party,  from  every  locality,  met  in  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia on  the  22d  day  of  February,  1856;  pursuant  to  orders,  and  put  forth  the 
following  ticket : 

For  President,  MILLARD  FILLMORE,  of  New  York. 
For  Vice  President,  ANDREW  JACKSON  donelson,  of  Tennessee. 

Mr.  Fillmore,  Gen.  Sam  Houston,  of  Texas,  and  John  M.  Clayton,  of  Dela- 
aware,  are  the  triumvirate  that  is  said  to  have  first  organized  the  Know  Noth- 
ing party  in  the  United  States;  consequently,  one  of  the  three  had  to  receive 
the  nomination  for  President ;  an*d  as  Mr.  Fillmore  had  absented  himself  from 
the  scenes  of  political  broils,  on  a  tour  to  Europe,  he  was  thought  to  be  the 
most  available  to  catch  the  votes  of  old  line, Whigs,  anti-Cuba  and  fishy  Demo- 
crats. We  shall  not  pretend  to  raise  the  hackneyed  cry  of  abolition  against 
Mr.  Fillmore ;  but.  suffice  it  to  say,  that  a  recurrence  to  his  votes  whilst  a 
member  of  Congress,  his  Erie  letter,  his  reprieve  of  two  negro-stealers  whilst 
President,  and  his  nomination  without  a  platform — with  nothing  to  bind  him — 
without  a  pledge  to  carry  out;  all  go  to  show  that,  if  elected,  he  will  adopt  a 
programme  most  suited  to  his  taste,  and  to  the  tastes  of  the  innumerable  isms 
that  will  evidently  rally  to  his  support. 

To  show  that  Andrew  Jackson  donelson,  the  candidate  upon  this  Kilkenny 
ticket  for  the  Vice  Presidency,  regarded  Mr.  Fillmore  unsound  upon  the  subject 
of  slavery,  as  late  as  the  spring  of  1851,  we  have  only  to  introduce  what  An- 
drew Jackson  donelson  says  upon  that  subject  whilst  editor  of  the  Union. 

We  copy  from  the  Washington  Union,  May  the  17th,  1851. 

MR.  FILLMORE   AND   ABOLITION. 

The  special  organ  complains  of  our  allusion  to  the  part  which  Mr.  Fillmore 
acted  on  the  abolition  question,  alleging  that  in  the  last  election,  "it  was  the 
staple  of  stump  Beeches  and  party  resolutions,  and  the  American  people  elect- 
ed Mr.  Fillmore  to  the  Vice  Presidency  in  spite  of  it"  According  to  the 
logic  of  the  special  organ,  the  statute  of  limitations  exculpates  entirely  the 
agency  of  the  Whig  party  in  giving  birth  and  dignity  to  political  Anti-Slavery 
in  order  to  secure  the  election  of  General  Taylor  and  Mr.  Fillmore,  but  must 
be  interpreted  in  the  very  opposite  sense  when  it  suits  its  convenience  to  assert 
that  the  Democratic  party  is  responsible  for  the  Buffalo  platform,  and  for  the 
combination  which  elected  Mr.  Suraner  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 
This  kind  of  logic  will  not  do,  and  is  so  contrary  to  the  rules  of  common  Sense, 
that  we  are  inclined  to  think  it  is  only  a  way  the  special  organ  has  of  manifest- 
ing its  ill-will  that  two  such  distinguished  members  of  the  cabinet  as  Messrs. 
Webster  and  Corwin  should  have  left  us  some  records  on  the  subject  which 
make  the  true  logic  one  of  ths  qualities  that  must  ever  be  excluded  from  the 
Republic.  Did  not  Mr.  Corwin  implore  the  Abolitionists  to  vote  for  Mr.  Fill- 
more,  saying,  they  are  my  children — my  Whig  children  ?  Did  not  Mr.  Web- 
ster say  the  same  thing,  in  substance,  when  he  reproached  the  Buffalo  plat- 


505 

form  as  a  theft  —  an  illicit  taking  of  Whig  property  ?  But  the  special  organ, 
tidmit.ting  all  this,  says,  in  substance,  Did  not  the  people  elect  Mr.  Fillmore 
in  spite  <>f  it?  And  can  it  l>e  supposed  that  anything  which  Mr.  Fillmore  did 
lie  fore  the  last  election  -is  to  have  any  iceiyht  in  determining  his  claims  as  the 
candidate  of  the  Whig  parti/  for  the  Presidency  t 


This  is  the  point  which  \vc  wished  to  see  distinctly  put  by  the  special  organ, 
in  order  that  our  readers  may  not  mistake  the  lame  and  impotent  defence  which 
it  sots  up  for  the  invincibility  of  the  present  administration.  Instead  of  ma- 
king the  nianly  declaration  which  the  truth  demands,  that  the  combination  by 
which  Gen.  Taylor  was  elected  implicated  the  Whig  party,  both  as  the  author  of 
political  anti-slavery  and  the  beneficiary  of  all  the  results  of  the  power  it  be- 
stowed —  instead,  we  say,  of  admitting  what  is  as  clear  as  daylight  on  this  sub- 
ject, and  founding  the  desire  of  Mr.  Fillmore  to  be  elected  to  the  Presidency 
on  the  magnanimity  of  his  countrymen,  who  might  forgive  such  a  fault  in  the 
presence  of  the  credit  which  is  due  to  him  for  his  conduct  as  the  present  head 
of  the  administration  —  the  special  organ  prefers  to  persevere  in  charging  un- 
justly the  Democratic  party,  which  has  nobly  defied  the  incendiary  spirit  of  ab- 
olition in  all  the  stages  of  its  encroachment  on  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the 
land. 

But  if  in  this  respect  the  special  organ  is  unfortunate,  it  is  not  less  so  in 
maintaining  that  the  election  of  Mr,.  Fillmore  to  the  presidency  precludes  an 
inquiry  into  the  objections  which  were  made  to  him  during  that  canvass.  This 
is  indeed  strange  logic,  whether  applied  to  morals,  laws,  or  politics.  The  wrong 
done  by  individuals  or  parties  is  often  not  really  understood  until  the  authors 
have  been  long  in  possession  of  the  advantage  which  tempted  them  to  commit 
the  wrong.  If  such  logic  were  recognised  by  the  people  —  if  the  objections 
made  to  the  election  of  an  individual  to  the  presidency  are  to  be  considered  as 
invalidated  by  his  success  —  one  of  the  highest  safeguards  against  the  dangers 
of  party  spirit  would  be  withdrawn.  Such  logic  would  have  kept  John  Quiucy 
Adams  in  power;  for  all  the  faults  of  his  administration  were  anticipated,  as 
the  natural  result  of  his  unsound  political  principles,  by  those  who  opposed  his 
election.  Yet  it  did  not  avail  him  to  say  to  the  American  people  that  the  ob- 
jections made  to  his  re-election  had  been  disposed  of  by  his  first  election,  and 
to  plead  that,  if  they  were  true,  the  constituted  authorities  ought  never  to  have 
trusted  him  with  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  republic. 

We  assure  the  special  organ  that  we  have  no  desire  to  profit  by  the  very  bad 
defence  it  makes  for  Mr.  Fillmore,  when  it  tells  us  that  we  ought  not  to  go 
back  to  the  circumstances  which  connect  him  with  the  abolition  societies  ;  but 
we  insist  upon  it  that  common  justice  claims  for  the  democratic  party  the  merit 
of  not  being  responsible  for  the  sins  of  those  societies,  by  whose  influence,  we 
feel  authorized  in  saying,  the  whig  ticket  succeeded  at  the  last  election.  It 
will  not  do  to  answer  this  demand  for  justice  by  saying  that  the  Erie  letter 
liwas  printed  and  reprinted  ten  thousand  times"  during  the  last  election,  nor 
that  Gen.  Campbell  asserts  that  he  '"knew  Mr.  Fillmore  to  le  as  free  from 
abolition  sentiments  </s  any  man  in  the  North.  Gen.  Campbell  cannot  be  pre- 
sumed to  know  Mr.  Fillmore  as  well  as  Messrs.  Webster  and  Corwin,  whose 
testimony  is  before  the  whole  country,  proving,  beyond  all  doubt  or  dispute, 
that  abolition  and  free-soil  were  the  property  of  whiggery,  relied  upon  for  a 
political  purpose,  and  never  abondoned  until  it  was  seen  that  a  political  power 
thus  organized  could  not  exist  without  destroying  our  Constitution  and  Union. 

But  it  is  not  alone  on  this  question  of  the  responsibility  of  the  administra- 
tion for  the  evils  of  political  anti-slavery,  that  we  think  the  defence  of  the  special 
organ  will  be,  and  aught  to  be,  unsatisfactory  to  the  country.  When  we  stated 
facts  proving  the  inadequate  protection  of  our  interests  on  our  Mexican  frontier, 
the  reply  set  up  was  that  we  seemed  disposed  to  take  the  side  of  the  Mexican 
government;  or  that  at  best,  all  that  could  be  made  out  of  that  fact  was,  that 


506 

a  democratic  Congress  had  left  the  War  Department  without  means  for  the  next 
fiscal  year,  which  does  not  commence  until  the  first  of  July  next.  All  the  means 
were  granted  that  were  asked  for  during  the  past  two  years ;  and  yet  the  fron- 
tier was  not  defended  during  that  time,  and  the  singular  excuse  is  given  that 
the  appropriations  for  ihe  estimates  of  the  next  year  were  not  what  the  heads 
of  bureaus  had  desired.  What  relation  could  there  be  between  such  appropria- 
tions and  the  depredations  of  Indians  that  bad  occurred  a  year  before,  and  to 
prevent  which  there  had  been  the  most  ample  means  provided  by  Congress  ? 

Who  is  ANDREW  JACKSON  donelson  ?  The  adopted  son  of  President 
Jackson  ?  No  !  Far  from  it.  ANDREW  JACKSON  donelson  is  the  ne- 
phew, if  we  are  correctly  informed,  of  the  wife  of  President  Jackson,  and  was 
named  for  the  express  purpose  of  inheriting  the  estate  of  General  Jackson  ; 
but  Old  Hickory  not  fancying  the  gentleman,  adopted  Andrew  Donelson,  also  a 
nephew  of  his  wife,  and  had  his  name  changed  from  Andrew  Donelson  to  An- 
drew Jackson,  Jr.  Therefore  Andrew  Jackson,  Jr.,  inherited  the  whole  of 
the  Old  Hero's  estate,  and  is  now  quietly  residing  at  the  Hermitage.  AN- 
DREW JACKSON  donelsj*!  (of  Tulip  Hill)  is  no  more  the  adopted  son  of  Pre- 
sident Jackson  than  a  man  unborn,  but  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  pompous  renegade 
of  great  pretensions,  with  the  faculty  of  presumption  developed  at  the  expense 
of  all  the  rest  of  the  bumps. 


CONCLUDING  REMARKS. 

In  the  foregoing  compilation  of  political  matter,  we  have  thought  it  unneces- 
sary in  the  majority  of  instances,  to  make  any  prefatory  remarks,  as  the  whole 
object  has  been  to  present  and  preserve  such  articles,  letters  and  speeches  as 
were  elicited  during,  antecedent  and  subsequent  to  the  great  fight  of  the 
South  against  Know  Nothingism.  Some  portions  of  the  work  will  show  the 
consequences  and  disorganized  state  of  things  resulting  from  the  influence  of 
Know  Nothingism;  whilst  other  parts  are  designed  for  reference  in  the  approach, 
ing  Presidential  election ;  and  to  show  that  the  Democratic  party  is  the  only 
palladium  of  this  great  Republic. 


INDEX. 


Preface,  -  -  -  -  -  v 

The  birth,  parentage  and  ancestry  of  Henry  A.  Wise,  -   '  vii 

The  politics  of  Mr.  Wise's  ancestors.     His  education  and  first  marriage,  xii 

The  commencement  of  Mr.  Wise's  political  life.     His  iirst  election  to  Congress. 

Duel  with  Coke.     Removal  of  the  deposits.     Captain  of  the  Awkward  Squad,  xv 

Re-election  to  Congress  in  1835.    Reminiscence  of  the  death  of  John  Randolph, 

of  Roanoke,        -  ...  x]x 

Presidential  Campaign  of  1836.     Pet  Bank  System.     Death  of  Mrs.  Wise.    Re- 
election to.  Congress  in  1837,  -  -  -    .  -xx 
Graves  and  Cilley  duel,                                 ...  xxi 
Re-election  to  Congress  in   1839.     Presidential  Campaign   in   1840.      Second 

marriage,  ....         xxvii 

Extra  session  of  Congress  in  1841 .  Rejection  for  the  mission  to  France.  Re- 
election to  Congress.  Elected  minister  to  Rio  Janeiro.  Returns  home  in 
Ib47,  -  -  -  -  xxxii 

Returns  to  private  life.  State  election  in  1848.  Election  to  the  State  Conven- 
tion. Death  of  his  second  wife.  Election  again  in  1842,  Third  marriage. 
Personal  appearance.  Conclusion,  ....  xxxv 


Absurdity  of  fearing  the  Catholics,            ...  137 

Asserted  temporal  power  of  the  Pope,       -                    -                    -  141 

A  speaker  elected,                                                             ...  487 

An  essay  by  the  Hon.  Sherrard  Clemens  of  Wheeling,  Va.              -                    -  215 

•  An  appeal  to  the  clergy,                               -                                         -  270 
A  sermon  from  Leviticus  for  Sam,                                                                               -  277 
American  organ,                        ......  242 

A  monstrous  fraud,  -  -  -  -  -   .          343 

Appendix,                                   .....  365 

Boston  Telegraph,  -  -  -  .  .233 

Boston  Advertiser,                                                                                  -  244 

Comments  of  the  press  upon  the  Staunton  nominees,                        -                   •-  3*2 

Concluding  remarks,                 ......  507 

Confidence  of  the  opposition,                       •                     -                     -                     -  35 

Charlottesville  Jeflersonian,    -                     -  3d 

Cry  of  disaffection,                    -                     -                     -                     -  37 

Council  of  ten,      ...                                          -                    -  157 

Comfort  for  the  frightened — cheer  for  the  faint  hearted,  229 

Council  of  thirteen  of  the  U.  States,                                                                           •  160 

Chang  and  Eng — Sam  and  the  woolly  heads — a  chapter  of  death  warrants,       -  233 

Civil  incapacilations  &c.         -                     -                     -                     -                     -  280 

Congressional  canvass,             .....  344 

Conclusion  of  the  canvass,                          ...  353 

Democratic  meeting  in  Norfolk  County,    -  . 

Distinguished  Democratic  orators  of  the  canvass,         -                    -                    -  116 

,  Downfall  of  Botts,  265 

Dr.  R  J.  Breckenridge — politician,  273 

Disarming  of  citizens — the  first  step  towards  despotism,                  -  287 

-  Duplicity  better  than  nationality,                -  330 


508 

Dying  wails  from  the  culvert, 

Democratic  triumph,  363 

Dowdell  festival  in  Alabama,                      -  -                                 436 

Essay  by  the  Hon.  Sherrard  Clemens  of  Wheeling,  Va.  215 

'  Equal  rights  and  equal  laws,  324 

First  appearance  of  Know  Nothingism  in  Virginia,     -  -«                                  27 

Foreign  born  Democratic  martyrs,  60 

Facts  of  the  census,  131 

^Foreigners  rule  America,         -                     -  •                                   133 

Four  isms  united,                       ....  252 

Foreigners  and  the  South,        •  334 

Foreign  born  citizens  in  the  American  revolution,       -  453 

Gulliver's  past,     -  412 

Gulliver  again,     -  418 

^Hon.  Henry  A.  Wise's  letter  upon  Know  Nothingisra, 

Hybrid  ticket,       -  I6"> 

Historical  researches  of  the  Hon.  T.  S.  Flournoy,        -  -                                 166 

Hon.  L.  M.  Keitt  of  S.  Carolinia,  his  speech,     '  240 
Hurrah  for  Botts, 

Has  emigration  injured  our  country,           -                     -  289 

Hostility  to  emigration,                                  •                     •  292 

Hon.  Amos  Burlmcame,                                                    -  241 

Hon.  Henry  M.  Fuller — his  somerset,        -  4D3 

Introduction,         -  6 

Issues  of  the  canvass,               -                    -                    -  -                                   43 

Inaugural  address  of  Gov.  Pollock  of  Pennsylvania,  Tuesday,  Jan.  16,  1855,  245 

Inaugural  address  of  Gov.  Causey  of  Delaware,  247 

John  Mitchell  the  Irish  patriot,                   -  287 

Judge  Douglas  in  Richmond,                       ...  67 

Know  Nothing  ritual  exposed,                     -  46 

Know  Nothingism  an  alias  of  Federalism,  54 

Know  Nothingism  and  Catholicism,            -  139 

Know  Nothings  of  the  North.     Movements  upon  the  slavery  question,  250 

Know  Nothing  humbugs  examined  and  exploded,         -  321 

Know  Nothing  oath,  129 
Know  Nothing  Philadelphia  platform.     Notes  and  comments  by  the  Richmond 

Enquirer,                                -  449 

Know  Nothingism  unveiled,                        ...  457 

Letter  of  the  Hon   A.  H.  Stephens  of  Georgia,             -  -                                 312 

Letter  of  John  H   Claiborne,                        -  333 

Letter  from  the  Hon.  D.  S.  Dickenson,      -  341 

Letter  of  S.  Wallace  Cone,      -  433 

List  of  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  500 

Lynchburg  Know  Nothing  convention,       -  479 

Mr.  Hunter's  speech  in  Petersburg,  70 

Mr.  Wise  at  Alexandria,                               ...  93 

Mr.  Michie's  Letter,                                     -  117 

Mr.  James  Lyons  and  Bishop  McGill,        -  145 

Mermaid  Ticket,                                           -  166 

Mr.  Flournoy's  Acceptance,  169 

Mr.  Patton's  speech  at  Richmond,  178 

Mr.  Patton  and  his  clients,  193 

Metropolitan  District,                                    -  256 
Mr.  Wise  writes  from  Washington  City  after  he  concludes  the  campaign, 

Mr.  Wise  in  Washington  after  the  result  was  known,  -                    -            409 

Mr.  Wise's  Petersburg  Letter,                     -  429 

Mr.  Wise's  North  Carolina  Letter,  -                                 430 

Mr.  Wise  and  the  New  York  Hards  and  Softs,               -  432 

Mr.  Wise  opens  the  canvass,  39 


509 

« 

Mr.  Wise  in  1843,                                                              -                    -  40 

Mr.  Wise's  letter  to  S.  Wallace  Cone,        -                     -                     -  435 

Mr.  Wise's  letter  to  the  Alabama  committee,                 ...  4;tf 

Mr.  Wise's  letter  to  the  Boston  Negro  Stealers,            -  -             43<) 

Mr.  Wise's  letter  to  the  Mercantile  Library  Association,  Boston,   -  441 

Mr.  Wise's  letter  to  the  National  Democrats  of  New  York,  ^          -             442 

Members  of  the  House  of  Delegates  elected  in  May  Iri55,               -  360 

Nationality  of  the  Democratic  party  in  1855,                 -  202 

New  York  Herald,                                                             -                    -  -            250 

Norfolk  Argus,                                              •  31) 

Orators  of  the  canvass,                                  -                     -                     -  -              67 

One  of  the  victories  of  the  new  party,       -                    -  297 

Official  vote  of  Virginia,                                ....  355 

"  Our  Nat  elected  and  no  mistake,"            -                     -  415 

Obituary  of  Sam,                                             -                     -                     -  •    .         420 

Paternity  of  Know  Nothingism — A  political  chronicle,  f  5 

Patriotic  sentiments  of  an  eminent  clergyman  in  Virginia,               •  -             267 

Philadelphia  North  American,                      -  243 

Political  purification,                                                                                 -  346 

Richmond  W'hig,                                                                   ...  4.-, 

Reasons  why  I  am  a  Democrat  and  not  a  Know  Nothing,  -             2(5 

Religious  toleration  before  the  American  revolution,    ...  ^83 

Staunton  Democratic  Convention,                -                     -                     -  -               £8 

Secret  societies  and  Republican  institutions,  &c.,  &c.    -                     -  -             1  0 

Some  of  the  antecedents  of  the  Kangaroo  ticket,           -                     -  -             J62 

Statesmanship  of  Mr.  Flournoy,  *                                     -                     -  171 

Senator  Wilson  of  Massachusetts,  &c.,  &c.                    -  -            236 

Speech  of  Mr.  Ruffin,                                   -                    -                    -  299 

Sherrard  Clemens,                                                                ...  350 

Signal  gun  from  the  Richmond  Examiner,                                             -  -             351 

Speech  of  Judge  Douglas  upon  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bill,        -  -            365 

Slavery  and  Popery,                                                             ...  ^Qrf 

"  Saw  but  one  man  in  5  months  against  Sam,?>               -                     -  -             416 

Sam's  first  epistle  to  the  Hindoos,                                      ...  337 

State  Senators  elected  in  1855,  -            3C9 

Twenty-fourth  day  of  May  in  Virginia  in  1855,  •            362 

The  Nationality  of  the  Democratic  party,  4^4 

The  Philadelphia  heterogeneous  pseudo  American  Kilkenny  convention,  -            505 

Valley  Democrat,  32 

Vi  ginia  Democratic  organization,  -             119 

Virginia  Democratic  address  from  the  executive  committee,              -  -             123 

Various  arguments  and  dogmas  of  Know  Nothingism  examined,     -  -             129 

Virginia  Know  Nothing  platform,                                                           -  254 

Violence  the  natural  consequence  of  the  Know  Nothing  organization,  328 

Washington  Sentinel,                                    -  -36 

Winchester  Convention,                                -  146 

Winchester  ticket,                                           ...  151 

What  have  they  done,                                     ...  2~>1 

Way  the  money  was  lost,  ».             410 

Wise  not  more  than  thirty  thousand  votes  in  the  State,  411 

Washington  Union,                                       -  328 


14  r»AY  USE 


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